I think, therefore I write. (我思,所以我写。)

Cogito ergo scribo

Friday, August 19, 2005

Do Singaporeans speak better Mandarin than Malaysians?

There's this loud-mouth fat guy who has been coming to our office lately. I don't know who the hell he is and why he is so "friend-friend" with my colleagues from the other department. He's a Singaporean Chinese who speaks in American accent. Really, just like an American.

Well, i have nothing against Asian who speaks with an angmo accent. I, myself, don't really speak in Manglish or Singlish either. I do find it annoying though, if an American-wannabe keeps on talking with all the slag at the top of his voice until i couldn't concentrate on browsing the Web and reading other blogs my work . Imagine having these phrases sprung out of nowhere in your office all the time (with a strong American accent): "No kiddin', man...", "I'm tellin' you, man...", "Alriiiite, you're the man...", "F*ck off, man...", "That's load of shit, man...", "You scared the hell out of me, man..." ... Grrrr, i sure felt like slapping the hell out of him, and then shove a load of shit down his throat until he chokes so hard that he can just shut the f*ck up. How'd ya like that, man?!  

Anyway, what has this guy gotta to with today's topic? Well, he made a comment today to my colleague about Malaysian Chinese don't speak good Mandarin. This is really ironic, coming from a person who speaks Mandarin like a stinking banana man his second language and couldn't even complete a proper Mandarin sentence without any English words in between. Again, i don't have an issue with people who speak in a mixture of Mandarin and English, for i often talk in such way as well. However, i do detest Singaporeans who think of themselves as having superior standard of Chinese over Malaysians, when in fact most of them couldn't even differentiate the simple character "彬" (bin) from "林" (lin). Seriously, many colleagues of mine (Singaporean) had difficulties pronouncing my name in Chinese characters and had often mistakenly thought of it as "林". Imagine my nickname would then become "LinLin"... *shudder*

I think many Malaysians who work in Singapore or watch Singapore TV shows are quite used to being made fun of about the way we speak Mandarin. I gotta confess that sometimes i would also tease my friends from other parts of Malaysia who speak Mandarin with a strong dialect accent (such as people from Penang with Hokkien accent and people from KL with Cantonese accent). People from JB, under the influence of Singapore media, normally speak Mandarin with accent more akin to Singapore's. However, we still have our own colloquialism that differs from them, which sometimes becomes a point of banter.

For instances, Malaysians may say "不得空" (pronounced incorrectly as bù dè kòng) when we are not free, whereas Singaporeans would say "没有空" ("mei you kong"). We also like to add the word "几" ("ji") as an adverb to amplify some expressions, such as "几有钱" ("ji you qian"), "几好吃" ("ji hao chi"), "几生气" ("ji sheng qi"), while Singaporeans would use the word "多" ("duo"), "很" ("hen") or "非常" ("fei chang") instead. In several Singapore drama series with scripts that had characters from Malaysia, what the actors did was to mimic how we talk, especially with emphasis on such slag in their speech. Oh, and of course, normally they will also portray the Malaysian character as less sophisticated, wearing outdated clothing, but then that is out of the topic of this post.

So back to what the fake American guy who claimed that we speak bad Mandarin as compared to his people, well, i do agree to certain extent. Singaporeans are indeed more accurate on the pronunciation, thanks to their government's effort in curbing all dialects and their decade-long Speak Mandarin Campaign, whereas Malaysian Mandarin is influenced by the dialects of different regions.

However, the ability to speak Mandarin in the right pronunciation has absolutely no bearing or whatsoever on the person's level of Chinese language. When it comes to writing, reading, Chinese literature and cultures, i'm very sure that Malaysian Chinese are better than Singaporeans. After all, Malaysia is the only country outside China (the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) to have a complete Chinese education system. To gauge a person's level of Chinese language based on his/her pronunciation is a huge mistake. Many Chinese from mainland China or Hong Kong don't speak good Mandarin as well but they sure know more about the Chinese language than any Singaporean. One good example would be 金庸 ("Jin Yong", or Louis Cha Liang Yong), a renowned writer of Chinese martial arts novels, whose achievements in Chinese literature is irrefutable but speaks Mandarin with a strong Zhe-Jiang accent.

So what if you are 几厉害 ("ji li hai") in speaking Mandarin? There are more to a language than merely getting the pronunciation right.

Labels: ,

Singaporeans probably DO speak better mandarin. because they BLOODY TRANSLATE EVERYTHING on TV INTO MANDARIN! All the Hong Kong seriels are dubbed in Mandarin after all.

Sorry to get all worked up. I have a thing for tembaking Singaporeans... :)

frankly, they speak better mandarin. Malaysian mandarin is more of mangarin. Damned rojak

In a way, you may feel Signaporeans speak better Mandarin than Malaysians because their language is not as much "polluted". As you can see, Chinese language in Singapore is being mixed with English while in Malaysia, it's being mixed with English, Malay and Cantonese. It depends on how you look at it. There are so many Chinese Malaysians who can't speak Mandarin but there's also many Singaporeans who can't speak Mandarin.

It's sorta like a culture in Malaysia, Malaysian slang Mandarin. It's not that we can't speak proper Mandarin but this is what everyone speaks and it'll make yourself look weird if you try to speak like a Mainland Chinese or a Taiwanese. Of course during speeches etc, proper pronunciation of Mandarin is used.

In terms of Chinese language standard, Malaysia's Chinese standard is much higer than Singapore. A Chinese educated Malaysian can write far better than a Chinese educated Singaporean. And this is from my Chinese teacher who has been teaching Chinese for more than 30 years.

Oh yeah, Singaporean's Mandarin is also so much mixed with Hokkien, if you notice that in Singaporean TV series.

worked in singapore previously and all my singaporean friends say that malaysian mandarin is more "pure".

their mandarin is already rojak with hokkien and direct translations from cantonese.

malaysian mandarin is obviously better, says the singaporeans. *shrugs*

They may seem to speak it better, but in terms of Chinese education, Malaysians study a more advanced syllabus. I've compared our secondary school syllabus with my Singaporean friends, and they haven't even gone through the torture we get here.

Besides, we all speak more dialects when compared to them anyway, and that's still something because we have a more authentic hold on our roots. Anyway, what's the big deal with "my Mandarin is better than yours?" That's just juvenile.

I was surfing the net to learn how to speak Mandarin and came across your article. I must say I was amused because I am a Singaporean living in America. Nothing is more annoying then to hear someone trying to speak American like it makes look smarter. But I really enjoyed reading your piece. Thanks.

I think Malaysian mandarin sounds rather unique ,sexy and adds flavour to bland Taiwanese and Singapore mandarin. I used to detest Singlish or Manglish but now I now that it is unique and should be preserved.

I don't think it's fair you claim that person is trying to be a "wannabe". Some people are brought up that in a way, of course they would express themselves differently from others.

I'm a Malaysian Chinese and I speak English with an accent too(Australian to be exact),Please don't hate,We don't do it purposely(well,at least some of us don't.)

I agree with Mike. Malaysian Mandarin sounds rather unique, sexy and has more flavour. Singapore Mandarin sounds rather monotonous. I also like Singlish and Manglish because they give us some sort of cultural identity.

Share your cogitation



Thursday, August 18, 2005 @ 3:23 am: Darn those new year's resolutions!
Wednesday, August 17, 2005 @ 2:09 am: My blog is a porn site
Tuesday, August 16, 2005 @ 3:18 am: In memory of my dad
Monday, August 15, 2005 @ 3:25 am: Layout template corrected
Saturday, August 13, 2005 @ 1:21 am: Is the end near already?
Friday, August 12, 2005 @ 2:32 am: Taman Sampah
Thursday, August 11, 2005 @ 3:39 am: Pu'er tea
Wednesday, August 10, 2005 @ 2:43 am: Happy 40th birthday, Singapore
Tuesday, August 09, 2005 @ 2:40 am: It's just a freakin' steering wheel lock!
Monday, August 08, 2005 @ 2:34 am: Change of layout