Growing up in Singapore, we get the privilege of mastering both the English language and our mother-tongue, which in my case is Mandarin Chinese. By a stroke of luck, it turned out that these are probably the two most important languages in this age.
In most of my professional years, English was all I needed. Even when I needed to speak to colleagues in Mandarin-speaking countries, I managed to get by. Even then, Mandarin is not used for professional terms but just for pleasantries and water-cooler talk.
Recently, as the world changes, I realised that it is getting increasingly harder to avoid using Mandarin in the professional setting. To be honest, I am not used to this and started to think back on how I have neglected my mother-tongue.
‘Higher Chinese’ Education is Less Chinese Education
Through the Singapore education, I managed to get into an SAP (Special Assistance Plan) High school. As part of the SAP programme, it is mandatory to take Higher-Chinese as a subject. At the high school level, there are two levels of the Chinese language – Chinese and Higher Chinese. The Higher Chinese subject is considered the more difficult of the two.
So taking Higher Chinese, one would naturally assume that I should be well-versed in mandarin. While I will say that I do have a certain level of proficiency in Mandarin, I must be honest in that the way I learnt the language was for the examination.
And there is a simple reason. Because I wanted the option to not take Chinese as a language in Junior College. The deal is if we do well enough in ‘Higher Chinese’ in High school, we do not need the subject in Junior College. The incentive of no longer needing to learn Mandarin spurred me on to work hard and do well enough in the O-levels to get the exemption.
Not Needing Mandarin
So without having to take Chinese in Junior College, there is no real need for me to brush up on my Mandarin since I was seventeen. My experience with the Chinese language was relegated to only listening and speaking.
Over time, I am pretty sure that my proficiency in Mandarin has definitely stagnated or even declined. While I may often joke about my wife not being able to speak Mandarin properly, I think I am not pretty far behind. I am still very much able to follow day to day conversations but throw me into a business setting where I need to present in Mandarin using business terms and I will be a mess.
Never Too Late
Hopefully, it is never too late. I do have a decent foundation in Mandarin. I believe with enough hard work and determination, I am pretty sure I will be able to overcome my current language deficiency.
What I need is a plan. A plan on how I can regain my proficiency in Mandarin and be able to use it confidently for work. Here is what I am thinking:
- Expansion of Vocabulary – I need to start building a list of business terms that I will need to know in Mandarin.
- Experience in Reading Reports – I am going to force myself to read the Mandarin-version of proposals and documents from my Chinese business associates.
- Listening to News in Mandarin – To get myself used to listen to business conversations in Mandarin, I will need to start listening to the news in Mandarin.
It is never too late.