Mother tongue: anchor of our life and spirit

By Prof Tu Weiming

LANGUAGE, spoken and written, is the most fundamental of all cultural abilites. Man is a cultural animal, and the use of language is indispensable for a human being to learn about himself, understand his fellow creatures, and comprehend Nature.

Our mother tongue is the medium through which we express feelings, convey messages, and form ideas while living in this world. This is an indisputable statement.

What can be done to make the Chinese language, both spoken and written, one of the cultural resources that ethnic Chinese in Singapore feel proud of? This should become the common concern of all public-minded intellectuals who care about society, political life and cultural affairs.

Chinese Malaysians have achieved a great deal in promoting their mother tongue. In recent years, Chinese students from Malaysia have won prizes in international debate contests and essay-writing competitions held in Taiwan. They have earned accolades from the cultured circles of various Chinese societies.

This shows that, given an able leadership with a consensus reached by the elite, plus the strong wishes of the families concerned, a Chinese community can do a good job in passing down its native language through persistent efforts even under not-so-conducive circumstances.

It must be emphasised that being able to converse, read and write a letter in one's native language is only the first step. Further upgrading is needed to make Chinese a major medium through which Singapore's public-minded intellectuals can discuss

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