Hi Bomex,

No worries, it does not mean that your child don't know chinese, it is all over.  But do encourage your child, in future, even if he can't write chinese, most important must know how to cakap the language and roughly read the chinese words.  Know more languages is always better.

Like most early peranakan days, becoz the early peranakans could speak various languages, that they become successful, business people dealing with local malays, foreign ah mohs and orang cina from China.  Betul?

Rgds

Jyun

Hey! Thanks for the advice! ;D

Yup. Is good and useful to be able to undestand and speak Chinese especially as the economy of China is catching up really fast and you son might need to deal with Chinese nationals when he is working in the future. 

Hi sunflower,

True enough it is important to study Chinese.  Remembering the days my parents spend 200 over dollars a month for a tutor to teach my siblings and me.  Gone r those days heehee.  Anyway better don't give up studying Chinese.  Its useful.

The only way to allow our kids nowadays to understand our baba language is to speak to them in simple phrases to build up their ability to speak our language now.  Just like when I was younger, I was put at my maternal Chinese grandma for a few months, and I pick up hokkien from her by spending more time with her and in order to interact with her.  Otherwise, I couldn't speak basic hokkien if not for her.

Rgds

i may seem out of place here, and i apologise in advance if i offend.  when i was much younger my parents felt that my peranakan heritage made me superior.  therefore, they spoke ENG  to me and sent me to a chinese as a first language school. they thought that with a combination of better than average english and a passable knowledge in chinese would serve me well in SIN. dialects were completely ignored and frankly looked down on. now i realise that my incompetence in chinese ( i am not proud of it) is affecting my children. i am doing a dis-service to my kids. i think we must make efforts to learn our peranakan language and at the same time not forget that our heritage encompasses all thing chinese.

Hi babacat,

I strongly feel the same too.  In the past I may hate studying chinese.  But after all those "gruelling" years studying Chinese, they seem to pay off.  Especially now in Singapore, almost everywhere is China Chinese workers.  Even Jurong West now many China Chinese staying in the HDB.  Its like Little China now. 

But its sad too as I was not brought up by my granny personally, so my siblings and I tend not to speak the patois but following our mother to speak her dialect instead.  To a point...., my paternal granny had to speak to us in that same dialect. (heehee)  It would be great to speak one more language especially we are around the Malayan region.  Ain't it?

Rgds

Mandarin has become almost a must have in Singapore these days thanks to the Government making it a compulsory language for all Chinese. Its really become the national language for all the Chinese like in Mainland China and Taiwan. As for unfortunate people like me, growing up in an only English speaking family and neighbourhood, I have no ability to catch on Mandarin even if I tried my heart out, except for just a few phrases which are really non-conversational like war ai ni and tooi pu chi, war pu whay chiang pu tong wha, ha ha ha. Please don't pick on me like my Primary school Chinese teachers who really tortured me with backhanders, rattans and rulers on my rear end and hands like they actually enjoyed torturing me. One guy even smiled while doing this, just imagine that! I probably still bear the rattan marks in my rear if I can see that far now. I can only speak to the Mainland people if they can speak English and the same too with the Hongkong ones and others too. Even my mother tongue which is Hokkien has not caught on with me as I hardly mix with those who speak this dailect. Mum spoke to me in Baba Malay all the time while Dad spoke in English all the time. I don't blame them at all, its just the growing environment that caused this, just like Chinese kids growing up in foreign countries with hardly any exposure to dailects and Mandarin and picking up the slangs and accents of the region by the time they reach 10 years old. The other fault may be my slow learning ability thats to blame also. I would probably do a lot better over in the UK with my spoken English although it may not be the same as the London Pommy accent and way of speaking.

:D :D Sorry for laughing but looks like I found my gang here. I too failed miserably in my Mandarin cuz my parents and relatives spoke English and Peranakan Malay to us in our growing up years and I would have excelled in Malay but I guess my parents had hindsight. If there ever was a G10 in our exam grading system back then, that would have been mine on a badge. No surprise, I got an F9 but in my adult years, i picked up Mandarin but only conversational. My reading and writing skills are still not too hot and I agree that my kids suffer now cuz I don't correspond with them in Mandarin as much as I would like to cuz we speak mainly English and you guessed it, Peranakan Malay to them.

My son is now in P1 and when his Mandarin teacher speaks to him or teaches him, I can imagine air bubbles forming around his head. I know I shouldn't be encouraging this but our culture is so rich and colourful and when the kids speak the language and walk the walk, they are hilariously cute esp my little girl. Can forsee that one being a real chillipadi. My dad loves to irritate her and she just told off my dad the other day :"AH GONG! You really make me chekik darah!"  ;D ;D ;D

Hi all -- I wonder if there was some curse inflicted on our community as a whole? Like for [i]x[/i] generations kind of thing? That apparently almost each and every Baba/Nyonya I come across just absolutely cannot absorb Chinese/Mandarin whilst at school?

And when I do come across half or quarter Peranakans who excel in CL2, it is like the sighting of the blue moon? But of course, these are the same folk who speak either Chinese dialects or Mandarin at home. Due to either [1] mothers being Chinese [2] mothers being subjugated by China-born or "racist" mothers-in-law.

Or, in the case of a pure-bred Baba of an ex-colleague, his parents' refusal to even pass down our language to him.

Funny you mentioned G10, chillipadinut. I once wrote a nonsensical poem many many moons ago. And I cited:

[center][color=red]F9 - Fail, Flop, Flunk
G10 - Gone-case 10[/color][/center]

Really, if I were to become a Minister [yeah right, dream on] I would propose Baba Malay as a Compulsory Second Language. If the ethnic Indians other than Tamils who finally have had the MOE's "approval" to study Hindi as CL2 after donkey's years of "legislation", why not Baba Malay?

But of course, it is partly due to them expat/PR Hindi-speaking Indians' efforts too.

I don't mean to diss those Peranakans -- or dare I say Glory Hunters.  My recent encounter with a bunch of arrogant younglings at Toko Aljunied who cannot even string a decent sentence in Baba Malay serves to prove me right -- yet again. That I would rather see our culture die a natural death. Than seeing it hijacked by some half-past sixes.

But of course, kudos to one of them who made the effort to speak Baba Malay. Although at that point, I was desperate enough to seek a pair of knitting needles to poke my ear.

But then being the sharp observer that I am, she only did so speaking Baba Malay to one of the Proprietresses AFTER HEARING ME SPEAKING TO ANOTHER THROUGHOUT.

Goodness gracious me. Talk about inferiority complex.  It was hilarious really hearing her speakth:

[center][color=red]"GUAH.PUN-YAH.MAHMAH.ADAH.KERO-SAHNG.BULONG!"[/color][/center]

Which cued me to sing: Burong kakak tua, duduk di jendelaaaah..

I bet she has never even heard that all-time favourite ditty. Much less even sing it.

Oh, do pardon my vitriol, folks. Language is but one of the factors that define us as a people. What some Mandarin-for-Chinese-people  proponent said many moons ago was absolutely right. The transmission of Chinese traditions and practices is not enough if they were to be translated into English.

The only way to ensure that the culture does not go the way of the dodo is not only speaking the language. But acquire a sound knowledge of it.

Absolute same is applied to us. So, please hor, some of yous out there, don't disgrace us lot, okay? If you want to speak Baba Malay, please speak it *properly* and *intelligently*.

Not only buat suay siao sajah, I would suggest that you stick to English and Mandarin eh? Wearing the sah-long kahbaya for your Wedding, Tea Ceremony, and eating ayam buah keluak does not make you an instant true-blue Baba.

Best wishes
Betul-baba?

lol. this is so hilarious. I'm half peranakan and my dad (who was from hwa chong) used to really cekik darah with my chinese. I just cannot grasp the language even until today. In fact, the last time I had to read or write chinese was in JC and that was some 10 years ago. I still remember that in P2, my chinese teacher had to call me by my english name because I didn't recognise and respond to the sound of my chinese name! :o

Hi Applecow,

Many younger generations including myself also gone through this same situation.  Thinking back, makes me feel so cartoon back then trying to speak chinese properly and yet oral test always cannot make it well properly.  (haha)

Rgds

When I was in P1, my parents said that I should have Chinese as 2nd language instead of Malay like my siblings. I saw stars when the teacher was teaching and kept asking my classmate what she was talking about.
I grumbled to my parents insisting that it was unfair that my siblings are taking Malay and I have to do Chinese. The next day I was studying Malay. It was a breeze.
I wonder why Peranakans are having so much difficulty with Chinese language but could even compete with the Malay students in class for 1st position.
Till today, I could not speak Mandarin or simple Hokkien. Nobody knows what I'm trying to say in Chinese... sigh.

Basically the problem with Mandarin is that the words are in pictorial characters like curves, slashes, crosses, lines and squares which mean nuts to most of us while both Malay and English use the same alphabets so we are more inclined to be able to read  and pronounce the Malay words rather than Mandarin unless it has been changed to alphabetic sounds. Mandarin words are remembered as a whole word sound rather than a spelling so you have to have a good memory to be able to remember those thousands of words or combinations. ??? :'(

Hi all -- I am sure the following sounds highly familiar to all, if not some of you. Being Baba et al:

Q: Ni jiang shen mo? [what talking you?]

A: Gua tankap semut.

The End


Best wishes
betul_baba?

Hahaha ...

Betul_Baba,

Lu ni funny sekali, gua gerli-arti ...

Cheers!
Bunga_Telang

Kamsiah lah, Bunga_Telang :)  Am most delighted to hear that you enjoyed this little joke of mine.

Most importantly, I had brought you some cheer in these times of uncertainty.

Without further ado, here is another version which I trust you would find as delightful:

Q: Ni jiang shen mo? [what talking you?]

A: APA?! Lu tankap semut?! Semut api??! Habis, nanti semut tu gigit lu betul betul!!!!  [snigger, snigger]


cue background music -- that childhood game a certain generation used to play:

Gigit semut, siapa sakit naik atas
Gigit semut, siapa sakit naik atas
Gigit semut, siapa sakit naik atas
Gigit semut, siapa sakit naik atas!!

to continue singing in this fashion ad inifinitum


Best wishes
betul_baba?

Dear Betul Baba,

If I remember correctly, the words to the ditty is :

Enjek-enjek semut, siapa sakit niak atas

It is played by pinching the back of the palm of one's playmate.

Cheers!
Bunga_Telang

Hi All,
I took ML2 in school as my parents panic after my Pri one Chinese result was below par, truly learning Malay was much easier as a young Baba. Today, I read that the Chinese clan will pettition the government to reconsider amending the MT weightage. Maybe these cheese clan wants to merge all into one , as I see their role as Hokkien, teochew Hainum etc also coming to a demise. I am wondering what most Baba here do with their kids MT choice. My son will be going to primary one next year , during my time Malay is a natural choice. I have pondered on this issue but my wife feels that mandarin has more economic use. I remember MM Lee says thats Singapore requires 2-3k Chinese speaking diploma holders every year to remain engage with China, but I can't see the logic of making 30k student suffer to find this 2-3k . Anyway they are already importing these mainland Chinese and giving them pink IC , so there 2-3k problem solved, and mind you these imports will dance circle around our Singaporean breed ones anyday (haha). I like the weightage adjustment for 2nd language , maybe they can consider using only the stronger language for t score. Some chinese quarters feels that is is unfair to them as they have mastered the language, without regard to others , some suggest that maybe they should drop maths and science weightage too ( off course they are being sarcastic) but language skills only get you so far in life, maybe you can be a interpreter but maybe not as there are dime a dozen in china who can speak 2 languages , but with maths and science , you can go to the moon you know, mastering mandarin will only get you to china drinking tainted milk (haha). I also hope they can call it something else and not mother tongue as it is truly not mine, hokkien would be closer. Thanks and hope to hear what are your MT choices for your kids, thanks and god bless.