Why I Enjoy Learning Chinese
Why I Enjoy Learning Chinese
More foreigners are learning Chinese and enjoying immense benefits.
Chinese Idioms and phrases always amaze me. When I was younger, I was never interested in the Chinese language. I am a pure Chinese and my father hailed from the Fujian province of China while my mother was Chinese and came from Indonesia.
The characters of the language always stumped me. The use of Singapore Chinese characters before 1969 was first traditional and was very complex. One can hardly remember all the strokes. It requires a really diligent person to excel in Chinese. After 1969, there was simplification and eventually, after 1976, Singapore fully adopted the simplified Chinese Characters of the Republic of China. Even with this, it can be a challenge to learning Chinese.
Ironically, my father was a Chinese teacher in a pure Chinese-speaking school. For some reason, out of seven siblings, my parents sent three brothers and one sister to the Chinese school where he taught while he sent another brother, my eldest sister, and myself to a neighborhood English speaking school. Talking about not putting all your eggs in one basket.
In my home, we conversed in both languages besides our native dialect which was Hakka. Whoever dominates the conversation with the language ended up speaking the language he or she is schooled in. I spoke with my Chinese Speaking siblings in Chinese but spoke in English with the rest of the siblings who studied in English schools. It was natural that those who were Chinese schooled did not improve in English.
When it came to Chinese, though I was conversant at a basic level and understand it. However, the writing was a hurdle. I did not really love the learning of it hence it meant a very low score for this subject in school. I was very impressed with my fellow classmates who could recite Chinese poetry and wrote essays beautifully while my essay was peppered with blanks and totally incoherent.
The love for learning Chinese came late in my life. It was after I met my patient from China who came for dental treatment about two years ago. Her name was Jean and she graduated from Sichuan University in China. I saw her carrying a thick…
