<div dir="ltr"><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> </div><h1 class="gmail-article-title" style="box-sizing:border-box;font-size:2.25rem;margin:10px 0px;font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;line-height:1.1;color:inherit">Singapore leader hails 'English first' policy as key to country’s development</h1><h4 class="gmail-subtilte" style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:inherit;font-weight:500;line-height:1.1;color:inherit;margin-top:0.5rem;margin-bottom:0.5rem;font-size:1.125rem">Critics respond the country’s bilingual education produces very few people who have really mastered two languages</h4><div class="gmail-up_share" style="box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-a2a_kit" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-bottom:10px;font-size:0px;line-height:16px"><a class="gmail-fb-like gmail-fb_iframe_widget" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(39,78,19);display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle;margin-right:0px"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;vertical-align:bottom;text-align:justify;width:61px;height:20px"></span></a> <div class="gmail-fb-share-button gmail-fb_iframe_widget" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle;margin-left:8px"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;vertical-align:bottom;text-align:justify;width:59px;height:20px"></span></div><a class="gmail-a2a_button_twitter_tweet" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(39,78,19);display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle;margin-left:8px"></a>  <a class="gmail-a2a_button_google_plus_share" target="_blank" href="https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/#google_plus_share" rel="nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(39,78,19);text-decoration-line:none;display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle;margin-left:8px"><span class="gmail-a2a_svg gmail-a2a_s__default gmail-a2a_s_google_plus_share" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat;overflow:hidden;height:16px;line-height:16px;padding:0px;width:16px;background-color:rgb(202,224,255);background-size:16px;border-radius:2px"></span><span class="gmail-a2a_label" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle;margin-left:8px;overflow:hidden;height:1px;width:1px">google_plus_share</span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-article-meta" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-bottom:10px;color:rgb(119,119,119)"><div class="gmail-article-author" style="box-sizing:border-box"><span style="box-sizing:border-box">By </span><a href="https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/search?keyword=George%20Liao" title="George Liao" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(39,78,19);text-decoration-line:none">George Liao</a>,Taiwan News, Staff Writer</div><div class="gmail-article-date" style="box-sizing:border-box">2019/05/02 21:20</div></div><div class="gmail-swiper-container gmail-detail-jade gmail-swiper-container-horizontal" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:20px 0px;overflow:hidden;width:600px;height:auto"><div class="gmail-swiper-wrapper" style="box-sizing:content-box;width:600px;height:433.5px;display:flex"><div class="gmail-swiper-slide gmail-swiper-slide-active" style="box-sizing:border-box;width:600px;height:433.5px;font-size:1rem;background:rgb(0,0,0);display:flex"><img src="https://tnimage.taiwannews.com.tw/photos/2019/5ccaee2b70aa6.jpg" title="" alt="" class="gmail-img-responsive" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: block; max-width: 100%; height: auto; padding: 0px; width: 100vw;"></div></div></div><span style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.5rem 0px 20px;font-size:1rem;line-height:2rem;letter-spacing:0.5px">TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Singapore’s bilingual policy of English and a native language, with English as the official language, has enabled the country to become an active player in the international arena – but at a cost.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.5rem 0px 20px;font-size:1rem;line-height:2rem;letter-spacing:0.5px">Though the country has reaped benefits from its language policy, the other side of the coin is that citizens are not able to master their native languages, Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Tuesday (April 30).</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.5rem 0px 20px;font-size:1rem;line-height:2rem;letter-spacing:0.5px">Singapore did not require schools at every level to teach English as the first language when the country first gained independence, in 1965. It wasn’t until 1979 when schools started teaching English as the primary language and native languages such as Chinese, Malaysian, and Tamil as second languages, according to CNA.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.5rem 0px 20px;font-size:1rem;line-height:2rem;letter-spacing:0.5px">These native languages are required courses in Singapore’s elementary schools and high schools.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.5rem 0px 20px;font-size:1rem;line-height:2rem;letter-spacing:0.5px">Late Singapore founding father and first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) was regarded as the key individual behind the country’s bilingual policy.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.5rem 0px 20px;font-size:1rem;line-height:2rem;letter-spacing:0.5px">Lee said that since the days of colonization by the U.K., official and legal documents have been written in English and people used English at work. He believed English is the tool to connect with the world, and therefore everyone should learn the language most people in the world use.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.5rem 0px 20px;font-size:1rem;line-height:2rem;letter-spacing:0.5px">He also believed that promoting the two-language policy was fundamental to Singapore’s success, according to CNA. He said despite the fact that Chinese people accounted for 75% of the country’s population, the policy of official English and native language bilingualism was not designed to eliminate Chinese culture or Chinese education.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.5rem 0px 20px;font-size:1rem;line-height:2rem;letter-spacing:0.5px">The long-time ruler said that even though pushing for the bilingual policy had led to political challenges, what the country had achieved proved the correctness of the policy.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.5rem 0px 20px;font-size:1rem;line-height:2rem;letter-spacing:0.5px">Current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said the bilingual policy has been instrumental to the country’s striking political and economic development, CNA reported. He opined the two-language policy enables Singaporeans to have a good command of English, and at the same time they are able to use their native languages to communicate with other groups in Asia.</p></span><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><span style="font-size:1rem;letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,Montserrat,Tahoma,STXihei,华文细黑,"Microsoft YaHei","Microsoft JhengHei",sans-serif">However, some critics of the policy said the English and native language bilingualism had produced very few people who have really mastered two languages, which means most Singaporeans’ native language ability is not ideal. The phenomenon also applies to Chinese descendants, most of whom can only speak conversational Chinese to communicate with their parents and older relatives at home.</span>Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br><br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>