Which language do you think is more important in our society?
English or Mandarin?
Before moving further, I would like to say that I'm not insulting any of these languages in any way, I'm just justifying their importance in my opinion. =)
Back to the main topic,
Did you know that Mandarin is actually the world's most spoken language?
This is due to the fact that population of Chinese makes up of 1/6 of the total world population.
Mandarin is said to have the most native speakers of 873 million
(meaning : the first language a person learns first) while
English have only have 341 native speakers.
However, 1.5 billion or 1 out of every 5 people knows English.
Now, the reason why I am writing this post is because I don't really know how to speak in Mandarin (I do know how to listen and speak basic Mandarin though) so I do get frustrated when I see people don't know English.
For example, this :
Okay, until now, I still don't know what did that guy said. Haha.
Can somebody translate that to me?
I know I sounded like a hypocrite because I'm not very good in Mandarin and other people don't know English but I get frustrated when they don't.
This is because I think English is a really easy language to learn and it is also very important as a language worldwide.
Besides that, it is also one of Malaysia's most spoken language so I find it a bit embarrassing for Malaysians who do not know BASIC English.
Some of the funny signboards regarding poor English usage mostly in China :
Whatt??
I didn't realize moles need rests too!
After "dying"... Haha!
Notice that the vegetable dish on bottom right is written "Black Mushroom RAPE".
Which "come" you are talking about? Haha!
Come on, so many people there but they didn't know it's wrong?
Although Mandarin has the most native speakers, it only has official status in the People's Republic of China, Taiwan and Singapore.
Meanwhile, English has official status in AT LEAST 30 countries.
Btw, having official status does not mean that it is the sole language in the country.
Furthermore, more than 80% of the pages on the Web are in English.
With the Internet era where Internet is the source of most FREE information,
not knowing English would be a pity.
That being said, I did learnt Mandarin in kindergarten and took extra classes in Standard 1 and 2.
However, I don't know what happened to the extra classes after that and I forgot how to use it. Haha!
I think schools should actually continue giving these extra classes because knowing an extra language is beneficial.
To be honest, I find our government's move to change Mathematics and Science from English back to Bahasa Malaysia is also questionable.
All subjects (except languages subjects) are taught in English when the students move up to college and university levels.
I studied Accounting in Bahasa Malaysia in secondary school and when I reached college, it was obviously taught in English and I had a bit of a difficulty learning it.
How about Science? Wouldn't it be worst with all those scientific terms?
Excelling in secondary schools does not mean a thing because you can't be a doctor by completing SPM or STPM.
I think there are many other alternatives to popularize Bahasa Malaysia besides this.
Okay, back to the original question,
which language do you think is more important?
A somewhat funny and irritating video for you guys to watch. =)
Enjoy!
Have a great day! =)
