Saturday, August 25, 2007
yesterday night's discussion was very interesting. In a way, it took someone's tragedy for the whole group to get together and clear things out.
Many things were said and though not all were very pleasent, in the end, the outcome was good and that is all that matters. I do love all of you and i sincerely hope that all of my efforts will bear fruit.
In any case, I want to talk about this issue that is highlighted in today's Straits Times. Regarding our language.
It felt so wierd for me to speak to my friend in malay just now. It justs highlights how much i actually miss malay classes. This might sound ironic but I do love my mother tongue and I recognize that it is a part of me. I applaud PM Lee's decision to attarct more students to learn and speak malay as a third language. One of the regrets I have is that I didn't take manadarin as a third language. Unfortunately, its proving difficult for me to learn it now due to time constraints.
Singaporeans should be able to communicate with each other well in a plethora of languages. As was mentioned in the article, malay used to be the lingua franca of Singapore yet it has now been degraded to such an extent that even the malays rarely use the language.
To me, a language is one of the most important components to a race's culture and heritage and it should be preserved. I strongly detest what is currently happening now with my language where people are corrupting its use. For example, the vulgarities and crude usage of the language is embarrasing. How did such words ever exist in such a beautiful language is beyond me.
Therefore I certainly hope that more will be done to further this language and weed out filthy and crude words.
Nathaniel Iman sprouted nonsense at