China needs to master English, says MM Lee
Lee Kuan Yew manages to insult four nations in two sentences. Today:
But Mr Lee noted that corruption will be China’s greatest problem.
Doing business in China requires connections, but Chinese officials understand that Singaporean businessmen are reliable and not corrupt.
He said: “The Taiwanese are ruthless, Hong Kongers are shameless and Singaporeans are ignorant. People who are ignorant are not corrupt and reliable.”
And Temasek Review catches one more:
Speaking during a dialogue on the future of China, he claimed that standards of Chinese who tried to hone their English in China remained “woefully” low without substantiating them.
“If you learn (English) in China, just like the Koreans, you speak to each other in incorrect English, and you won’t make much progress,” he added.
Filed under: Conference, Quotes | 1 Comment
Tags: china, english, hong kong, korea, lee kuan yew, singapore, taiwan
For myself, English has made inroads.Now that I have hit 56,English is and will still be the language of survival in this borderless world.I am not snubbing other languages,but the truth is English has been around for more than half a century for me and I consider myself lucky to be educated in this language as it has made me what I am today;liberal,broadminded and openminded to criticisms.My best friends are a mixed combination and I can mingle with anybody regardless of race and religion.I do not have a religion to speak of but I respect people’s beliefs,faiths and convictions and will not be influenced by anything religious so to speak.For my part, I have brought up 2 kids who are exactly like what I am.Education at its earliest stage in life influences a person’s future and I have no regrets sending my children to a national school as we converse in English and mandarin at home owing to the influence of the media and my strong advocation of mastery of the English language from young.To date, my children and I speak well in 3 languages in Malaysia unlike my contemporaries who struggle in English.An English educated person picks up fast as we are observant,adapt and adopt to changes in the environment easily.So when I hear comments berating MM I personally feel he has made a big change by making English the working language or Singapore would not have come this far.It is a pity that we do not have English medium schools in malaysia now except for those who could afford to enrol their children in international schools.What a waste of 30 years/ If we could turn back the clock, I am sure many would have preferred to enrol their kids for such schools but then that’s wishhful thinking and we just have to indulge in tuition in English to make up the difference.Nothing like using the language daily,and that goes for all other languages if we want to survive and progress in this rat race.No one is more equal than any other and for that matter no religion and language is more superior than any other faiths,We just have to learn to accept,accomodate to get on with our lives.Surely no one could deprive us of this privilege.