Language enlargement

English, Chinese and French fluency. Thoughts à la  Lee Wei Ling and Susan McKenzie

Hallowed Ground

Have you heard of Lee Wei Ling?  You may have not. At the time of writing she is the director of the National Neuroscience Institute. She is the daughter of Singapore’s first prime minister and the sister of the current prime minister. Regularly she shares her views on a wide range of topics in the Singapore Straits Times usually in the Sunday Edition.

Inside Track

Lee Wei Ling’s articles are often fascinating because she provides inside information about her upbringing, her life and of course that often includes mention of the famous parents and siblings. In her article entitled “When tuition was optional” she relates her personal experience of school and tuition.

Chinese Tuition

Although she does not say exactly when Chinese tuition started, it was before primary school.

Best Language

“Languages were best learnt young, when the brain is most plastic,” she reveals the views of her parents Lee Kuan Yew and Kwa Geok Choo.

Work Hard, Play Hard
Although the Lee siblings received a ‘strong grounding” in languages there was still time for play!

Polish

She reveals that her Prime Minister brother had tuition even after starting primary school but that this was for “extra polish.”

Chinese Dreams

During secondary school Lee Wei Ling had a Chinese tutor but they did not go over the school syllabus. Instead they concentrated on reading Dream of the Red Chamber in its classical form. The tutor also encouraged her to write articles and send them for publication in the Chinese newspapers.

BBC Novelty

I always pride myself on having a traditional BBC accent and I was not surprised to read that Lee Wei Ling had received informal tutorials when someone from the BBC was available. Talking about or reading aloud from novels featured in these tête-à-tête sessions. 

Queen’s English

Later on according to Lee Wei Ling: “Her father arranged for the daughter of the British High Commissioner to tutor me. He did not want his children speaking Singlish.”

Shakespearean Free-flow

The content was “free-flowing conversation”. Reading matter included Shakespeare.  Having worked at the British High Commission for nearly five years as the public affairs officer, I would say that exposure to good quality native speakers does give an enriching experience.

Faux Pas
For many mastering more than one language is no easy feat. For many mastering one language is no easy feat either! When I watch American reality TV shows my mind jars at the grammatical mistakes so-called native speakers make.

Dressing Down

In the school I attended French was compulsory. One day, the headmaster summoned my mother and myself to his office. I had no idea why I had been summoned to the headmaster’s office. Usually you are only summoned in this way if you have done something terribly wrong. I searched my mind and could not think why. Inside the room were my French teacher and my headmaster. They proceeded to verbally abuse my mother for what seemed to be an eternity about why was I speaking French with an English accent. Was I doing this intentionally?

French Connection

My family went into overdrive to help me with my French. My English teacher and her husband who both could speak French gave me lessons. My father brought French native books including easy-to-read classic novels. He also put me on a Linguaphone course. Thus I did not get through my language studies without extra tuition and help, and without a native-speaker input. 

Get Real

Native speaker input really can give you a leg-up in your language studies.

Sources for this article:
The Sunday Times (The Straits Times), When tuition was optional, 23 September 2012 by Lee Wei Ling