Bilingual?

Singaporeans are becoming more and more bilingual. In the past, distinction between the mother tongue and our first language - English was clear. This was evident from the media which we were exposed to. On Channel 8, you would hardly see anything in English, except for the subtitles. In the Chinese newspapers, you would not see any English article.

Nowadays, the distinction has blurred. Sometimes, we will see Chinese show trailers (in Chinese) on Channel 5 or English show trailers (in English) on Channel 8. We will also see English articles in Chinese newspapers or Chinese articles peppered with English words. Some columnists can write well both in English and Chinese.

Singaporeans sometimes have been criticised for speaking improperly, especially when we tend to mix a language into another in our conversations. This was sometimes perceived as inappropriate especially in more formal settings or in front of foreign delegates. There seemed to be a shift towards mastering one language rather than attempting to be bilingual which was encouraged when I was still in school.

Personally, I still feel that I have benefited from having English and Chinese as my first languages in secondary school. In daily conversations at more casual settings, sometimes a certain situation or feeling can be more aptly expressed in one language than another. For instance, when we want to encourage someone, we often use "Jia1 You2" in Chinese. If we were to express this in English, despite wracking through my brains for a long time, I cannot find a synonymous phrase. The closest I can think of is "Keep it up!' but somehow it lacks the punch as the Chinese version.

Or maybe my failure to come out with an appropriate term in English is a sign of my poor grasp of either language?