母語與英語一樣重要

1、平衡看待雙語優(yōu)勢平衡看待雙語優(yōu)勢TakeTakebothbothEnglishEnglishmothermothertonguestonguesseriouslyseriously尚達曼TharmanShanmugaratnam(20020525)ExcerptsofspeechbyMrTharmanShanmugaratnamSeniMinisterofStatefTradeIndustry&Educationatthe8thNati

2、onalPrimarySchoolsOntheSpotChineseCompositionCompetitionlastSaturday.Bilingualismisanimptantfeatureofoureducationsystem.Itisasimptantfthefutureasithasbeenfthepast.LearningtheEnglishlanguagelearningitwellwillgiveallofyoua

3、goodfuture.Itwillallowyoutoreachouttoawldofknowledgetechnologymakethebestuseofit.ItwillhelpyoudowellinthefuturehelpensurethatSingapecontinuestobesuccessful.WealsolearnEnglishsothatwecancommunicatefeelateasewitheachotheri

4、nSingapelearnfromeachother’scultures.ToundersttheimptanceofEnglishjustlookatChina.AlltheirprimaryschoolstudentsarenowlearningEnglish.InthecitiestheystartlearningEnglishatPrimaryOne.InthecountrysidetheystartatPrimaryThree

5、.thereishugedemfEnglishlanguagetrainingamongthosewhohavealreadyleftschooleitherbecausetheydidnothaveachancetolearnthelanguageearlierbecausetheyaretryingtoachieveahighercommofthelanguage.In1015yearstimeChinesestudentswill

6、beleavingschoolwithareasonablygoodstardofEnglishverylikelybetterthantheJapaneseseveralotherAsiancountries.TheywillbeabletointeractmefreelycomftablywiththeWestlearnmequicklyfromtheWesterncountries.Itwillgivethemanewcompet

7、itiveadvantage.WemustcontinuetobeproficientconfidentinourcommofEnglish.Butitisequallyimptantthatweplaceemphasisonourmothertongues.Theyprovideuswithanchsinawldofchangechangethatwillberapidoftenconfusing.Theyallowustotapth

8、edeepreservoirsofwisdomthateachofourculturespossesses.此刻，我們只要放眼中國，就知道英文有多重要。所有的中國小學(xué)生都在勤學(xué)英文。在大城市里，學(xué)生從小學(xué)一年級開始學(xué)英文，鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)學(xué)校則從小三學(xué)起。至于那些踏入社會的人，更有迫切掌握英文的需要，也許是因為他們當(dāng)初沒有學(xué)習(xí)英文的機會，或者此刻他們對英文有更上一層樓的學(xué)習(xí)動力。再過10年至15年，中國畢業(yè)生的英文水平會相當(dāng)不錯，極可能比日本和多個

9、亞洲國家人民的英文能力更高。如此一來，中國人將能更流暢自在地與西方進行接觸，加速向西方國家學(xué)習(xí)的步調(diào)；這將提供他們新的競爭優(yōu)勢。我們必須維持精通英文的能力和使用英文的把握，但也須同樣重視母語。因為掌握母語，將能讓我們在瞬息萬變而且通常令人迷惑的新經(jīng)濟中，懂得從本身的文化底殿挖掘出它所蘊育的智慧和資源，增進我們的優(yōu)勢。對自身文化有了透徹了解，我們才能充滿自信地接觸其他文化。母語讓我們在成為環(huán)球化城市和面向全球時，不至于失去自我認同的信念和