CHINESE Singaporeans already have a strong bilingual foundation but need to motivate themselves to take their mother tongue to a higher level, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say on Sunday.
Citing himself as an example, Mr Lim said he was inspired to brush up on his Mandarin only after his first trip to China in 1984, even though he was educated in the Chinese stream for 12 years.
'I was very impressed and fascinated by how they strung their sentences and explained the most complicated ideas using the simplest of words,' said Mr Lim, who is also secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).
