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 yesterday.

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 had been 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.

While the younger generation is now schooled in English and Mandarin, Mr Lim urged them to go beyond the 'market way' of speaking the languages.

He said: 'It's not just the language we speak but we should also understand the culture and mindset behind it.'

His comments came on the back of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's call to all Singaporeans on Saturday to remain bilingual and bi-cultural so they are not caught flat-footed by the rise of China.

Half of all Chinese Singaporean children now speak English at home, making it difficult for Chinese teachers here to stimulate their interest in the subject.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a community event in Holland Close, Mr Lim admitted that English was still the lingua franca in his home.

But his wife hired a tutor to improve her mother tongue and can now read articles in Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao.

As for his daughter and son - an overseas undergraduate and a Hwa Chong Institution student, respectively - Mr Lim hopes annual trips in the past five years to China will pay off one day.

'I can only encourage and create the opportunities but they themselves have to discover that source of inspiration and motivation.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Sept 8, 2008.

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