{"id":159,"date":"2021-03-04T21:49:32","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T05:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farfromchina.com\/?p=159"},"modified":"2021-04-18T12:01:44","modified_gmt":"2021-04-18T19:01:44","slug":"will-overseas-chinese-lose-their-ability-to-speak-their-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farfromchina.com\/2021\/03\/04\/will-overseas-chinese-lose-their-ability-to-speak-their-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Overseas Chinese lose their ability to speak their language?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My ability to speak Chinese was worse than fecal matter in my teens and I could never muster up any real effort until in my mid-20s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it me? Or can I unencumber myself by blaming it all on the environment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think this is a pretty important question. If you are an Overseas Chinese who has lived away from a 100 per cent Chinese environment for years, decades or generations, you might find this amiss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heck, when I went to the University of Toronto, I met a Korean Singaporean. That blew my mind just like the Hindenburg when I realized that if she hadn’t told me she was Korean, I wouldn’t be able to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Met a really rare Singaporean of Korean descent. This was how I felt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She grew up in Singapore to two Korean parents who migrated in the 1960s and her Chinese was better than her Korean. That guilt (maybe) led her to go to Korea to pursue her mother tongue. Ouch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is quite salient because it shows that environment can have a big effect on one’s language ability. If there ain’t no Korean community and K-pop wasn’t a thing when she grew up, a few sentences here and there with her parents won’t lead anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, am I to blame myself or am I to blame the environment? Of course, let’s ask Social Media University, the stronghold of anti-vax PhDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singaporean influencer Annette Lee blames me. Funny.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A post shared by Annette Lee (@annettelee)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>