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It’s been a really busy session so far, haven’t been getting out very much. Can’t wait until the mid-session break in a few weeks’ time. Every session there’s always one subject that I hate, and this session it’s the compulsory jurisprudential subject – Legal Theory. Way too abstract for me. I guess I wasn’t cut out for philosophy!
Went to an International Law Careers Fair tonight at uni. A more apt title would be “Hong Kong Law Careers Fair” as all the firms there except one (Linklaters) were Hong Kong based. This was bad because I don’t speak any form of Chinese whatsoever. Language skills are something that are quite dependent on environment. Where you were born and where you grew up have a huge bearing upon what languages you pick up. Sure, you can pick up languages later on in life, but most people will only pick up fluency in one language learnt in this way. And only then if they spend some amount of time in a country that speaks that language. (Programming languages don’t count.) Do I wish I could speak another language? Sure. But it’s more a feeling of resignation than regret that I never picked up one when I was young, when the brain is geared for rapid learning.
I guess this is why I’m somewhat annoyed when relatives ask me, “Why can’t you speak Chinese?” as if I was supposed to be able to speak it by mere virtue of my race and as if I have some sort of genetic defect because I can’t. Actually, I might start replying to that with, “Why can’t you speak proper English?”
8:52pm (GMT +11.00) 
I get that all the time from my relatives. Its a good thing to know some Chinese. Having said that, it doesn’t make you any less a Chinese by not knowing how to speak the language (or so thats what I think anyway)
Stu – Agree with your question about “Why can’t you speak proper English?”. However, I think that English is unique in that there is little expectation for non-native speakers learning English to speak at a native level. Accents are not really important – you can easily get away with a British, Wog-Australian, Asian-Australian, Indian, American, Scandinavian or Japanese accent, without ridicule. Conversely, if one is learning another language, particularly a tonal language, you can sometimes get laughed at for not sounding like a native even though your intonation is correct.
I always think that one day we’re going to wake up in Australia and find that we are so marginalised in the region because most of us are monolingual. And the standard and integrity of the English language is going downhill very quickly. You only have to look at the impact that the internet has had through blogs and emails on written English skills. Conversational English is increasingly becoming written English.
Who ever used to write with “…” on every sentence?
“And monolingual English speakers will find it difficult to participate in societies where multilingual people switch languages for routine tasks”
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/27/1077676965961.html
ehehe… “#