BALANCE is the key!

In reply to the comment on “Open-mindedness or to drop out”.

Thank for your advice. Appreciate that. However, what I meant for all this while is that apart from enhancing our grasp of Chinese language, which should not be a problem for Chinese-educated people, we should meanwhile learn to open our arms to receive new things from the world outside, including new languages and new cultures though they might sometimes seem to be contradicting with our own. (Receive doesn't mean accept in totality).

Experience told me that if we are too persisting in CHINESE alone, we'll then be struggling in this multiracial country, not because of the smattering of other languages but mostly it is due to the misunderstanding arising out from the different cultures and backgrounds, as we can't mingle well with the rest.

That's my intent to urge my Chinese-educated friends to get ready, or even to take proactive steps to get ourselves accustomed to new cultures, including, at the very least, those relating to English and Malays. And definitely it's of NO harm- as I mentioned earlier- it's not a zero sum game that when your understanding to Malay cultures is getting better, your love and faith towards Chinese will deteriorate.

To understand the ideas I canvassed better, it's advised that you should read my three previous blogs written in Chinese language, which are “文化冲击”，“太CHINESE了!”and “谢谢你，中文”。 "文化冲击”described how my life was, being too Chinese-oriented, in the circle of life in Malaysia (though the descriptions might be a bit exaggerated.)

In fact my love to CHINESE is immortal. This can be seen in two other blogs named “太CHINESE了!” (which expressed my disappointment towards those who both abhors and despises Chinese language and the likes) and “谢谢你，中文” (as depicting how my loves to Chinese was formed). After all Mandarin or Chinese is my mother tongue- the language which I used to speak, listen and write from the very moment I was born to this world.

But again, my emphasis is: BALANCE is the key!

The taste of the food is in its spices and the spice of life is in its VARIETY.

反思《钱不够用2》

（I）
记得当初我养儿，我儿今又养孙儿
我儿饿我由他饿，莫叫 孙子饿我儿
父母的伟大 重如泰山
父母的恩惠 情似深海
今生今世我们磨齿难忘

在医院里
我们总看见《孝顺的父母》很多
不分昼夜、无微不至地照料着子女
《孝顺的儿女》似乎且寥寥无几
病久床前无孝子
真是可怜天下父母心

（II）
没有水，鱼儿就不能游
没有太阳，月亮就不会亮
没有花香，就没有蝴蝶飞舞
没有蓝天，鸟儿就不会自由地飞翔

没有父母，哪来今天的我们？
没有父母，哪来今天的家庭温暖
没有父母，哪来今天的荣华富贵
没有父母，也许你我早已是个孤儿了

（III）
回家感觉真好
我的家就是我的城堡
每一砖一瓦用爱创造
家里人的微笑是我的财宝
等回家才知道自己真的很重要

如果双手能为家人而粗糙
那是多么荣耀、多么骄傲
您为我把饭烧， 我为您打扫
啊！回家的感觉实在真的太好
哪，今天你回家探望父母了吗？

（改编于书籍、短讯、歌词）

Open-mindedness or to drop out!

“一间房，两张床，两种语言，两个思想，两个不同的世界。
一个根，两个文化，多重冲击。”
“One Room, Two Beds, Two Languages, Two Thinking, Two Diverse Worlds;
One Root, Two Cultures with Multiple Crisscrosses”

IN summing up the three current blogs relating to Chinese language, I hold no hesitation to say that being a Malaysian Chinese I’m proud for being able to master my mother tongue since young.

In the first blog, it was mentioned that I preferred English and Bahasa than Mandarin in my secondary school, mostly because my command of Mandarin was rather poor as compared to other peers at the time and hence I never knew how to appreciate the latter. The scenario however was totally changed when I first stepped out from my hometown to further my study in PJ. My love and appreciation towards Mandarin were escalating when I was first assigned to tutor some students, including non-Chinese to learn elementary Mandarin and, worth to mention, I was really touched by their enthusiasm to stay back after school solely to brush up Mandarin; therefore, in comparison, I am really grateful as I was bestowed the opportunity to learn my mother tongue since young. In fact this wasn’t their fault either (for not learning Mandarin) because the final say was with their parents. From my observation, they really hoped to master the language, not of the rising powers and mounting influences of China in today’s world, but it is because Mandarin has become a common language among local Chinese community.

Be that as it may, as mentioned in the subsequent blogs entitled “Too Chinese!” and “Crashes between Cultures”, it’s to be reminded that we shouldn’t feel over-complacent by the fact that we know Mandarin. Because the reality is, at least in Malaysia, no matter how good your Mandarin and Bahasa is, English is still the most important and useful tool in our daily life. Be clear, I refer, not only to the language itself but also the 'cultures’ related to and derived from English, including the musics, movies, books and thinking. There are plenty of differences between Chinese-educated and English-educated people, albeit we all are Chinese, particularly in the ways how we perceive things, as we’ve been exposed to two different languages and cultures altogether, e.g. via newspapers and TV programmes, when we were still young.

In my opinion it’s really hard, or it might be a miracle, to require the English-educated’s to change; and hence WHY NOT we Chinese-educated people learn to get used to them, for engaging into their ways of life, learning English language and also other related cultures thereof, then only we’re able to be in the same wavelength with them and understand them better.

This HOWEVER doesn’t mean (emphasis added) we surrender to their superiority; instead we’re flexible and elastic that we can master, accept and embrace both the Chinese and English cultures with open arms. We cannot cope with these disparities arising from the crashes between two different influences UNLESS AND UNTIL we open up our mind to adopt new things, new cultures, new languages and new mindsets while at the same time we uphold our root, viz to learn Mandarin and preserve our culture. It’s accentuated that learning English and other cultures is not a zero-game that by learning and accepting them would dilute our Chineseness!!!

Open-mindedness is the key to success, so let’s us open up our mind, for not only reading Chinese books, watching Chinese movies, listening Chinese music, but also those of the ENGLISH and MALAY at the same time. Friends, we should not live under the cocoon of Chinese world only, too, we should widen our horizon to see and meet the world outside.

I’m now ‘struggling’ for that; or should I call it ‘striving’ instead? The process is never easy but we have to JiaYou (加油) & JiaBaJingr (加把劲儿).

Last word to mention, for my English-educated friends, you guys need to buck up as well because English is no longer the only passport or panacea in today’s flat world and in fact it’s never rugi to learn one more language and comprehend one more culture, particularly if it’s your root and origin.

And it’s inappropriate to name English-educated Chinese ‘Banana’ because some of them are not much less 'Chinese’ than us though they never learn Mandarin before; conversely some might be much ‘Chinese’ (than us) in term of preserving the traditions and cultures. Yet, I don’t deny there exist some who are much like an Englishman, apathy to their own root and origin. Nevertheless the fact is we all come from the same family though differ in some aspects of life, for which the derogatory metaphor ‘Banana’ should then be discarded.

文化的冲击

虽然身上流溢着同样的血液，共享相同的饮食与生活习惯，同是龙的传人、炎黄子孙，但因生长于不同的家庭环境，接受不同的语文教育与文化熏陶，这激荡出了不同的思维方式，酝酿出不同的主见观念。这也就是中文与英文背景的文化冲击。

漫漫四年的大学生涯，首两年的室友为华校生，后两年为英校生。在生活上，大家依旧过着华人的生活习惯，享用同样的中华美食，庆祝相同的华人节庆，但思想的偏向与兴趣的倾向却截然不同。一个熟读孔子老子，一个热爱莎士比亚；一个观看中国中央电视台，一个收看美国有线电视新闻网；一个追捧港剧台戏，一个酷爱好莱坞剧作；一个阅读《神雕侠侣》，一个翻阅《Lord of the Rings》；一个心系祖国大陆，一个情怀欧美大国；两者间的切入点、分析角度迥然不同，相差十万八千里。

一个生活在英文社群的华校毕业生，好比离水的鱼，无法畅所欲言、自我伸展、自我发挥，英雄无用武之地，虎落平阳被犬欺似的。在这里，没人能了解中华文化的奥妙，没人能体悟象形文字的美，更没人能和你一唱一合，夫唱妻随似的。我高谈中国英雄人物，他独唱英美百年伟人；我弹琴论画，他独跳嘻哈；我高谈中国百年奥运，他论述中国人权、提倡抵制奥运；我谴责美国横行霸道、目中无人，他赞扬美国自由开放、人人平等。我独自追看《家好月圆》反刍《钱不够用2》，他独守电脑迷恋《Prison Break》享受《Mamma Mia》。一间房，两张床，两种语言，两个思想，两个不同的世界。我挺胸昂唱《我是中国人》，他耸肩甩臀《Touch My Body》哟！哟！ 哟！

一个根，两个文化，多重冲击。我坚信母语乃民族的灵魂，他且以自己流利的ABC为傲。当华校生遇见英校生，我们不再说自己熟悉的方言，讲自己的母语；反道之，英语成了我们的共同语言。