“Wow, you are from Singapore? Singaporeans are very talented! You all can speak so many languages, unlike us,” the contractor said in earnest.

“Ok la, don’t say this. We are so-so only,” I replied humbly.

“Is it? No wor, I know few Singaporeans and they all can speak at least 3 languages ar! English, Mandarin and Hokkien. See, you can speak 4!” He continued to sing our praises. The fourth language he was referring to is Cantonese.

You see, that conversation took place when I was in Hong Kong. The contractor came to check on my air-con, and we started chatting away. He probably found it funny for a single girl like me to be living all by herself, and hence started asking me some questions, which led to my nationality.

I always encourage Singaporeans, if they have a chance (create one if they don’t), to go overseas and live for a while. Just to gain the life experience there. Because I realised that unless we get out of here, it’ll be hard to appreciate the fine things we enjoy here. And unless we go out there, we won’t know how the world perceive us to be. Where are our weaknesses? What is our market value?

Like cleanliness - no foul-smelling rubbish or trip-inducing banana skins. Like political stability - no protests, strikes, or unruly riots. Like safety - we can roam the streets at a late hour with no fear of being shot down by some drunken stranger.

And then, there’s this competitive advantage we possess - bilingual. We have the priviledge to learn English as our first language and a mother tongue as the second language, depending on our race. For me, it is Mandarin obviously.

As I see that this is an advantage and a priviledge, not many do. They grumble that they are forced to learn something as complex as Mandarin. They envy students from countries where only a single language was taught, and additional ones come as electives. Like US, Japan and South Korea for example.

Then there are those students who fare extremely well in Mandarin and flunk it in English. This is not good news, we all say. Same goes for those who only speaks English and struggle to even write their own name in Chnese!

I look around my friends’ children and the kids nowadays (even adults) and I see these 2 scenarios unfolding right before my eyes. It’s either the case of Mandarin-dominated or English-oriented. Aptitude aside, none of them displayed a keen attitude to want to brush up on their weaker language.

I find this such a pity. We are given this excellent advantage at a young age, an age where learnings are picked up and absorbed at a lightning speed, to learn two languages, yet we do not treasure and make the optimum use of this chance. We are one step ahead of others, yet we are not really that.

There are so many Singaporeans who can’t speak proper English when there is a need to. I speak Singlish, of course, when I’m around my friends as I don’t see the need to be so proper and formal. But when the circumstance asks for it, I’m perfectly comfortable to skip all the lahs, lors and grammatically-wrong sentences like “Eat what?”, “Dunno leh” or “Got meh?”

Having said this, my English is far from perfect too! There are lots of room for improvement, and I still run to my dictionary for help each time I see an alien word. I want to learn and upgrade my languages, be it English, Mandarin or those smattering words of Korean and Japanese I picked up along the way in the TV dramas.

Singapore is a little red dot. We lack natural resources, and our best assets are, as told many times by our Government, our people. One of our best-known assets is the fact that we are bilingual!

So, why are we giving up this unique selling point to market ourselves? While the rest of the world are catching up on to the 2nd language fever, let’s not put to waste what has been in place for us long, long time ago. Better to start early, then to play catch up later on in life. That’s always my motto.

Oh, and back to the contractor, he also said this: “For me, my Mandarin is no good. I can understand but when I speak, people find it hard to listen. My English is even worse! No choice, now have to work harder and practise speaking Mandarin la! Have to earn a living lah.”

To that, I have to agree. And I couldn’t resist smiling at the fact that we Singaporeans are really lucky for such early education in languages.

Oh! Let’s not forget that with a better command of languages, we have a sturdier bridge of communication between us and our partners, family, friends and the outside world to build more successful relationships. Giving your loved one compliments doesn’t have to be restricted to those commonly-used words like “nice”, “so nice” and “very nice!” anymore!