Help! Pardon my Chinese!

Argh. I've just discovered, MUCH to my chagrin, that I can't speak Chinese after all.

Those of you who have heard me speak (back in the very good old days) Chinese before are probably reading this in disbelief. But it's true. I went to a Society for Chinese Law meeting at the Law School's Drapkin Lounge today -- excellent Chinese food served by the way -- and I was approached by a few visiting scholars from Renmin University in PR of C. They broached the subject of political apathy amongst Singaporeans and whether only the Lees cared about politics. And I tried to say "No, I don't think so. This impression is probably due to the PAP's very effective policies of drafting talents into their party." and it didn't even come out right. *sigh* Very very embarrassing. I used to sit in class and try to understand what these same scholars were trying to say in English (it was quite hard actually), and wonder how brave they were to try to do a degree in English. In fact, I applaud them for even volunteering opinions in class despite their halting English.

But I really admire their willingness to keep trying. Me? I guess I rested on my laurels for too long. I kept thinking of Chinese as my other "First Language" -- according to MOE's taxonomy of 1st, 2nd and 3rd languages -- but maybe it's only as good as my Japanese now. Oh don't get me started on my spoken Japanese as well.

Yeah -- so I'm determined to keep trying, just like my Chinese classmates. If they can keep trying to speak English, I can keep trying to speak Chinese. What I need, perhaps, is a semester in China. But of course that's impossible. Which makes me quite jealous of people like Yiling (and Thad) and Shi Ming and lots of other people who got to go to China to study for a bit. So I'll just be content with grabbing my Chinese classmates whenever I see them and practise my Chinese.