By: THIBEN RAJ NAGARAJAN
Email: thiben_raj_n@smmtc.uum.edu.my
Sintok, 25th April 2022: Exco Arts and Culture, Sports and Recreation of Silambam Society UUM is organizing a programme called "Mandarin Workshop: There is no Limit in Learning", which is held in conjunction with International Language Day through the Cisco Webex online platform from April 25th, 2022 until April 30th, 2022, 8:00pm to 10:00pm totally 250 participants have been participated in that programme. .
Mr. Raveen Chandran, together with Miss Yekshini Moorthy, have been invited as guest speakers for the event as both of them are knowledgeable in utilising and implementing the language in a proper manner. Mr. Raveen Chandran is a Bachelor of Accounting student at University Science Malaysia (USM), and Miss Yekshini Moorthy is a Bachelor of Technology Management student at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM).
The speaker will guide them through using the four Mandarin tones; learning the sounds Mandarin uses; memorizing simple vocabulary; learning how to count; learning some basic conversational phrases; and lastly, advancing your language skills. At the end of this program, there will be a question-and-answer session with the speakers and participants.
Both of the speakers have been interested in learning other languages since childhood. Fortunately, they have supportive parents who encourage their interest and let them acquire more knowledge of other languages. According to our speakers, Raveen Chandran and Yekshini Moorthy are blessed to have supportive parents to pursue their dreams.
Speaker added, their parents tend to encourage them by providing other language books whenever they are out, and they acknowledge the importance of the Mandarin language. Thus, they decided to admit their children to a Chinese school.
As a result, both of them learnt an additional language for future endeavors. Parents nowadays admit their children to schools that teach languages apart from their mother tongue. The speakers mentioned that extra language requirements have been overflowing due to current vacancy demands in Malaysia. In order to progress together with the world’s evolution, their parents initially admitted them to Chinese school at their early stage of life.
The first is comprehensible input, according to the speaker which is a fancy way of saying being exposed to (hearing or reading) something in the new language and learning to understand it. Comprehensible output is the second element, and unsurprisingly, it means learning to produce (speak or write) something in the new language. While practicing writing, speaking, and reading Mandarin, one should not procrastinate instead of practicing more. Practice leads to perfection; perfection leads to succession. According to Yekshini Moorthy, she reminded all participants to regularly practice the Mandarin language to improve their skills.
According to the speakers Raveen and Yekshini, one of the most rewarding aspects of the human experience is our ability to connect with others. Being able to communicate with someone in his or her language is an incredible gift. Bilinguals have the unique opportunity to communicate with a wider range of people in their personal and professional lives. Knowing the language makes us local no matter where we are, opening up our world literally and figuratively.
People will be shaped by communities. We will be humbled by the kindness of strangers. We will build lifelong friendships. And for these reasons alone, you will see the reward of learning languages for many years to come. Also, anyone who is learning a new language knows that he or she will make mistakes, often in front of other people.
According to the speakers, "It’s a necessary part of the learning process! Learning a language means putting yourself out there and moving out of your comfort zone. The upside is the amazing sense of accomplishment you’ll feel when conversing with someone in their native language."
Raveen Chandran and Yekshini Moorthy also suggested some free platforms to learn Mandarin languages, such as Dualingo, Busuu, Memrise, 123TeachMe, and also Mango Languages. Furthermore, some ideas given by our speakers to start learning another language through watching movies, YouTube videos, etc. And also, our beloved speakers taught our participants a few common sentences to use regularly.
As our speaker, Yekshini, stated, "It’s not easy to learn a language vastly different from your own. Think Malay speakers struggling with Tamil and Chinese, or an English native wrestling with Arabic."
Interestingly, studies show that these difficulties are not due to personal aversions to challenge but rather to neurological preferences, but keeping on practicing makes everyone easily learn other languages. It is not critical if one is having fun doing it. One must enjoy what they do, not be forced to do it.
Both the speakers sent gratitude verbally to the organizing team. "This platform helped us to be identified by many." This programme has given them the opportunity to be invited by other clubs for other similar ideas. The Mandarin Workshop has definitely assisted the participants to improve their creative and critical thinking. Analyzing the demand for this workshop, the organizing team decided to conduct Mandarin Workshop 2.0 at any time in the future.
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