By Regina Ip
"...Being a multicultural and multilingual society, Singapore has long had to grapple with similar issues, ranging from the technical issue of language acquisition, to the ultra-sensitive political issue of deciding which of the many languages and dialects in Singapore should be “first among equals."
"Hong Kong faced situations similar to Singapore’s in many respects – the need for children to acquire proficiency in both English and Chinese, but with mixed results. In the public school system, it is hard to find teachers, let alone students, who are truly proficient in both official languages and in speaking Mandarin."
"The existence of many tongues should not be an impediment to a unified vision of our future and destiny but, in Hong Kong, a lack of foresight and policy mistakes mean that language debates will continue to engender discord."
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