I refer to the article headlined, 'Paving the way for Putonghua' (South China Morning Post, August 6), which emphasised the need for children to learn China's official language. I would like to relate my experience in learning Putonghua. I learned the language as a compulsory subject from primary three onwards. However, educators who are only using Pin Yin to teach students are not being effective. Pin Yin comprises phonetic symbols, not Chinese characters, therefore students do not learn a communal vocabulary. We learn, for example, the international phonetics alphabet in order to speak English properly. My mainland-born classmates always get high scores in the Putonghua examination (which comprises listening and oral), not because they rote learn communal words, but because they practice it every day. We should adopt the same method. For instance, we should watch Putonghua programmes or converse with Putonghua speakers, particularly, Beijing people, because Pin Yin is based upon northern dialect - Pekinese. We should also attempt to learn contemporary Chinese idioms and phrases. This will help to raise our level. Hong Kong people should feel ashamed if they do not know the mother tongue of their country. We need to be able to communicate with our fellow citizens. I strongly agree with the views expressed by Raymond Hung Man-wo's in his letter headlined, 'Proficiency in mainland language essential' (Post, August 10). KWOK LEUNG LEE Kowloon
