Although I am an Indian Singaporean and will soon become a senior citizen, I have felt the need to learn Mandarin now as I did not do so when I had plenty of opportunities in my younger days when I thought I could easily interact with Chinese service providers in English and could have my day.

Now as I see there is an increasing number of Chinese service providers in the industry, I strongly feel the need to pick up some Mandarin phrases and simple sentences to make my day even better.

It's again how we look at a glass of water; whether it is half filled or half empty.

As an Indian Singaporean, I am immensely motivated to learn another language in addition to my Malay, Tamil and a smattering of Hokkien. I feel happy and am confident when I meet these people while transacting business with them.

Since language is a sensitive issue in Singapore, each of us should be able to see the big picture and be able to walk the extra mile to understand and even, if possible, to learn the culture and particularly the language of other communities in Singapore.

In Europe, particularly in the Scandinavian countries, we can see people who are able to communicate in different languages when they enter enclaves of different communities where people live in harmony.

I think we should emulate them as we are progressing into the ranks of First World countries.

M Supramaniam