As someone who has received constant jibes from people who think they speak better Putonghua than me, I can empathise with how badly the new chief executive of Macau, Fernando Chui Sai On, must feel to have his inaugural oath delivered in Putonghua panned by some Internet jokers.

Although the jokers are probably not as many as the South China Morning Post (SCMP) has made them out to be and which story it seemed to have sourced from CNNGo, a new entertainment and lifestyle website still in Beta form about Asian cities. It’s an offshoot of American right-wing Ted Turner’s CNN.

The CNNGo post poked fun at more than Mr Chui. Another victim is “Hong Kong’s King of Stocks” Cho Yan-chiu – famous for his acute predictions of stock fluctuations — who bravely attempted to give an interview in Putonghua which is far from perfect.

If we don’t cringe at all kinds of tongues attempting to speak English — often with such miserable results that give an educated native English speaker goose bumps –  why on earth should we cringe when Chinese citizens attempt to speak in the official lingua franca of their country?

Sure, we can laugh like yokels and make fun but I think the more sensible and sensitive thing to do is to cheer these gentlemen — and others like them — on.

I reproduce below the two videos which appear to have caused such mirth at CNNGo. Let only those who can speak Putonghua perfectly judge, and I include those at CNNGo and SCMP.