Grammarphone
Kristen always seems to land the most news. Her latest find on misused doggy poo bags in Singapore highlights a larger problem: Singaporeans can’t speak English.
Faith and I were lamenting that Singaporeans weren’t treated as “native” speakers of english despite having sacrificed our own “native” tongues to learn it. This formed a natural barrier to many jobs that would have otherwise been open to us.
With the doggy-poo article out in the international press, our place in non-native-english-speaker land is etched in stone. An example of our fluency in the article:
Some of them they bring their dogs here and they poo here and they just pretend they don’t see. Then we saw it and tell them they say where, where, where. I said there, there, there.
The thing that scares me is that it makes perfect sense as I read it. Maybe we really are english illterate.
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it makes sense to me too...what really scares me is when i find myself actively using singaporean-learned phrases. for example, this evening on our way home from dinner, i asked mark if he thought we should 'buy back' some moon cakes to eat at home. ;o)
Actually, the fault lies with the journalist. S/he should not have quoted the person verbatim. Journalists owe it to their publications to make sure that comments used in stories make sense and are in proper English. Clearly, this writer was not aware of or chose not to regard good journalistic practices.
One of the 'things' that make us Singaporeans is we understand that 'statement'!
I have a feeling the journalist may have done it on purpose, to capture the essence of the speaker's indignation?
It did sound amusing - at least, initially. But I too am a little perturbed that it was published for all the world to see.
but if we singaporeans as a matter of fact do not speak perfect english, i mean some of us, then why bother hiding? if we hear someone speaking with an accent, then we will say they are posers...
But we can speak perfect English in a Singaporean tone without a fake accent and it would be fine. I think speaking Singlish is a bad habit, not a natural inclination because when I go for interviews with people, my tendency is to omit the "lahs" and "lors" and make sure that my spoken grammar is correct. So it's just a matter of making it a point to speak good English - all the time.
That's true. When I studied in England, I didn't have to fake an accent, I just left out the 'lahs' and 'hors' and 'mehs', spoke a little more slowly (we tend to rattle on sometimes) and everything was fine!
I just heard the PCK SARS rap (sorry, delayed reaction) and while it made me laugh at the familiarity of it all (away from home right now), I'm utterly ashamed that it was published outside of Singapore. Baaad export...
Speak for yourself...! Hehe. I teach conversational English in China, leh.
i like it
Believe me, sooner or later the so-called English that we speak here will devolve completely into an unrecognizable creole--which I admit might be boost to the tourism industry.
Face it, English language standards here are completely down the drain, yet we insist on stating that English is a first language here. Pure nonsense!