Rate Singapore English from 1-10.

[johnlim]

How do you rate our spoken English in Singapore? From 1(poor) to 10(excellent)

I have seen a similar topic from a forum for the expats in Singapore.

The link : http://www.singaporeexpats.com/forum/ftopic18971-0.html

Well, at the beginning you see some sensible comments, but towards the middle...... heated arguments between locals & expats. Please visit the website and give your comments.

 

[Drudkh]

ang mohs speaks only ang moh when they were growing up, they may learn other languages too but the most 2? correct me if i'm wrong.
for us, we have to learn dialects, mandarin, english and probably malay or tamil.
when these rojak together, they become Singlish.
for a child here to juggle so many languages at the same time is so damn hard, further more only the newer generation parents speak english with their child.

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

tell the govt to make up their mind... for a moment its speak mandarin campaign, den say respect the elderly, learn the roots stuff, den now say our english cannot make it... now want us to brush up our english... just a look at the primary school language syllabus... can cry man..... alittle bit of this... alittle bit of that... then awhile say the 2nd language for the young too hard for them to catch up, den use the 'english' style hanyu pinying... now say learn characters better... pengz...

 

[johnlim]

It seems to me that a lot of foreigners are unhappy with us when we tell them that we are bilingual. There are expats from china, hong kong, us, uk,..............

Especially with our singlish, they couldn't understand the language and therefore ....... all the bad comments from them.

 

[Gymrat76]

I have a Russian friend working in Sg who speaks English, Russian (of course) and Mandarin.. with a smattering of Malay as well, so there are a number of them who are multilingual...

Personally, I've met Singaporeans that are fluent in the English tongue, and others who can just get by, and this latter group mostly converse in Mandarin amongst themselves. Still its good compared to Malaysia where a lot of people (the Malays mostly) can barely speak English because for many years the government was pushing for Bahasa Malaysia to be used everywhere... only recently have they realized that they can't survive in international commerce without english...

 

[Drudkh]

tell the govt to make up their mind... for a moment its speak mandarin campaign, den say respect the elderly, learn the roots stuff, den now say our english cannot make it... now want us to brush up our english... just a look at the primary school language syllabus... can cry man..... alittle bit of this... alittle bit of that... then awhile say the 2nd language for the young too hard for them to catch up, den use the 'english' style hanyu pinying... now say learn characters better... pengz...

now MOE is introducing Malay as a third langauge in school.

 

[espn]

How about chinese? Whenever I hear interviews on the news, the english and chinese sends shivers down my spine

 

[Drudkh]

I have a Russian friend working in Sg who speaks English, Russian (of course) and Mandarin.. with a smattering of Malay as well, so there are a number of them who are multilingual...

Personally, I've met Singaporeans that are fluent in the English tongue, and others who can just get by, and this latter group mostly converse in Mandarin amongst themselves. Still its good compared to Malaysia where a lot of people (the Malays mostly) can barely speak English because for many years the government was pushing for Bahasa Malaysia to be used everywhere... only recently have they realized that they can't survive in international commerce without english...

i don't think we be compared to west people. they learn english from young and slowly pick up other langauges but not us. we learn all at one shot! its different culture and learning environment.

 

[XXX Boy]

tell the govt to make up their mind... for a moment its speak mandarin campaign, den say respect the elderly, learn the roots stuff, den now say our english cannot make it... now want us to brush up our english... just a look at the primary school language syllabus... can cry man..... alittle bit of this... alittle bit of that... then awhile say the 2nd language for the young too hard for them to catch up, den use the 'english' style hanyu pinying... now say learn characters better... pengz...

Dun anyhow say about the govt okie?? Very dangerous one wo...wait they mark you then u know!!! ;p

 

[Drudkh]

Dun anyhow say about the govt okie?? Very dangerous one wo...wait they mark you then u know!!! ;p

there's no need to be afraid of the government if we are speaking the truth. we are a democratic society unless our national pledge is untrue?

 

[Benign]

Between Mandarin and English, I just think both are equally important. Geographically, Sg is the crossroad of East and West.

However, I would be ashamed of myself if I can't speak my mother tongue. :sticktong

 

[espn]

there's no need to be afraid of the government if we are speaking the truth. we are a democratic society unless our national pledge is untrue?

WAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA



My toes are laughing.

 

[Drudkh]

:nono: there's no need to bold in red.

 

[Hommie]

What's wrong with our Singlish? If we have a perfect score of 10/10 for our English but 1/10 with our mother tongue, what would that me us?

 

[adamadam]

It depends who you are talking to and who they are speaking to.

I'm not an expat, but I'm fluent in English (and nothing else). hee-hee

 

[Sion]

I think the westerners tend to judge our standard of English by our accent.

I have been living in Sydney for more than a decade. I went to pronunciation classes 3 times and listened to tapes at home and practised to sound "correct" paying attention to end consonents and long vowels and the intonation. And always put on a cassette of English novels read by some of the finest English actors in the journeys to and from work.

After a while it's just too hard lah. I think if I speak like how I speak at least people know where I am coming from. Met a local Chinese teacher who is an Ang Moh. He spoke Mandarin with a strong English accent too.

Also once I wrote a note to a colleague at work something like "Please refer to Page 12 for instructions regarding corrections needed to be done". Another Ang Moh colleague told me why didn't I just write "See Page 12 for corrections"? Old habits die hard leh.

 

[Drudkh]

I think the westerners tend to judge our standard of English by our accent.

I have been living in Sydney for more than a decade. I went to pronunciation classes 3 times and listened to tapes at home and practised to sound "correct" paying attention to end consonents and long vowels and the intonation. And always put on a cassette of English novels read by some of the finest English actors in the journeys to and from work.

After a while it's just too hard lah. I think if I speak like how I speak at least people know where I am coming from. Met a local Chinese teacher who is an Ang Moh. He spoke Mandarin with a strong English accent too.

Also once I wrote a note to a colleague at work something like "Please refer to Page 12 for instructions regarding corrections needed to be done". Another Ang Moh colleague told me why didn't I just write "See Page 12 for corrections"? Old habits die hard leh.

:bsmilie: next time just write "Page 12".

 

[Ah_Seng]

Frankly speaking...I don't really give a s#*t what the ang mo(s) think. Most Singaporeans are capable of speaking proper english but would prefer the more efficient Singlish.

Eg:

Where shall we go for dinner? (English)
Makan where? (Singlish) ;p

We should not allow ourselves to be judged by the ang mo(s).

As a Singaporean, I am proud to speak Singlish !!!:blah:

 

[jsbn]

now MOE is introducing Malay as a third langauge in school.

Malay as 3rd language? Why not?

It never hurts, neither did anyone DIE from learning a 3rd, 4th or 5th language. Our parents grew up on a diet of dialects, English, Chinese and Malay. If u wanna include dialects as 'foreign tongues', our parents would be dead 50yrs ago dude.

If they can do it 50yrs ago, why not now? Humans are supposed to be smarter as the evolution cycle goes on, not dumber.

 

[jsbn]

i don't think we be compared to west people. they learn english from young and slowly pick up other langauges but not us. we learn all at one shot! its different culture and learning environment.

Incidentally, that puts us at a slight advantage at learning other languages.

We pick up Hokkien expletives in a snap. We learn Tamil, Malay and other foreign tongue's expletives all in a snap. Most Singaporeans are able to swear in at least 3 tongues (excluding the standard English fare).

And though I noe most of u guys might deny it, but its a fact and we have to face it. We learn foreign tongues faster through swear words and all the expletives. I'm fortunate that I'm able to swear in more than 5 different tongues at others to shut them up.