I've got a major issue with people speaking English in Singapore. I'm not exactly proud of the so-called Singlish although a few "lahs" and "lors" are fine with me, when your WHOLE sentence is peppered with pathetic Singlish ALL THE TIME, it gets mighty frustrating.
A great example is Mr. Yellow Boots, nose-picking, long pinkie nail Phua Chu Kang. I've got nothing against him personally of course. But how he is idolised beats me. How he involved himself in a "speak good english" campaign stumps me. Oh speaking of that campaign, another ambassador was Jack Neo, another pseudo-anglo not terribly fluent in English either. Isn't he more popular for being Liang Po Po anyway? I wonder what Singapore is trying to prove to its residents and show to the rest of the world. How can a developed country revel in such uncouth entertainment? Is this really the way forward? I look at the youths along orchard and all I say is that I'm concerned. Hell, I am. Most can't even speak coherent English nor Mandarin. And you call yourself multi-lingual. Why not you just concentrate on ONE language and perfect it?
I think its the ultimate insult (not compliment mind you) how you can tell a Singaporean is a Singaporean even overseas. Its this brash, crude Singlish that gives it all away and of course the arrogant swagger which stems from what? 40 years of history?! Wake up Lion City! If your people don't improve, you can forget about developing any furthur...
Disgruntled...
About Jon
- Jon Lai
- Lion City, Gibraltar
- I would like to think of myself not just as an architect or a designer. Hell no, i don't particularly desire to be "arty farty". Instead, I'm just doing my job on earth, taking care of mankind and minding other people's business. There is nothing more rewarding than making someone smile. The simple things of life amuse me. Teddy bears make me happy. I don't stare at women. Yet I complicate life. Welcome to my dynasty.
5 comments:
Dude, we must have great minds since we think alike! Haha. Or maybe we can read each other's minds or something.. cos i TOTALLY agree with you. Singlish might be "uniquely" Singaporean but it is sure as hell very uncultured.
And yeah, we should learn to speak at least one language well. And be able to write it as fluently as we speak it. And not to mention, be able to swear proficiently in it too. Hehe.
Unfortunately, colloqual singaporean english, which is supposed to be, well, colloqual, has become almost synonomous with a kind of cultural export to the rest of the world. While being used in the heartlands to probably convey feelings that other english words might not be able to do, bringing it to mainstream society and worse still, overseas doesn't seem like a good idea at all to me.
has anyone else got a problem? My blog is all in Mandarin. geee... i really got my punishment ain't? *DANG the thing is you know, even some Aussie blokes have asked if I know who phua chu kang is... they find him well COOL. i'm miffed simply because I don't speak like him, nor choose to associate with him. And the aussies would rather speak with PCK instead. haha... a complete paradox.
I would actually love to swear in many languages. Remember the list we got jem? Hokkien swear words are ace in that they SOUND LIKE SWEAR WORDS! caninabeychaocheebye <--- now u can't beat that can you?
Or they can sound like mathematical formulas. Eg. KNNBC^2B! Hahaha.
Aye aye! Don't use this the internet to surf for sexy pictures!
If PCK is cool, I think they would be pleasantly surprised when they visit Singapore. We'll be going from a 'fine' country to a 'cool' one. Best in Singapore, JB and some say Australia!
Post a Comment