Re: Improving English standard.....much ado ...in vain

Although it may seem okay to speak singlish as well as to promoting the
speaking good english. But in Singapore it can be confusing to scholol
children
young and young people. Already SMS short forms are being abused in the
writing in shools.

I think one should look at how singaporean children who were brought up and
schooled in native english speaking countries - like canada, australi, and
england.

From my visits and first hand experiences, I think first of all they do not
speak singlish; they do not write in wrong speech; they speak calmly and at
the right speed; and they speak good english and write good english too.

Why they can achieve in these native englsih countries is because thye have
the englsih speaking culture and english environment to cmmunicate and they
also learn along the way from their peers. Even working is speaking and
writing in english. One makes effort to improve - if not, one will feel not
up to standard with their peers, subordinates or even superiors.

In Singapore it is not the case, for examplt, ordinary singaporeans prefer
to choose to speak and talk to each other in loud hokkien as though it
argur an air of boastfulness when in indded it is their lack of confidence
of their speaking or conversational skills and worse, the lack of writing
skills, too.

Perhap speaking and conversational englsih skills should be emphased so that
they could gradually raise their writing skills too - because writing is
dependent on the conversational skills.



"Bald eagle" <Baldeagle@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44adb073$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Zanzibar" <zanzibar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44ad6f66$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The native speakers will not say "catch no ball". But our students will
say
it - becasue they have to fit into the exisitng environment and conducts
in
public places. So these students will "force" themsleves to speak it
this
way to enable the opposite persons working in public places ot
understand
it.

Peer pressure does play a part in the widespread use
of Singlish among the young.
In fact, I have nothing against the use of Singlish among
Singaporeans. It identify us, as Singaporean.
Everywhere overseas, Singaporeans could be picked
out from a crowed, as soon as they opened their mouth
to speak.

But, not being able to switch to proper good English, when
dealing with other English speaking business clients, will
be a great handicap for us....especially urgent now when
we live in a global village.

Immage, telling an English speaking Swiss or German
clients ..."I catch no ball", ...." Ok Lah, sell you cheaper.."
He would be thinking ....you are a crazy basket ball
fan, or you are a dangerous human trafficker!
It is therefore essential that we can speak good
English, when required to do so.


It is sad tha some years back it was a minister who said it was alright
to
speak singlish - referring to Tv station reality shows by mark lee and
Gurmit singh and that skinnny girl patricia - it seemed the scomment
came
from lim boon heng - and his statements were covered in the newspapers.

It is perfectly ok to speak Singlish among ourselves...
provided we could switch to good English when required to.


"Bald eagle" <Baldeagle@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44acdc46$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Wakalukong" <wakalukong@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1152171877.695414.37250@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bald eagle wrote:
(snip)
Do you think whether it is possible to get
our kids in school to change their Singlish
to BBC English... from
" I catch no ball" .......to
" I do not understand what you are talking about"
---------

Of course not. You can't use it in "translated" form.

My original point is that native English teachers would benefit
students who are already good in English, but not those who are poor
in
the subject.

Yes. I agree with you.
The problem is not with those who are already good
in English.
It is with the huge majority who speak Singlish.
The measures taken to improve spoken English is, at best,
good for a few students. It will NOT be effective.

You see, native English speakers will not say... " l
catch no ball"
Instead, they would say "Pardon me", .."Please explain",
"I don't understand"....."This is beyond me"...."Care
to explain"....

You see, most Singaporean 'think in Chinese', and
when required to say it in English, ....they translate
their mind's image, word for word, to English.
"Catch no ball" is a direct translation.
This "thinking in Chinese" when speaking English,
is the problem, the cause of poor English (Singlish).

The MOE must come up with a program to train
students to ... "think in English", when speaking English.










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