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What's so talented about the foreign talents in Singapore?

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PhantomX
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Post by PhantomX » Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:21 am

jpatokal wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:[The usage of the Citizenship as an adjective instead of the noun also gives rise to the thoughts that this is why this will never be a homogeneous society until they start thinking as themselves as Singaporeans FIRST and not RACE first. You normally will hear Americans refer to themselves as Americans. If they do include their ethnicity it is usually used as an adjective and not a noun.
Give it some time -- this little red dot's only been here for 40 years, and the differences to the north of the border are already pretty striking.
I wonder if its as a result of his having first hand experience at home? :D
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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:55 am

PhantomX wrote:
jpatokal wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:[The usage of the Citizenship as an adjective instead of the noun also gives rise to the thoughts that this is why this will never be a homogeneous society until they start thinking as themselves as Singaporeans FIRST and not RACE first. You normally will hear Americans refer to themselves as Americans. If they do include their ethnicity it is usually used as an adjective and not a noun.
Give it some time -- this little red dot's only been here for 40 years, and the differences to the north of the border are already pretty striking.
I wonder if its as a result of his having first hand experience at home? :D
:???:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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byron
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Post by byron » Thu, 12 Jul 2007 2:05 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Not quite right. Normally if you ask a Singaporean what they are they will normally respond with "I am a Singaporean Chinese, Singaporean Indian or Singaporean Malay." As opposed to "I am a Chinese Singaporean, etc., etc.

The usage of the Citizenship as an adjective instead of the noun also gives rise to the thoughts that this is why this will never be a homogeneous society until they start thinking as themselves as Singaporeans FIRST and not RACE first. You normally will hear Americans refer to themselves as Americans. If they do include their ethnicity it is usually used as an adjective and not a noun.
that's an interesting observation SMS...

if i may offer a different view... from my personal experience, when i was studying or working overseas, most of my friends just reply which country they're from, i.e. "i'm from singapore" without necessarily including their race - there's no need to unless specifically asked.

and when one asks "what they are" instead of "who" or "where" then you have to wonder about the intentions of the enquirer in the 1st place :)

as for nouns/adjectives, I'll also answer "Singaporean Chinese" if asked my country/ethnicity because i see it as country 1st and ethnicity 2nd... most of us don't go deep into the syntax of the English language. considering how pervasive local slang (Singlish) is over here, you'd be elated just to get a proper sentence out of the average Joe. :)

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Thu, 12 Jul 2007 6:21 pm

Byron,

I had actually made a rejoinder in my initial post indicating that somebody would probably come back with exactly the comment you have presented. I deleted it because of the obvious reason. You didn't disappoint however. :wink:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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byron
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Post by byron » Thu, 12 Jul 2007 7:57 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Byron,

I had actually made a rejoinder in my initial post indicating that somebody would probably come back with exactly the comment you have presented. I deleted it because of the obvious reason. You didn't disappoint however. :wink:
](*,) damn! why did i fall for that one, hahah...

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Post by phil30k » Mon, 07 Jan 2008 4:47 pm

Why is this in the jokes section?

Okay, I'm really late with this response.

I don't think anyone missed me so that's all right then.

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ksl
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Post by ksl » Mon, 14 Jan 2008 2:36 pm

What's so talented about foreigners? I can only think of a couple of things, but the main one, would be the ability to be productive and a role model, and an asset to the company, some would also be sent for training purposes, and upgrading, others maybe sent, to be downgraded too, kept out of the way..Overseas postings have many motives, for sending out foreign talent, although it would be silly to ignore the local talent too, so i would expect, that local talent is only recruited to a certain level in the Companies structure until ailities and loyalty is spotted, over a considerable length of time.

It would be a silly mistake, to let talented locals elave any company, so its basically just a matter of time, before you see any visible reduction, and don't forget many talents are also cheaper than Singaporean, depending where one is recruiting from..So cheap labour still rules in many circumstances...although SMS may explain the difficulties of HR recruitment...it is far from straightforward and requires a talented person to recruit people with not only the right qualifications, but also the mental and psychological frame of mind for the job, and the ability to demonstrate social skills and leadership qualities, like communication, team working if needed and commonsene, with the ability to motivate, not an easy task to find all the qualities in one person!

Although I'm not saying foreign talent have all these qualities, they don't by a long way! It's just criteria from a business perspective is more complexed, than what you think!

Although I'm sure many forign talent may also let the side down to a certain extent, Self discipline and the ability to be independant and accountable, may also be a factor...Many locals probably don't meet the criteria and there is also the fact that MNC have doubts about handing over power to none citizens, not because of race, but because of industrial espionage and loyalties.

Even Singaporean solicitors seem to be running off with clients money these days! What would happen if they were running large multi-national companies.....it's worrying I guess, to hand over the steering wheel.

Although I do know many ethical businessmen here in Singapore, that could be trusted! It's the same in most Countries I would believe, not unique to Singapore.

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