Singapore's English standard. The World. And much more!

[crack9]

xxx

[Vaucluse]

i dont believe europeans have a better command of the english language than singaporeans.

I'd agree. Well said

[sundaymorningstaple]

And, I hesitate to tell you, but the main language here is not English. As I said before, it's the "language of Government". English is NOT the main spoken language here. If you think is it, then why are those who are purely English speakers kept from '000's of jobs weekly? I think you need to fall back a regroup. Have a ride on the MRT (if you can lower yourself down to that level) or the Buses (even lower) and have a listen to the languages that you hear. English rarely, Singlish only in mixed company, Mandarin, Dialect, Tamil, Hindi & Malay primarily.

you people take the train one day and conclude that no one speaks english. i take it every goddamn day. people do speak english on the train. i do. my friends do. it really depends on who u're looking at, obviously the 70 year old 'aunty' and 'uncle' are not gg to be speaking in english. neither is the ah lian/ahbeng. but youths/teenagers do speak in english. maybe with the occasional "lah" or "lor" but it's still english.

If it's any help, I've been taking the MRT and Buses every day since I sold my car 3 months after the first MRT trains became operational back in the late '80s. I think at that time you might have been still in nappies at that time. I've been riding it since the beginning. I've always lived in the Northeast and worked in the CBD or West coast so I think I've got lots more "travel" time than you have. I'll stick by what I said. Unlike the youngsters, I don't keep headphones jammed in my ears and turned up so loud that they disturb others passengers as well - most can't hear anything at all.

[x9200]

i dont believe europeans have a better command of the english language than singaporeans.

I'd agree. Well said

Perhaps, but what's the point? How many European countries got English on their official languages lists?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Valid point!

[EADG]

you people take the train one day and conclude that no one speaks english. i take it every goddamn day. people do speak english on the train. i do. my friends do. it really depends on ..... blah balh blah poor punctuation blah blah blah

You started off having something to say but became a victim of your own complaint.

Couldn't read it, stopped midway through the first paragraph.

[Vaucluse]

i dont believe europeans have a better command of the english language than singaporeans.

I'd agree. Well said

Perhaps, but what's the point? How many European countries got English on their official languages lists?

Most countries teach English as a compulsory language from young.

[x9200]

Most countries teach English as a compulsory language from young.

Even if this may be true it is still a completely different story to learn languages from a school/movies/books/magazines/whatever only or have it as a part of your daily life. This is the official language of Singapore present everywhere and clearly dominating for political and pragmatic reasons. And you want to compare it to what some kids/students may get from their teachers? More fair comparison would be to take countries like Switzerland, Belgium, Canada and see how their citizens are doing in respect of their official languages.

[nakatago]

I think the problem is that in Singapore...

* English is an official language
* Everybody claims everybody knows English and you get assurances that they do
* You go out there, you think you're hearing English but you can't understand anything--regardless if you're used to British, American, or any "brand" of English.

Obviously, expectations are not met if that's what people encounter. Of course, there are exceptions. But I think it's fair to say that the above scenario can be observed quite often enough to attract criticism.

At least for some countries, they don't claim everybody knows English so you have lower expectations of people's English proficiency, i.e. Japan or the most of Europe.