Speak Good English Campaign

[Manthink]

hmmm...interesting responses.

So in the eyes of some, does that mean someone is a lesser being for not able to speak "Good English"?

[beppi]

I never said so!

But in the eyes of some, you are a lesser being for not speaking French (or Chinese, or Russian, or ...).

And if it is true that the main difference between humans and lesser beings is the ability to talk, surely you become an even higher being by talking more!
(Or is that "talking morely"?)

[Manthink]

I never said so!

But in the eyes of some, you are a lesser being for not speaking French (or Chinese, or Russian, or ...).

And if it is true that the main difference between humans and lesser beings is the ability to talk, surely you become an even higher being by talking more!
(Or is that "talking morely"?)

Hang on, before we go rolloing off the thread and getting at each other's neck, allow me bring us back to within OP and the subsequent post's context.

Allow me the re-phrase my original question:
What is issue with not being able to speak "Good English"?

[beppi]

Aiyoh: Cannot spik gud Ingrish, cannot be understan lah!
So simpeh you oso cannot see or what?

[JR8]

Allow me the re-phrase my original question:
What is issue with not being able to speak "Good English"?

Ask the SGn government, it is their campaign.

Any further questions, give LKY a call and tell him he's got it wrong.

[ariesrising]

As an indigenous Singaporean I guess the Govt is concerned that Singlish projects a regressive and parochial image to the World. Singlish simply hasn't been around long enough to make the jump from pidgin to slang, like Aussie English has.

[nakatago]

Again,


ಠ_ಠ

[wwww]

Alamak why change meh? Singlish is cute lah

(excuse my grammar mistakes, I am still learning )

[sundaymorningstaple]

If they want to be taken seriously on the international stage, they they will need to change. wwww's comments, while somewhat valid, are void as the comparison to Australian English is different in as much as Aus, Canadian, American English still all follow proper sentence structure/grammar. Singlish does not. Until it does, it will always be a sub-normal pidgin and never a dialectic variation of the English Language.

[wwww]

If they want to be taken seriously on the international stage, they they will need to change. wwww's comments, while somewhat valid, are void as the comparison to Australian English is different in as much as Aus, Canadian, American English still all follow proper sentence structure/grammar. Singlish does not. Until it does, it will always be a sub-normal pidgin and never a dialectic variation of the English Language.

Hey i was joking. Fully agree with you though that it is not helpful in an international context as it is hard to understand for a non-initiated English speaker.

[grant512]

private schools in the US are teaching their kids Mandarin.

maybe for Chinese based in US? Why learn Mandarin it aint International Language.

[sundaymorningstaple]

But it will be. Consider this....

The Euro-zone is dying. It's well on it's way, as the nails are being driven in their coffin already as we speak.

The 2nd largest economy in the world and the largest ethnic population in the world is China/Chinese. Every major city in the world has good sized, if not huge, Chinese enclaves or Chinatowns. China is not going away. If any American child envisions international trade, they would do well to try to learn Chinese. Why? The Chinese give great face to those who attempt to learn one of the hardest languages in the world. It's a fast way to gain great respect from them. It also make doing business with them a lot easier.

I had both of my children take mandarin as a second language since they started Kindergarten. Both are out of school now and my kids have thanked me 100's of times for tricking them into taking Mandarin as their second language. In fact, my son is a musician and has toured China 2x now and goes over in a big way as he's able to converse with the audience without the need for interpreters.

Today, English is the International Business Language. Forty-five years ago it wasn't, French was. If you want to give your kids a leg up, Mandarin is the way to go.

[beppi]

One of the major factors of English becoming the word's lingua franca was an economic and military superpower whose inhabitants didn't speak anything else (thus the others dealing with them had to learn English).

Look at the economic (and also, although less obvious yet, military) development of the world and you see that you can replace "English" by "Chinese" in the above statement in the not too distant future.
Everything else is wishful thinking!

[Mad Scientist]

One of the major factors of English becoming the word's lingua franca was an economic and military superpower whose inhabitants didn't speak anything else (thus the others dealing with them had to learn English).

Look at the economic (and also, although less obvious yet, military) development of the world and you see that you can replace "English" by "Chinese" in the not too distant future.
Everything else is wishful thinking!

Agree but I do not think it is a wishful thinking. It will become a reality
Japanese lingo was used to be a big plus as they used to be the powerhouse of manufacturing. Those like me that was sent there to work had to learn Japanese or shipped back in bales. No choice.
When US invade Iraq , Arabic became hot commodity.
Chinese language will be and I think has become more of a demand in order to do business there.

[ScoobyDoes]

private schools in the US are teaching their kids Mandarin.

maybe for Chinese based in US? Why learn Mandarin it aint International Language.

What is the world's most commonly spoken FIRST language?

Nope, not English. Nope, not Spanish either. One more try?

Public schools in the UK are also teaching Mandarin with or instead of French and German when I was there (and no 'age' jokes about Latin thank you very much!).

In my line of work I am meeting more Chinese whose second language is German and they hardly know a word of English if any.