I wrote this in a forum thread at www.yearbook.com.sg a Singapore Students Alumni website. I thought I should also post it here, for my own records...
I've met hundreds, if not thousands of international students over the 4.5 years of volunteering for the orientation program in my Aussie uni.
Most newcomers complain about the difficulty in understanding their lecturers accent. This is more evident in students from countries where English is not their first language.
I must admit, some Aussies have really strong accents and some don't give a damn about spelling or grammar.
Do we ask them to speak better English, with a less pronounced accent? Nope.. we adapt.
There's a Marketing lecturer in uni who's originally from Hong Kong. He's been teaching there for more than 15 years. His accent is still typically Hong Kong Chinese. Do the Aussie students ask him to speak "strayan"? Nope... they adapt.
Singapore wants to do business with China, do we ask them, "Speak better English, then we'll do business with you, since English is the main language of business"? Nope.. certainly not. We adapt... we speak Mandarin.
Again, I feel that the standardisation of English is not the issue here. As Yew City said, the language is constantly evolving.
If we don't adapt and evolve, then we'll not progress.
Stop speaking Singlish? I doubt it'll ever happen. No matter what campaigns we create, it just won't work.
We've had Courtesy Campaigns since god knows when.. and yet we still have a topic in this forum about "Not so courteous Singaporeans".
I say this... speak in order to communicate. No matter what language, dialect or corrupted lingo.
Effective communication is the ability to express oneself in such a way that one is readily and clearly understood.
Labels: human interactions
