Dumb Singaporeans!

[pc2009]

After years and years of meddling with education, this is what we have. Not able to speak both english and mandarin well. The worst is, it creates a mentality that 'english educated' people looks down on 'chinese helicopter' people.

Now, with China more powerful, these 'english educated' people are still trying to wait and see if this is just a bubble. When china bubble bursts, english will dominate again. At the same time, they are very jealous at the speed the chinese people are getting richer and richer.

 

[Leongsam]

and all it takes is a boss/supervisor of substance to be able to find holes in the socks.

perception is delusional, reality is absolute. maybe you believe life to be delusional.

If the discussion involves scientific laws, mathematical equations and the like, bullshit is immediately obvious to someone who knows the subject well.

However, lots of discussions involve giving opinions, presenting plans, making forecasts and debating current affairs. In these situations, the way an opinion is presented determines how it is received.

A good example was the Reagan presidency. Reagan was not a man of great intellect. However, his presentation skills gave the perception that he was always on top of things and all was well in the great US of A.

Having said that, I do have to point out that even in the world of science, perception is everything and reality is far from absolute. For example, I'm currently in NZ and my "reality" tells me that I'm standing the right way up. However, to someone now in the UK, I'm upside down along with the rest of the country.

 

[besotted]

singapore is small and irrelevant and only a footnote in international affairs

both Chinese and english are important but sinkie attitude and opinions are unimportant

 

[bryanlim1972]

If the discussion involves scientific laws, mathematical equations and the like, bullshit is immediately obvious to someone who knows the subject well.

However, lots of discussions involve giving opinions, presenting plans, making forecasts and debating current affairs. In these situations, the way an opinion is presented determines how it is received.

A good example was the Reagan presidency. Reagan was not a man of great intellect. However, his presentation skills gave the perception that he was always on top of things and all was well in the great US of A.

yes, BS hot air does work wonders in the 2nd category of meetings you mentioned.

yes, generally, perception is reality. but organizations that run on perception counter to reality don't last long. old NKF, case in point.

 

[bryanlim1972]

After years and years of meddling with education, this is what we have. Not able to speak both english and mandarin well. The worst is, it creates a mentality that 'english educated' people looks down on 'chinese helicopter' people.

that the population is unable to speak english/mandarin well reflects on the students, not the education policies.

 

[1sickpuppy II]

Die lah english nogood madarine also no good how to communicate with 1 another:( No wonder always cockup everywhere :(

 

[wrcboi]

its down to the how you are taught...its mainly the pronunciation, sentence structure and the word usage for oral

if u have people like wong kant sing and limm sweet say to teach you english from primary school to secondary school..obviously u will sound like both of them

but

if u have rowan atkinson or russell peters or dave chappelle..you will probably sound like them...

 

[elephanto]

I am truly astonished that all of you put down decently schooled Singaporeans (read: not educated) as having poor written English standards. As written a short while back, the 154th has been used as a front to propagandise the needs of the PAPies.

Not too long ago, the PAPies used to espouse the Singaporean worker.
......
You have a decent weapon. Use it wisely.

You are in your element here, ChaoPappypoodle !
Hats off to you !

:o

 

[elephanto]

I agree. One day I saw a draft presentation by a overseas returned scholar and I saw one of his headers "Causation Factors". I asked him why not "Causes". He told me that the presentation must reflect his standard of education.

In another case of overseas returned scholar, much of the content was not flowing but was laden with bombastic words. He obviously spent much time carrying out word replacement with the help of a Thesaurus.

I however noted that kids of senior servants and professionals(especially doctors) tend to do much better in articulating. And clearly its the home environment that made the difference. I wonder what is going on in our schools.

I believe some of the contributing factors to the above English Language phenomenon are:-

(1) Emphasis on Maths/Science to the exclusion of the Humanities in the school ethos of the 70s/80s/90s. Most technocrats & even returned scholars can't write decent English;

(2) Popular media lowers the language bar, especially American Media. See the proliferation of expressions like : " so I was like... oh my god, what's up/ Then I was like... come on! He was kinda of .... that thingy etc etc"

Just go read some threads in HWZ especially the eat-dring-man-woman leisure threads & event the current affairs folder for how the younger generation fare in their written English ....

 

[elephanto]

IMHO, comparing the articles, commentaries & comments in TOC & TR, the English Standard & quality of argument in TOC is waybetter than TR.

Agree ?

 

[heartlander]

i see you haven't spent enough quality time there to figure out that 80% of these 'can talk the socks off a singaporean" types have no substance to back their fluent statements of opinions. you seem very impressed by nothing more than hot air.

i meet them and work with them every day. when did i EVER say that good talkers = substance? i only said they're good talkers, didn't i? how sad that your mind cannot tell the difference tsktsk, why so defensive about the relationship between eloquence and substance? SOMEBODY must be bitter at being outtalked by an angmoh before, because saying that good talkers doesn't equal substance, while true, is the most often used stuttering loser's excuse

 

[heartlander]

IMHO, comparing the articles, commentaries & comments in TOC & TR, the English Standard & quality of argument in TOC is waybetter than TR.

Agree ?

used to be much better - now, not by much.

 

[myfoot123]

Ah? SinKaPoor England so Bad 1 meh? I thought Gorbermen say our England lumpar one ah ? Whahahahhaah

Wait till you hear our ministers speak, especially the one coming out from Lim Swee Say.