Samples/Examples of poor English

[yansen84]

Interesting to see both Yansen and you waxing lyricals or is it words in a forum such as this. Nothing else can beat our fragile human ego.

Brother, I cannot possibly be guilty of the very 'offences' of limited vocab and simple structures I allege against Sinkies, can I?

 

[scroobal]

Bro, I had one sitting in front of me on a flight, endlessly grumbling about service, food, etc. Nearly stabbed myself with a folk.

LOL, one of mine too Sir. And does anyone notice, they ALWAYS seem to do it with this irritating American accent, the kind peppered with lots of 'like's and rising intonations?? Mindless bitches who never fail to make me cringe.

 

[scroobal]

No bro, just take note of this forum . More a license to let down your hair, and not to dot the "i"s and cross the "t"s.

Brother, I cannot possibly be guilty of the very 'offences' of limited vocab and simple structures I allege against Sinkies, can I?

 

[Naturefarm2]

please la, good in english is out-dated.
now, we must be good in chinese.

 

[phouse3]

Most of us (obviously including myself) here write very bad English. The difference is some sound more constipated than others.

Please check out books like: -
'How (Not) To Write';
'How (Not) To Write In English'; or
'The Complete Plain Words- Know, say and convey what you mean'.

Some of these guidebooks give examples of stringing together opaque sentences and trying to sound profound. There are sections on overburdened sentences and the misuse of commas.

In passing, you may like to know that ungrammatical English is quite different from unintelligible English (for example, Singlish). An example of the latter: "I catch no ball."

There are books on 'How To Bluff In English' but do avoid them.

Good English is really about hitting the mark or getting your message across. Simple English is a prime example.

 

[Leongsam]

please la, good in english is out-dated.
now, we must be good in chinese.

That's a load of bull. If English is out of date, the Chinese wouldn't be striving to master the language. English is the world's foremost language. The Chinese language trails far behind.

China Becomes Biggest Market for English Learning

The biggest headache these days with taking highly-feared English examinations is not the exams themselves but the number of people wanting to take them.

"It's more difficult to apply for the TOEFL or GRE than it is to actually take the exam," complained Sha Xiaowei, a graduate student at Beijing University.

As English study booms, many students are taking the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) to prove their level. But getting through to hotlines to request applications for the exams is nearly impossible, with calls coming from nearly all provinces and regions throughout China tying up the lines.

This frustration for students is a boon to international educationists, who see this phenomenon as a great market potential coming with China's entry into the World Trade Organization and its preparation to host the Olympic Games in 2008.

"China has become the largest market for English teaching in the world," Robert Diyanni, an official with the College Board of the United States, said while attending the 2002 International Education Cooperation Week that opened on Sept. 25.

"Chinese enthusiasm for English learning is amazing," said Diyanni, who has carefully researched the current market in China.

English study is being inspired by not only the desire to study abroad but also a need to improve skills and find a good job. Thus the TOEFL and GRE, along with many other English tests, come to bea must for job hunters. Demand for oral and business English is also growing and spreading all over the country.

Diyanni said China holds the largest number of English learners in the world, and has long valued language and cultural education.The WTO and Olympics naturally increase the craze.

China is reforming English testing and teaching methods, creating a good business opportunity for those wanting to get in to the open Chinese market, said Diyanni.

Traditional emphasis on gaining a huge vocabulary through recitation will be gradually replaced by a more integrated approach to English writing, listening, reading and speaking.

According to Diyanni, steps have begun already. Western open teaching methods and modern multimedia technology have been introduced into Chinese schools. By the end of 2001, China had launched a training program for English teachers in 20 colleges and universities. Diyanni's college board has joined hands with some of the best schools to renovate English teaching.

An official with China's Ministry of Education said language teaching in China in the 21st century should train personnel to be competent enough to use English and communicate with the outside world.



[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/[/FONT]

 

[i_am_belle]

My two cents worth: This vision of yours ...

sometimes on local forums, u see ppl write 'my 1 cent worth' ... my '10 cents worth' ...

the global community will find this strange ...

'2 cents worth' is derived from the old english phrase 'i don't give tuppence' - eg. i don't give two pence what u think ... in modern english, it will be 'i don't give a shit' ... or here in SBF 'i don't give a fxxk' ...

so, no matter what u think - here's 'my 2 cents' worth' of personal opinion ... :p

 

[scroobal]

The world has moved on to "2 cents" long time ago. You hear the phrase and read it in emails in UK, US etc. The same goes for "I don't give a shit/fuck"

Looks like you havent' travel to or corresponded with overseas english speaking countries.

Thats extract that you posted refers to the origin rather than current world usage.

sometimes on local forums, u see ppl write 'my 1 cent worth' ... my '10 cents worth' ...

the global community will find this strange ...

'2 cents worth' is derived from the old english phrase 'i don't give tuppence' - eg. i don't give two pence what u think ... in modern english, it will be 'i don't give a shit' ... or here in SBF 'i don't give a fxxk' ...

so, no matter what u think - here's 'my 2 cents' worth' of personal opinion ... :p

 

[lubehsong]

Bad English is undoubtedly imported from the US. The overuse of 'like' as a space-filler was most definitely a result of kids watching too much US tv (notice how it is less prevalent among the older generation). I for one get really irritated when people use that all the time, accompanied with a pseudo-American accent.

Another of my bete noires is when people pronounce letters in words which are supposed to be silent. Examples of these include 'debt', 'doubt', 'subtle', and the failure to pronounce the 'th-' sound in words. These are truly exclusive to Singapore English.

Some of the forummers lambasted people for using overbombastic English. I believe there has to be a balance. Be glad that there are Sinkies proficient enough to be able to be bombastic, for I reckon 90% of Sinkies are hapless to the point of not being able to even get their spelling and grammar right, not to mention write in elegant sentence structures and with profound vocabulary!

failure to pronounce "th" is not limited to singkies,african americans also have problems with that.
pronounciation of words vary from country to country even among native speakers within a same country.
most americans would have problems understanding english spoken by some australians as it is the case for australians or english themselves to understand english spoken in diffrent parts of UK.

 

[yansen84]

sometimes on local forums, u see ppl write 'my 1 cent worth' ... my '10 cents worth' ...

the global community will find this strange ...

'2 cents worth' is derived from the old english phrase 'i don't give tuppence' - eg. i don't give two pence what u think ... in modern english, it will be 'i don't give a shit' ... or here in SBF 'i don't give a fxxk' ...

so, no matter what u think - here's 'my 2 cents' worth' of personal opinion ... :p

very enlightening! though in modern usage there is no accompanying hostility is there?

 

[cooleo]

When you speak too softly and the other party is unable to catch it....

Typical Sinkee phrases:


"huh... kong tua sia leh!"

"louder?!"

"HUH?!"

"What u saying?"

 

[SamuelStalin]

Sir, thanks for your compliment. I may be no expert or authority on the English language, but I look upon people who routinely corrupt it with disdain, and it doesn't take much to spot such offenders in this country where such acts are commonplace.

Such as? And do you do anything about it?

 

[SamuelStalin]

No thank you. Frankly, even money and motivational books make for a better read than these garbage literature you're recommending.

Good English in the eyes of Westerners is also about an Asian unexpectedly rising above the rest of his own to speak the language really properly, be it their stereotyped bias or their personal experiences.

Simple English is more the skill of making difficult, abstract concepts understandable to an audience. If you use it all the time in other aspects then people would start think your standard in the language is just that (it has reached a ceiling, noticeably or otherwise).

Most of us (obviously including myself) here write very bad English. The difference is some sound more constipated than others.

Please check out books like: -
'How (Not) To Write';
'How (Not) To Write In English'; or
'The Complete Plain Words- Know, say and convey what you mean'.

Some of these guidebooks give examples of stringing together opaque sentences and trying to sound profound. There are sections on overburdened sentences and the misuse of commas.

In passing, you may like to know that ungrammatical English is quite different from unintelligible English (for example, Singlish). An example of the latter: "I catch no ball."

There are books on 'How To Bluff In English' but do avoid them.

Good English is really about hitting the mark or getting your message across. Simple English is a prime example.

 

[SamuelStalin]

At least you have some brains to understand the good intentions of the leaders. No damage is done really - to speak well in one's dialect is good, but to speak well in Mandarin is even better in the long run.

Also, know that many Chinese characters and names when pronounced in Hokkien or even Cantonese as opposed to Mandarin, either actually sound degrading, dumb or even worse, sexually suggestive.

So all in all, it is reasonable to say these dialects are incomplete and imperfect compared to Mandarin.

Sir, no worries, it was just a mindless rant in the middle of the night.

My two cents worth: This vision of yours, however well-intentioned, appears to me to be the wrong path our youths should follow. Not putting you down, but the fact remains, where the Chinese are concerned at least, that we've had English and Mandarin forced down our throats by those very leaders you alluded to. Where it comes to preservation of our original languages (dialects), I fear it's too late to reverse the damage already done. English and Mandarin are beneficial to us in the future anyway, so why not strive to be competent in both? Competent not in a rojak fashion, but mastering both as independent languages.

Of course, if we could be able to do that while continuing to speak Singlish in the heartlands, why not? From the looks of it, the chance of that is close to nought. Some people are able to do it, but it's a definite fact that Singlish hinders proper English expression, innumerable examples of this we've seen in this thread. I'm definitely with you on carving out a unique language of our own, but we shouldn't do ourselves injustice by compensating from a language in which we've always enjoyed an advantage over our peers, as you say.

 

[SamuelStalin]

Bro, I had one sitting in front of me on a flight, endlessly grumbling about service, food, etc. Nearly stabbed myself with a folk.

You should. As in, stab yourself with a folk. It will be the Guinness Feat of the Century.

 

[SamuelStalin]

Yes Sam,

Chinese are useless. They openly embrace and absorb Western values, ideas and even religions while they shun their own, much less have any pride in it.

That's a load of bull. If English is out of date, the Chinese wouldn't be striving to master the language. English is the world's foremost language. The Chinese language trails far behind.

China Becomes Biggest Market for English Learning

The biggest headache these days with taking highly-feared English examinations is not the exams themselves but the number of people wanting to take them.

"It's more difficult to apply for the TOEFL or GRE than it is to actually take the exam," complained Sha Xiaowei, a graduate student at Beijing University.

As English study booms, many students are taking the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) to prove their level. But getting through to hotlines to request applications for the exams is nearly impossible, with calls coming from nearly all provinces and regions throughout China tying up the lines.

This frustration for students is a boon to international educationists, who see this phenomenon as a great market potential coming with China's entry into the World Trade Organization and its preparation to host the Olympic Games in 2008.

"China has become the largest market for English teaching in the world," Robert Diyanni, an official with the College Board of the United States, said while attending the 2002 International Education Cooperation Week that opened on Sept. 25.

"Chinese enthusiasm for English learning is amazing," said Diyanni, who has carefully researched the current market in China.

English study is being inspired by not only the desire to study abroad but also a need to improve skills and find a good job. Thus the TOEFL and GRE, along with many other English tests, come to bea must for job hunters. Demand for oral and business English is also growing and spreading all over the country.

Diyanni said China holds the largest number of English learners in the world, and has long valued language and cultural education.The WTO and Olympics naturally increase the craze.

China is reforming English testing and teaching methods, creating a good business opportunity for those wanting to get in to the open Chinese market, said Diyanni.

Traditional emphasis on gaining a huge vocabulary through recitation will be gradually replaced by a more integrated approach to English writing, listening, reading and speaking.

According to Diyanni, steps have begun already. Western open teaching methods and modern multimedia technology have been introduced into Chinese schools. By the end of 2001, China had launched a training program for English teachers in 20 colleges and universities. Diyanni's college board has joined hands with some of the best schools to renovate English teaching.

An official with China's Ministry of Education said language teaching in China in the 21st century should train personnel to be competent enough to use English and communicate with the outside world.



[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/[/FONT]

 

[SamuelStalin]

some some siow char bor said good grammer = can think logically

Wah liddat would make bery poor financial market invester leh, because the market most of the time is no logic one :p:p:p

She play first day, second day sure jump down and die one.

 

[Ramseth]

Best (American) English immortalized by Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) in the classic movie Gone With The Wind: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damm."

 

[SamuelStalin]

Best (American) English immortalized by Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) in the classic movie Gone With The Wind: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damm."

As do I, my dear.

 

[phouse3]

No thank you. Frankly, even money and motivational books make for a better read than these garbage literature you're recommending.

Good English in the eyes of Westerners is also about an Asian unexpectedly rising above the rest of his own to speak the language really properly, be it their stereotyped bias or their personal experiences.

Simple English is more the skill of making difficult, abstract concepts understandable to an audience. If you use it all the time in other aspects then people would start think your standard in the language is just that (it has reached a ceiling, noticeably or otherwise).

The subject is not English anymore. It's about EQ or the lack of it.

I wasn't speaking in general. You didn't even catch my sarcasm and whom I was addressing. The first 2 books are fictitious and made up by me. You must be cyber-masturbating very hard pronouncing 'garbage' on books that did not exist. There may be books similarly titled, but are you sure you have read them before? The third is written by Sir Ernest Gowers which is self-explanatory. "How to Bluff in English" is another fictitious book that obviously did not exist. I was telling some of the people here not to bluff.

Not only has my message fallen on deaf ears, I got an earful of harder bluffing. My tirade is not because you challenged me. It's just that...wow...amazing. Are Singaporeans that dumb?