I AM grateful for the efforts last Friday of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, as well as the Ministry of Education, in stressing the importance of mastering good English in Singapore ('Good English the way to go'). It is reassuring to read their assertion that English is the language of business and government in Singapore. It is too easy to believe otherwise.

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if all these people can write this kind of letters, do you think there's any chance for sg to "acculturate" our foreign "imports"? for a definition of "acculturation", i highly recommend you to google schumann's 1972 article on the same, starring "alberto", which is still widely quoted bec it's such a timeless (and much critiqued) classic.

calling someone an "import" is no disrespect, sure. try telling that to our "expats". i'd feel most insulted if someone were to call me a s'pore "import" - as if i were some good first and foremost (people don't even realize that they've commodified real people in this first-world economy liao), and as if i'm a manual laborer (and even then, i'd object to the term).

another part of "acculturation" is that you expect things to remain status quo for you and expect others to adapt. how convenient! when you welcome guests, do you herd them like prisoners in your house, or do you welcome their diversity and allow them to relax and be themselves? of course, in the first place, if they're unwelcome guests/gatecrashers, don't even let them step foot in your house. this is the typical "meritocratic"/"kiasu" (economic) mentality of ai pheeh you ai cheeh (want cheap and want fresh). you basically reduce people to commodities or production digits.

Dear Prema, you wrote "Finally, in many SMEs, you will find nationals from India, China and Myanmar working side by side. They are hardworking, diligent and committed, but employers confirm that language barriers hamper productivity a great deal."

How is English related to productivity? Do you have any facts to back up your assertion? 30% of my company work force in Singapore are foreigners and I find them to be as productive as locals. Sometime, I find them to be more hardworking than Singaporeans despite their less than perfect language skills.

I don't believe you are concerned about English or productivity. I find your letter to have some elements of racism and you seemed prejudice about foreigners. Am I right?

If you are a `Poren Talen" English no good no matter lah!

Hahahahahahahahaha........................

I understand what the writer is describing. Nationals from these countries may speak English, but do not go beyond the superficial conversational level. They are unable to express themselves in English, especially in the written form. Try going through their written proposals, or a piece of software written by them. Their inability to comprehend fully their clients' requests is another problem. Can you imagine all the guesswork, the doing and undoing several times of a task? A job that can be completed in three months may take nine? Cheap comes with a very high price indeed. The cost is just passed around.

Granted that they are very hardworking by nature, but also because they are required to compensate their employers/agents if they should quit or are fired during their contractual period.

misnomer, sounds like a lot of s'poreans and (native) english speakers i know! lol

why, not so long ago, i'd the opportunity to read the advert put out by a new director of studies in the english language school i was teaching at hiring new english teachers, and my golly, the whole advert was punctuated with spelling and grammatical errors. er...i don't think i want to be working under such a DOS! lol

let's all learn english, yay, and put more money into my pockets, i won't mind it at all! :D

It is really sad to see the comments from unewolke and betterment who are missing the point raised by the writer of this article. Suggestions on improving the present situation shouldn't be shot down without constructive alternate ideas.

Betterment,

I feel your post doesn't 'reply' to the letter directly.
No one disputes that overseas workers are hardworking. The issue is productivity as a company/unit, not individuals. To work well as a company/unit, they need to communicate effectively, and that is lacking (according to letter writer).

You followed up with an example of what you experienced. How is that more reliable of what the writer have experienced/seen? Both of you have not quoted any studies, nor did any studies to verify your own observations.
If both were to be considered equally reliable, then you'd have to consider that yours is a sample of one, whereas though vague, s/he did say SMEs.

Ducks and Chicken.

It will be like in a farm, free roaming.

Originally Posted by onlymyopinion

It is really sad to see the comments from unewolke and betterment who are missing the point raised by the writer of this article. Suggestions on improving the present situation shouldn't be shot down without constructive alternate ideas.

pls highlight the suggestions, and pls evaluate them. thanks.