This resulted in two different views observed.
The video shown on RazorTV had received many comments filled with criticism while the newspaper article last Sunday spoke in defence of Ris Low.
Just by watching the video, we made our own perceptions where we select, organise, make our own interpretation and give our personal meaning to it. Some mocked at her way of speaking and condemmed her while others branded her as a poor example of a young educated person and deemed her unfit to represent Singapore at the Miss World finals. But for the majority of us, it could be a misinterpretation that we do not realise is actually reflecting us as Singaporeans.
With the initial thought like most others, I have to admit that I too felt that she would be a disgrace if she were to represent Singapore with that standard of English. She mispronounced words like "preens" for prints, "rad" for red, "hospitaterlity" for hospitality and many others which i thought was a bad reflection on our country.
However, upon reading the article where the heads of the Speak Good English Movement came to her defence, I began to change my views about this whole issue.
* Source: The Sunday Times, Lifestyle, 13th September 2009 (pg.4)
In the article, the heads of the Speak Good English Movement defended Ris Low by bringing up a point, that Singaporeans are not speaking good english so who are we to condemn her? To support this stand, Ms Jennifer Yin, head secretariat of the movement said this, "Lots of Singaporeans speak this way. She is not unusual." Doesn't this statement makes us ponder and reflect on ourselves or the people around us. There are indeed many people out there who are using Singlish much more than English. It makes me wonder if the Speak Good English campaign is actually effective and we should as Singaporeans start working on our own way of speaking.
Singapore, being a multi-racial country, we used to have a communication barrier among races where each has their own language. In order for us to communicate between races, different languages have been mixed up for us to get the message across, so much so that it became the language we created - Singlish. Unknowingly, Singlish has become a culture in our sunny island.
Although Singlish is easily understood in our country, it would be a barrier when we communicate beyond Singapore because of the cultural differences among countries. Miss World is a beauty paegent which involves participants from all over the world. Hence, Singlish would not be understood it might even back-fire with the thought of it as bad English. A difference in culture affects the way we interpret.
Language, being a tool for direct communication is used to convey different meanings and it reflects us users. We evaluate a person by the way they speak just like how most evaluated Ris Low as a bad representative of Singapore. In addition, there are many language-based barriers to communication such as bypassing which leads us to misunderstanding due to misinterpretation. To further complicate communication, Ris Low uses slangs and jargons which make this barrier a harder one to overcome. With all these reasons stated, we should all look forward to constantly improve ourselves and forbid from using slangs and jargons. Once we are able to feel comfortable with language, we would then not have to feel afraid to be judged as a bad example.
The reason why I decided to name this post this way is because of what an English teacher mentioned. She said, " It's good that she has become Miss Singapore World. Her language abilities are representative of the population." Yes, we might all feel offended but if we were to look at the bigger picture of Singapore, this is indeed where our language actually lies. Thus, we should admit to this and try to do something about it.
Personally, I see myself sitting on the fence of this issue. Although I still feel that Ris Low is not good enough to represent Singapore in the Miss World finals, I feel that we should not condemn her as well. Different individuals have different way of speaking and language capacity. Perhaps that is just the way she talks? However, if she really has to represent our country, I feel that there is a need for her to attend English workshops so as to improve and brush up on her language skills. In this way, she would not be seen as a bad reflection of Singapore.
Do you stand in the side of criticism or the side of defence?
It is something we should all think about.
HELLO KELLYYYYYY :D Sorry I didn’t comment on your previous post because work just piled up like mad! ANYWAY I AM HERE TO MAKE AMENDS! HOPE YOU AREN’T ANGRY!
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt, Ms Ris Low has terrible English and probably does not know the way to speak good English. Her lack of good English has many contributing factors which probably none of us will ever know unless we watched her grow up. Several factors include the environment she grew up in (i.e. family members converse in languages other than English, mixed with friends who did not know how to speak well), her learning capabilities (i.e. difficulty in learning and speaking good English), the education she received (i.e. little emphasis on good English) and the list goes on. But no matter the reason behind her weak English, the fact that she joined this competition where she knew that it would require her to be vocal and eloquent meant that she had already decided to put herself up for judgment.
Not all Singaporeans have weak English like Ms Ris Low but she does indeed represent a certain percentage of Singaporeans who lack the ability to express themselves effectively. Singlish is a language created BY Singaporeans FOR Singaporeans. Just like how Australians have their own lingo, we too, have our very own. Never mind that it is broken English, as long as Singaporeans understand one another and from there, create closer relationships with one another due to the familiarity and ease in using Singlish, then Singlish to me is a good language to learn.
BUT, we must all learn to discern when to use Singlish and when to use good English. That is the determining factor of how well-educated and flexible we are as Singaporeans. Knowing when to use Singlish and when to use English is a skill that apparently, not many Singaporeans have acquired (seeing such cases like Ms Ris Low). I feel that we need not ban speaking Singlish as it identifies us as Singaporeans and makes us unique. Instead, we should all learn to speak good English, on top of learning Singlish. This way we can alternate between these two languages and use either of them appropriately according to the situation we are in.
I am not criticizing Ms Ris Low for her weak English and Singlish but neither am I condoning it. I just feel that we need to learn to strike a balance between the two, in order to be good eloquent Singaporeans that we all know we can become :D
The real Miss Singapore. This is an excellent title to start off this post.
ReplyDeleteI practically liked the use of the word “real”. The video which show cased the current Miss Singapore language abilities would not have created such a media uproar if the lady in the video was not Miss Singapore and just an ordinary person on the street. We cannot deny the fact that most Singaporeans speak in a similar fashion to Miss Ris Low. This is indeed a very real representation of the average Singaporean.
Your initial reactions are justified, we often judge people based on the first impression we get from meeting the person or in this case the short video clip. It is often so that we forget that people are also judging us by the way we speak and behave.
I agree that Singapore being a multiracial country where different languages are spoken and often so mixed up in the process. Our “rojak” language or better known as Singlish might not be easily understood by foreigners. Singapore unlike most country does not have a language uniquely ours. For example, in Japan they speak Japanese, in China they speak Chinese, in Germany they speak German, etc. However in Singapore, our first language is English. Its not uniquely ours, it was brought to Singapore when the British came.
Singlish on the other hand, is something uniquely Singapore. You can’t find a person anywhere in the world who does speak like us. We should be proud of our so called unique language where you will only be able to fully comprehend if you have been living in Singapore for a long enough time. There are books sold in bookstores to help foreigners try to understand Singlish but you can never really understand how our language works from them.
My point of view is we should know what sort of language to use according to the situation. For example if you are talking to a group of friends, by all means use Singlish. It makes the overall atmosphere more heart warming; and when talking say during a business meeting, it would only be appropriate to speak the “universal” English.
Different situation calls for different response, Singlish is not bad. We just have to know when we are supposed to use it and when we are not supposed to use it.
I will defend the current Miss Singapore, being Singaporean, if we don’t defend our fellow countryman no one else will. I agree that she will need a lot of language coaching if she were to represent Singapore, its not too late to start learning.
This has seemingly became a very hot topic that is discussed all over Singapore. Having watched the video certainly gives each individual different perceptions and interpretations. Some may say that this is how Singaporeans speak (Broken english and poor pronunciations), while some may say that she is a disgrace to our country if she represents us, as she would be taking part in a contest that is screened globally.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in my opinion, although we Singaporeans speak Singlish from time to time, something has to be done to lift up the standards of English here. Basic pronunciations and sentence construction should be well equipped with us by now. This news might just stay by our mouths for quite some time. Even in the episode of Singapore Idol today, one of the judges, Florence even commented on one of the contestants, saying that she is pretty like "Booms". This was something that Ris Low said in her interview in the video.
However, we should not condemn her as well as she is who she is, and as long as she is trying her best to work on her English so as to do Singapore proud, props should be given to her.
I personally feel that she's a bad representative of Singapore, as its a generalization to say that most Singaporeans speak like her. I have many friends around me who speak really fluently, and very few who actually speak the way she does.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm not against the decision of letting her represent Singapore. If she has other qualities that allowed her to win, she deserves the limelight.
But I definitely agree with you, Kelly, that she needs to improve on her English.
Sorry but i have to say that i think she is an absolute disgrace to Singaporeans. I would not want her to represent Singapore and make the rest of the world think that this is how all Singaporeans speak English. The recent news reported that she may have her title revoked because of credit card fraud charges that she had been convicted of. How much worse can she get?
ReplyDeleteto GILLIAN:
ReplyDeleteI'm not angry or anything so not to worry! You can just comment whenever you are free. ((:
You brought up a good point of how the environment she grew up in, the friends she used to hang around with, the kind of language they converse do play a part in making her who she is today.
Indeed, Singlish defines us Singaporeans. I have to admit that I do converse in Singlish as well. Like what you mentioned, what matters most is we learn to strike a balance, something which Ris Low probably failed to do so. We should all learn the right way of language in order not to end up like her.
to JOEL:
Thanks! (:
I personally like the part where you mentioned, "Different situation calls for different response, Singlish is not bad. We just have to know when we are supposed to use it and when we are not supposed to use it."
As what I replied to my friend above, we should indeed learn to strike the balance of the kind of languages we use! (:
to MIKE:
I do agree with what you say about the need for us as Singaporeans to brush up on our English and lift up our standard of English.
By doing so, it will definitely create a better impression of Singaporeans apart from Singlish! (:
to YU HAN:
Like what many have mentioned, no one thinks she is the right representative to represent Singapore.
However, we can all learn from her mistakes so as not to end up being like her. (: