Ambassadors of Singapore

As much as I am not a nation-loving person, nor am I particularly proud of being Singaporean (only at times, like say when I attend the National Day Parade once in a blue moon), I am still quite bothered by how Singapore is represented.

I believe that we, Singaporeans because of your supposed billingual capabilities, we are truly a half-fucked bunch.
(You will know where this is leading to in a while)

First, we have the speak mandarin campaign, and heavy emphasis was placed on learning the language and utilising it. It became so integrated in our educational systems, it was a requirement for college and universities. Now, if you realise, the Government is also increasingly worried about our competency in the English language and have started bring "native" speakers to Singapore to teach us the English language in hopes that we would be able to speak the language and sound like the native speakers.
Perhaps that is not the intention. But that seems to be the intention of the common people.

I've had ex-colleagues speaking to their children in English only at homes, but when they are in office, these colleagues morph into the hokkien sprouting ah lians (ok, lao lians).
They are proud of the fact that their children cannot speak mandarin for nuts, and communicate only in English.
I'm neutral honestly, with how you communicate with your kids, they can speak monkey for all I care. But does it really matter?
Isn't this.. superficial?

A language only serves as a tool for communication.
And it's not important if you are communicating in English, Mandarin or even dialects. Because it only serves to put your ideas and messages across to another. So bascially, if you do not have ideas or valid opinions worth listening to, then what is the point in communicating in English (that sounds like it's coming from native speakers?)

But that's how Singaporeans are, we are so obsessed with image we lose sight of what really matters.
The insides.

Say I converse in English, but because I am crap in English, the points that I really want to put across are lost. What then is the purpose of conversing in English?
The more annoying factor is, when you are communicating in English, but the ideas/opinions/messages that you are communicating are... pointless, or deemed dense.

What then it the point of communicating in perfect English?

Singaporeans are obsessed with image.
They think, if I speak in pitch-perfect English (sounds like an ang moh), then I should command some respect. Resulting in all the pseudo-slangs (especially on radio).
You realise that eventually we are no different from the dumb blondes. They speak native English (because they are caucasian), but there's nothing noteworthy coming from them.

Fann Wong, is the Singapore version of a dumb blonde.

Firstly, I am not dissing the English that she spoke on the BBC interview. We should really empathise with her. Because it is not her choice that we are half-fucked really. Blame it on our education, and the see-saw emphasis. Secondly, let's all face it, which celebrity in Singapore is famous enough internationally and speaks good English? Finally, why diss her English when 80% of the Singapore folks sound like that?

I think we are too hard on her English.
There are tons of youngsters that can't pronounce rituals or worse, tons of others who can speak a grammatical-error free sentence. But because she is a celebrity and she happen to be invited to do an interview on BBC, she is expected to speak good English and pronounce her words right?
Aren't we too harsh on her?

Fann Wong is a dumb blonde because her answers lack depth.
We have people saying the questions posed to her are, well tough.

These questions are not tough.
They just require you to think.
And think, she did not.


I don't really care that she pronounced duck as dug, or bloodier as blooder.
If you answered the questions with depth and thought but in broken English, we would have been proud.
Instead, she made us all cringe with her dumb-blonde answers that did not even seem to be answering the question at all.

Is it all that difficult?

Below excerpts of the questions and her answers that I had extracted from the Channelnewsasia forum, a post by alicia_teo:

Whether she finds Singapore too restrictive?
Fann: We don't really have a choice, but a lot depends. It's due to the whole environment being opened up. The majority of people are introduced to different parts of the world where we can see we have different choices. That's why we're opening up.

Trixyy: So at the end of the day, what is your point Fann? Is Singapore restrictive or not?

If she thinks our cleanliness and orderliness is "too perfect"?
Fann: 'Perfect? No no no, if you live in Singapore you'll know that it's not so perfect. You ask her! (Points to manager beside her.) But I really appreciate the smooth traffic and how it's clean.'

Trixyy: Thankfully, you answered the question with 3 clear "no", but what you said thereafter, was that an attempt to explain why not? Because I honestly can't tell. Thanks for letting us know you appreciate smooth traffic (tell that to the folks stuck in the jam every morning on the expressways). So you appreciate the cleanliness, but do not think it's too perfect.
Right.

Why are Singaporeans so shy (of the camera)?
Fann: Singaporeans are shy of cameras, but they are 'much more better now' and slowly opening up with the introduction of cables (she meant cable tv) and the Internet.

Trixyy: Is she talking about Tammy, the camera and the internet?
Because I don't see how shy, cable and internet are related.

Is Singapore still too restrictive and if young people approve of it or if they crave greater freedom.
Fann: We don't really have a choice, but a lot depends. It's due to the whole environment being opened up. The majority of people are introduced to different parts of the world where we can see we have different choices. That's why we're opening up.

Trixyy: She is spot on there, and I actually felt 1-second of hope for Fann with her opening sentence on how we young people do not have a choice. Because it's true. But thereafter, she duck her on grave and fell into it.
Whatever about environment opening up? Or how we are opening up?

--
Being poor in English is not an excuse for lacklustre brainless answers.

The funny thing is, some folks out there actually think her answers are "alright" and that we cannot blame her, because she is stronger in mandarin.
Like I said, I do not have a problem with her English, and how she mispronounce simple words, or she doesn't sound like the pseudo-slang-celebrities. I do however have a major problem with the answers.

I hardly think this interview serve its purpose and gave an insight of the most famous celebrity in Singapore. It was almost like a case of, "did she just say that?"
I reckon Michael Peschardt ended the interview and left, as clueless as before and with no solid thoughtful answers nor an honest opinion.

Michael Peschardt, in chinese, we call it 敷衍.