Blog 3

Speaking and expressing one clearly is definitely extremely important. Singapore is visited by thousands of tourists daily. The standard of English we speak directly affects the image we portray to the outside world or even the entire globe. First impressions count. If we go to another country and they begin the conversation with "Oi, you there", we would naturally be put off. Our country depends on avenues such as tourism and overseas investors for revenue and ricebowls, if we put them off through a simple conversation, we would no longer attract anymore investors.

Launching a campaign is definitely an effective way to help this trend of bad english otherwise known as 'Singlish' rampant among teenagers and us nowadays. Even I myself speak singlish in non-formal occasions among my friends however, I switch to proper English when addressing higher authorities like teachers or people more senior than me. As long as one manages this 'switch' properly, I think it would be fine to speak Singlish.

However, the problem now is getting people to 'switch' properly. In other words, if we have to eliminate Singlish, we would. Impressions may appear superficial but people from other countries definitely would look forward to high-class service being offered by our citizens after all, we although small have made a pretty huge statement and impact on the rest of the globe. Winning an olympic medal, diplomatic trips to various countries overseas, hosting the grand youth olympics, we have definitely asserted our prowess despite being small in numbers.

If we were to be put down by such a simple task such as speaking fluent English, we would definitely be laughed at. In fact, in my opinion, we should brush up the standard of English taught in every single secondary school. We should start younger and faster. This would definitely aid the coming generations and let us even be able to impress other countries with a wide range of vocabulary and elimination of all forms of Singlish in our speech.

I am sure with all the upcoming campaigns that are going to be implemented, we would definitely benefit from them. My main point in this commentary on the article is to start bringing up the emphasis and importance of speaking good English. Thankfully, not all fellow Singaporeans lack the essential communication skills.

Let's look forward to a Singapore that would continue to make impact on the globe and showcase our capabilities and not be handicapped by our English standard, a mere fault that can be easily corrected. Kudos to all English teachers, keep it up. Singapore, this huge melting pot of multi ethnic groups, we shall work together to bring across the best impression to other countries.

For now, let's put pen to paper, paper to action. Let all the campaigns kickstart our plan to a brighter future and a flourishing red dot.

Blog 3 Article

S'poreans speak better English but... 10 min-->
Spoken English of service staff is still poor.
By Derrick Ho

SINGAPOREANS are generally speaking better English but they find the standard of spoken English among service staff poor, a survey has shown.
Two-thirds of the respondents in the survey, which polled 1,200 Singaporeans between 15 and 39 years, said their standard of spoken English has improved in the last two years.

Key findings in survey
60 per cent of people interviewed said they were aware of the Speak Good English Movement.
The top 3 factors preventing respondents from speaking good English are:

1) Their non-English speaking environment

2) Family and friends do not speak good English

3)Their poor command of English.

The top leisure activities that would encourage people to learn and speak good English:

1) Reading

2) Watching television or videos

3) Listening to radioMany gave wanting to express better and be better understood as the main motivation for speaking better.

The findings of the survey, conducted by the Singapore Polytechnic School of Business, were released at the launch of this year's Speak Good English Movement.
The respondents gave the lowest ratings to the standard of English spoken by service staff, who will be the target of this year's campaign.
'They are the people we meet and interact with everyday. Being able to speak good English is important for service staff to communicate
effectively with customers. They are aware of this,' said Mr Lim Boon Heng, minister at the Prime Minister's office, at the launch of the Speak Good English Movement at Metro department store, in the Paragon on Tuesday.
"As they say, iron sharpens iron. We either learn the best or the worst from people we work, live and interact with. Therefore, it is important that we raise the standard of speaking and using good English as a nation, starting with our workplaces and our homes."
Mr Lim said organisers will work with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency to improve the standard of spoken English among those who communicate frequently with Singapore residents and visitors.
The Singapore Retailers Association is also launching a training programme 'Service English for Retail Professionals'.
'They are our front-runners when Singapore hosts international events. The experience they give to our international visitors is very important,' Mr Lim said.

Link: http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_272077.html?vgnmr=1