Posts tagged as:

English

Language: Eradicating Chinglish in Shanghai

August 25, 2009

Today the BBC reported that officials in Shanghai are trying to get rid of all the ‘Chinglish’ signs:

The authorities in the Chinese city of Shanghai are starting a campaign to try to spot and correct badly phrased English on signs in public places.
Chinglish, as the inaccurate use of the language is known, has long been [...]

Read the full article →

Language: This Year’s Speak Mandarin Campaign in Singapore

April 21, 2009

Now that I have access to Youtube, I thought I would update this post with the video. Below is one of two videos, and I think they might be coming out with more. Enjoy!

2009 Speak Mandarin Campaign on Youtube

After I was finally able to watch Youtube, I checked out the commercials for Singapore Speak Mandarin [...]

Read the full article →

Language: Mandarin and Dialects in Singapore

March 25, 2009

The more time I spend in Singapore, the more interested I am in the language situation here. If you have read a little bit about this topic, you will know that there are four official languages – English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil – but that is only part of the picture. In each ethnic [...]

Read the full article →

Link: Taiwanese Talk Show Making Fun of Singaporean English

March 5, 2009

This is actually pretty funny…

Read the full article →

Life: Economic Food/Rice

December 8, 2008

I often see food stalls that sell ‘economic food’ (or economical, economic rice, etc), and I don’t know where they get that translation. This is one of those little everyday things you notice when you live abroad.
Anyway, I was looking around the ST Stomp website, and in their English section they have a post about [...]

Read the full article →

Language: Is that British English, or is it a Mistake? English in Singapore…

December 4, 2008

The other week I found myself writing “wrong word”, or “use a different phrase”, over and over. After about an hour of marking, I began to wonder – were they actually wrong, or is it just different from what I am use to?
I was uncertain because Singapore uses British English, and sometimes I am not [...]

Read the full article →

Language: Speak Good English/Speak Mandarin in Singapore

December 3, 2008

Two interesting national programs. I have included some excerpts. If you are interested in more, click the links for more information.
The Speak Good English Campaign

The Speak Good English Movement is a nationwide movement to encourage Singaporeans to speak grammatically correct English that is universally understood. It is to get Singaporeans to speak English with confidence [...]

Read the full article →

Language: English and Singlish, Part I

October 10, 2008

Quick Facts:
Official Languages: English, Tamil, Mandarin, and Malay
National Language: Malay (for traditional reasons, as it use to be part of Malaysia)
Working Language: English
The working and administrative language in Singapore is English. Students learn in English, road signs are written in English, menus/shops signs/etc all have English translations if they are written in a different language, [...]

Read the full article →