Getting over the Singaporean accent!!!!

[optisailor2002]

zany_ama

then dont blame me for posting in this thread since i dont remember me being the one who started this thread.

and why take so much offence when i should be the one taking offence at personal attacks directed towards me? you are one weird dude.

one more thing, learn to comprehend what was said before posting irresponsible remarks such as the above.

so i assume, a person who is considering which guitar to buy should not be treated as a customer eh? only when you flash the money and tell the salesperson "I AM GOING TO BUY THE GUITAR TODAY, HERE, NOW" then should he/she be treated like a customer?

hahahaha! this is such an interesting topic. i actually spent almost half an hour reading all the replies from the 14 pages

interesting. its your 2nd account and you have contributed to this thread? how? by jumping straight to conclusions without processing information through your brain? wonder why you had to read all 14 pages again. by the way, this is my 5th account on soft.

 

[metalella_eh]

with direct regards to the thread, recently i just got 'suan' by a guest of mine.

working at an american restaurant, interacting with customers in which they are mostly americans long enough, you will develop the 'ang moh' accent. after working there for almost a year, my 'ang moh' accent is quite.. distinct. so back to that guest of mine, i greet them just as any guest that will patronise the restaurant.

after they give their orders, one of them blatantly shot me right at my face.

guest: you a singaporean?
me: yes, i'm a singaporean
guest: lovelovelovelove, you are a singaporean and yet you have the american accent? get over it la ah, don't lovelovelovelovelovelovelove use that accent.
me: *kept quiet, took the menu and walk off*

after getting the beers down and the settings for their food down, i didn't care that table till they asked for the bill and leave. throughout, i just kept quiet and don't talk to them. they talk to me, i just smile. american restaurant, expect the prices to be high.

guest: wah, daylight robbery. eh, ang moh give ang moh price, asians give asian price la, give some discount.
me: *smile, took the bill folder and walk off*

what's up with the difference between singapore accent and american accent? you understand me i understand you. as long as we condescend each other, what's the fuss about? singaporeans add 'leh lah lors' just like americans add 'you know, alright?' it's just the way you put it to the other party..

i can see something boiling in this thread, usually after my reply, i will kill the thread. so hopefully this thread will end without any further damage done to it. take a chill pill guys. peace..

--------

edit: wow, i just love the function that filters the f word to love. makes the whole thing sounds so funny.

 

[gutturalpiss]

Mr James is a man of fun. lovelovelovelove --> but, a little beyond funny. the older "love" was better. it just kills the humour.

 

[alvyn]

metalella_eh

Were they caucasians or singaporeans? Well, I'm alright with Singaporeans who have the american accent. I've got friends who spent years in the United States or the United Kingdom for their tertiary education, and most, if not all of them speak with slight foreign accents. It's inevitable when you spend your entire tertiary education interacting with foreigners.

Those guys were probably just trying to give you a hard time, as can be seen from the discount issue. ignore them I guess. You get assflutes like them everywhere.

Hmmm why should everybody let this thread die off? In my opinion, this is one of the better threads around in Kopi-Tiam, where people express their own views. Why the suppression of public debate on a valid topic? Are we fearful of the "repercussions" brought about by differing opinions and views on a single so-called volatile issue?

 

[hifi_killer]

i do understand that somepeople may have the impression that you are trying to be 'cool' with that accent. Anyho, if anyone had any problems with accent, they shouldnt even bothered coming to the restaurant in the first place. American accent still sounds 'normal' to me, i cant stand the australian accent , it sounds way too 'drunken'

And speaking of american food, yes it is bloody expensive, and you still have to pay tips and tax. I would prolly save a few hundred USD if i've brought maggi noodles to eat in the US.

 

[vx02]

haha the argument regarding singlish being a national identity and it being a national disgrace has been going on forever. well, imho, i think bands really need to look into how they present themselves as a total package.

sure, you can definitely strike a chord with the local crowd by being more down to earth, and not trying to mind your LAHs and LORs, but if you're really thinking of penetrating say, the foreign music scenes say Aus or maybe even US, i guess it should be important that us local bands shld know the importance of good english.

its abit like getting a job. maybe you're a tshirt jeans guy and all you own is a million tshirts and a pair of jeans. but to secure that job that you really want, i dont think youd wanna wear that old pair of jeans and an ol tshirt to the interview right? yeah so kinda the same thing with singlish. imho, speaking prim and proper english does not make you any less of a singaporean than someone who punctuates sentences with Lahs and Lors. and neither does speaking singlish all the time make you less competent in proper english when it counts. my 2 cents

 

[metalella_eh]

Were they caucasians or singaporeans?

they are singaporeans. i can't help it but to rant about their ignorance. even one of his friends say he's very rude. but he kept on ranting and ranting, disregarding how much embarrassment he brought to his friends.

Hmmm why should everybody let this thread die off? In my opinion, this is one of the better threads around in Kopi-Tiam, where people express their own views. Why the suppression of public debate on a valid topic? Are we fearful of the "repercussions" brought about by differing opinions and views on a single so-called volatile issue?

yes, expression of our views will lead to lots of conflicts among this SOFT community. individual on their own, we would always protect ourselves with our stand when one opposes to our point of view. i may think that this is a minor issue, but to some, this may be a major issue. that's when conflict starts. conflicts are inevitable, but with minor adjustment, we can prevent such conflicts from happening. with all respect, we should understand from others point of view and not take their word as a trigger to hostility. don't take things too personally unless the one comment with direct opposition to a certain individual. we have all rights to post our views, but we have to learn to accept and respect other people's point of view.

this i believe have been discussed quite a couple of times.

 

[optisailor2002]

its hilarious though when ang mohs try to speak singlish.

like how they insert a "lah" at the end of every sentence.

 

[visa]

conflicts are opportunities if you deal with them properly. life would be so boring without them!

 

[alvyn]

Yes... to quote what my lecturer loves to say... "If I challenge your opinions and views, its only because I bother about what you say, and I care enough to provide an alternative view point." Arguments and good, challenges and quarrels are healthy.

Myopic arguments and personal attacks though, are bad.

Anyway yes its hilarious when ang mohs try to speak Singlish. My lecturer's like a semi-Singaporean and randomly throws in bits of Singlish into his lecturer. It's no wonder that attendance is usually one of the highest when he's the main lecturer.

 

[vx02]

haha i think its a one way road, like asians can really fit into the say australian or british accent. but i really find it very weird when i see caucasians trying to speak singlish. haha. what with the Lahs and all that. i've yet too see a malay guy say "scones and tea, young lad" not yet. not yet.

i think borat says it best - "What's up with it, Vanilla face? Me and my homie Azamat just parked our slab outside. We're looking for somewhere to post up our Black asses for the night. So, uh, bang bang, skeet skeet, nigga. Just a couple of pimps, no hos. " hahahaha

 

[whee]

optisailor2002

sure, you have every right to play the guitar, test it out and see which one fits your bill. But you've ALSO acknowledged the typical singaporean mentality/behavior of grabbing any guitar he sees and laying his hands on it without any intention of buying the guitar in the first place.

My point here is that these guitar shops may pursue a policy of discrimination as a result of the actions of these few people - which may cause them losses and also make shopping for guitars an unpleasant experience. I guess, by placing yourself on the defensive, you pretty much have shot your own 'white-first' mentality in the foot by acknowledging that Singaporean guitar-shoppers have a part to blame as well.

I am not defending the actions of the guitar shops, neither do i condone it. I am merely attempting to put things in perspective, and well - we can understand why they do things the way they do.

its hilarious though when ang mohs try to speak singlish.

like how they insert a "lah" at the end of every sentence.

its hilarious, how we speak english, don't you think? adding lahs and lors and colloquialisms, and committing sva mistakes wholesale?

and hey - typically singaporean we are, we decide to give an excuse for speaking bad english by creating a whole new 'language' itself and call it singlish

 

[optisailor2002]

true. it is funny to others who are not used to how singaporeans speak english. while singaporeans decide to create a new "language" and call it singlish i dont find anything really bad about it as long as people understand each other. and it would also be funny if a formal presentation is punctuated with "lah"s and "lor"s, but hey, it adds humour to the presentation overall

 

[alvyn]

whee

Hmm I personally feel that it wasn't the original intention to label it Singlish, and thus justify its existence. It was more of an inevitable process that involved language attrition and acquisition. The multi-cultural and racial structure of Singapore in the past meant that there were many people speaking in various dialects and languages, ie. Teochew, Cantonese, Malay, Tamil, Chinese and English. It was fine and dandy when no external communications were required, but once external communications were imperative, people had no choice but to pick up, and acquire knowledge of the different languages. By "imposing" a foreign tongue onto individuals who've spent their lives speaking in a totally different native language, the non-native English speakers found themselves stuck at certain words, and replaced them with colloquialisms, and expressions such as "lah, leh, meh".

If what you said is in fact accurate, then shouldn't the African-Americans be slammed for being Singaporeans and embracing their "ghetto lingo" with pride? I don't see how "He be goin' down" differs too much from "He die already lah." Both have SVA mistakes, and the entire sentence syntax is horrible wrong.

 

[whee]

alvyn

Why not - bad english, is well - bad english. Even if these african-americans wear their 'ghetto-pride' on their sleeves, it is no excuse for speaking english wrong, or badly. Even though we all know of english as a bastardised language (due to the latin/germanic origins) it is still a formal language because there are rules that guide the usage of the language. Why I disagree with Singlish or ghetto-english is because they defy these rules and unless you are already familiar with the way it is spoken, you won't be able to understand what he or she is saying. Imagine how the world would be like if we persist in using informal forms of english to communicate with one another: there would be no such thing as English in the first place. And if you're a fan of british comedy (and thus followed Little Britain), you would have also realised that ethnic africans in Anglo-Saxon communities don't always embrace their 'ghetto-lingo' or wear this on their sleeves. In fact, if you try to speak to a random african in your ghetto-lingo, they'd more likely take it as an insult. A music equivalent for this would be the american hip-hop powerhouse, "Arrested Development". They (or rather Speech) speak good english, and embrace the whole soul and funk of the Afro community.

Bringing in dialect concerns are quite unfair in this context actually. This is because Singlish is hardly a dialect but an improper localised form of english. Dialects generally follow the similar rules of the language - for e.g. Hokkein, Teochew etc as you've brought out, with perhaps different style of pronunciation or regional accent/style of speaking thrown in. Essentially, they are still written in the same manner as the proper language itself. Whereas, writing out an entire conversation in Singlish would be something absolutely incomprehensible indeed, even to the 'native' speaker.

 

[therealslim]

Hahaha! This thread is funny!

Hahaha!
omg, this thread has been so funny to read!
Sorry sorry, it's just very entertaining to read from beginning to end, and how the thread went into chaos.

I've been living in LA for 3 years, being around whites/blacks/hispanics/asians 24/7.
LA is super diverse. Lotsa Asians (Koreans,Japanese,Taiwanese,Chinese,Indonesians etc),
South Americanos, Latinos from good ole Mexico, Europeans, Canadians etc. (And one singaporean. Hahaha! Just kidding. Two singaporeans. Wahaha!)
I love how diverse this place is. So many cultures in just one city! (well, one county)
Just like singapore. Look at our different cultures altogether!

I met up with some family and new Singapore tourists and omg, it made me to homesick to hear someone actually use "sial" and "ah-doi" Wahaha! So homely!

Guys, it's special man. Cherish the accent.

I appreciate how people can identify Singaporeans from their accents!
Walk around Pasadena, and eavesdrop a little, and you can easily listen for the "eh daddy daddy, you see that wan! so nice hor!" hahaha!

It's special guys. Don't need to overcome need. Embrace the cultural uniqueness!

Dude, i can't believe it. There was once i played gears of war online, and was speaking to all these americans right? and then suddenly one of them said, "dude, are u african?"
I let out the weirdest 'Whaat??!" He said my accent is like an African accent.
Wahahahaha! Sheesh...

(Anyone popping over to LA for holidays etc, send me a message, i'll hook u up to watch some live tapings of shows)

 

[Hayley]

i wish like, from the start this never happened.

 

[yy_fuctup]

The thing is, no foreigners are particularly able to decipher Singaporean accents, unlike the standard British and American accents which are quite easy to comprehend. But colloquial slangs still do exist in parts of America, as far as I'm concerned, Chicago is the one with the worst nasal tone as far as I've heard. And you can't over-generalize accents just like that. Even Singapore accents have subcategories (minah/mat accents, ahlian/ahbeng accents etc.)

Let me just add in one more thing, Singaporean accents sound degrading to the ears.

 

[rottenramone]

He said my accent is like an African accent.
Wahahahaha! Sheesh...

yeah man!! some africans i heard have an almost singaporean like accent. i was like wtf?!?

 

[DeathCubeK]

I have nothing against Singlish, just bad English in general. Sometimes even lecturers make simple mistakes in English like adding "s" where it doesn't belong and stuff. It sounds really retarded that people who's job is to speak in English are so bad at it.