So, what’s wrong with speaking Mandarin at workplace?
I have been reading news from Singapore once in a while. Not much, but enough to catch my attention on certain issues. One that caught my eye was about a continuing debate on customer relations in work place, whether in retail outlets or F&B.
I find it funny that Singaporeans like to complain that we have sub-standards in our work force when they encounter sales staffs speaking in Mandarin(not Chinese), to the customers. Some complained that it’s making Singapore looking cheap as an international city when sale staffs approache customers and start speaking in Mandarin. The fact is we cannot even speak proper Mandarin. It’s hilarious to think and read about this kind of complaints on newspaper sometimes. I dunno, maybe it’s because I am seeing so much foreigners here in China trying to get their Mandarin right in order to blend in to the society that I seriously wonder what’s wrong back home.
First, I like to say that Singaporeans in general do not speak perfect English. You look at the way I blog you know already(sub-standard). We have our own pidgin which is widely known as “Singlish”, which is spoken both by Malaysians and Singaporeans. If we know that we are speaking to South-east Asians, that pidgin English will be very strongly flavoured, tipped with certain phrases from Behasa Melayu and maybe even some Cantonese or Hokkien Dialects. That is, if we are sure we are speaking to our “native” people. Similarly, I am sure when we meet foreigners, we will TRY our best to speak in English, and not Mandarin.
During my travel to Hong kong last year for a week, I notice the Hong Kong people are catering themselves to speak in Mandarin when they see Chinese, especially when one do not know communicate in Cantonese with the locals well. They will also speak in English, within their language limits, should someone is not able to speak in Cantonese or Mandarin. Does that make people in Hong kong a sub-standard city not recognised internationally? Or we can even be more drastic about the matter, those people who visit cities like Paris, do the Parisians prefer to speak English or they will start giving directions to you in French? It is more of a matter being comfortable with who you are: being Singaporeans.
I do know that being versatile is what makes us Singaporeans adaptable. We look at the situation and change and make amends. If let say you are approached by an elderly who needs directions to some certain place, she/he might not understand English very well, you will certainly try to speak either in Mandrin or the dialect the elderly is using. Similarly, when we meet our Malay folks, some usage of Melayu will brighten that person-you-meet’s day more than plain usage of English.
Standards are there for us to meet. But we should also realise where it is appropriate that we should be versatile. Being so constipated about what language we communicate do not seem to fit in into our society. We can eat so much “potato” that we can be ignorant about the fact that our National language is Behasa Melayu, but most of us can’t even go beyond uttering the army commands we hear during National Day, so why are we so touch up with other languages in use? Being courteous instead of worrying which language more important in our daily life is definitely more imporant. When you hear even someone saying “gam-sia”(Thank you in Hokkien dialect), it’s definitely better than hearing someone say “Eh Speak English Lar”. Being Singaporean, we should be proud of our identity instead, the ability to change and adapt and speak more than just one language: English.
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yup.. totally agree with you.. i might not be able to speak english fluently (simply singlish..haha..but im malaysian..=D).. at least ppl understands me.. and when meeting ppl’s need.. i can communicate.. im stretchable.. hee.. =)
ho ho yup u got that right