Native Speaker

By popagandhi | Published: 22 September, 2006

The only day I have classes with the business school students is Friday. Fridays are also the days when I consistently struggle with the “Where you are from” questions, from my compatriots (not sure why, only business students think I’m foreign when no one else does).

Typical conversation.

“Where you from ah?”

“What do you mean, where am I from?”

“Um, you’re not from Singapore right?”

“I am…” (stuff face into bag of chips and make note to shut up whenever in class with business kids because it’s happened _again_)

“Oh. You don’t talk like one.”

Warrau. I am Singaporean hor.

I am so tired of having my Singaporean-ness being judged based upon how I drag or do not drag my words, and how I emphasize different words in a sentence, how I use or do not use certain words. I wish they could understand that not everyone who speaks with a different intonation from you is necessarily speaking in an _ang moh slang_, or belongs to an _ang moh pai_. Maybe some of us like the sound of speaking properly.

P.S. See Ruby Pan’s “fantastic performance”:http://www.mrbrownshow.com/?p=229.

possibly related

Naughty Student Bloggers / School Days / Life Is Random / Not Ready To Be An Adult / Mimi and Didi /
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  • popagandhi
    You're right, but it was never _their_ accents for me; it was about why they should penalize me for speaking the way I do, and how they're not able to accept that English comes in a variety of colours and, in their words, 'slang'.
  • I love how that vid has gotten so much mileage from Singaporeans of every persuasion around the world. (Chameleons, represent!) It's a shame that different-sounding English stands out so much. I'm sure jarring Singlish is indiscernible to most because it's so commonplace... the same way, say in the US, nobody bats an eyelid when co-eds abbreviate and pepper their classroom presentations with "like" and colloquial slangs. Not saying that standards should be compromised, but when in Rome...
  • I hear you.
  • gosh, amen to that.
    smu business students are a lot more highly lauded than they actually are.
  • w.
    Oh apparently I speak with "an angmoh accent" - which always confounds me since they can't tell me which angmoh accent. Ah well, taxi drivers ask if I'm from elsewhere since my Mandarin is so shitty, and people I'm introduced to ask if I'm from elsewhere thanks to my angmoh accent.

    The plight of people who speak grammatical English, accents all in place according to RP. ;p
  • Being singled out for not speaking the same way or with the same accent as your peers is pretty global. I get enough grief for it ... (even here)
  • Christine Ho
    From the way I spoke mandarin, they say I am not from Singapore! Ha. I am an english speaker, therefore when I spoke mandarin, I spoke it proper. Don't see why it has to be distorted, badly spoken, before it can be considered "sporean". WOw lau!
  • Hahaha. I can identify with that.
  • When with certain peepur, you must know how to code-switch your England.
  • Ha ha. Ruby Pan is spot on.

    Yeah, I get that quite a lot, but sometimes they think I'm a foreigner cos of my infatuation with blazers. Living in the heartlands... bleh.
  • LTH
    Singapore needs to have more students like you studying overseas to maintain its reputation within academic circles, or at least amongst the uni student body overseas. It goes without saying a lot of Singaporean students (- especially- the business students) do not bother masking their accents and the use of Singlish during presentations and class discussions. Almost everyone zones out; those who don\'t, entertain themselves sniggering. Heck, I have Singaporean housemates and speak Singlish like a native speaker, but even I cringe and feel embarassed for them for using such poor standards of English in more professional settings.
  • Night
    Ballsy : is not flessiber, but is flesibeh , and poppy like is so much. haha :)

    Right, poppy? ;p
  • Amen to that. (Also, I didn't know that an ang moh pai was something to which you belonged; all this while, people I've encountered have used it as an adjective. Good to know.)
  • i get the same thing, all the time. people either assume i'm Korean/Japanese-American or some rich Indonesian kid, studying here. lately i've been using that as an excuse to get out of having to do surveys and other random nonsense when i get accosted along Orchard Road.
  • eh don't pray pray hor veh flessiberr to use wan okays. ;) right, sweetie?
  • Oh gods; hear hear.
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