Singlish and English Misunderstandings

Problems
Singaporeans often translate from Chinese (Mandarin) into English and a British English speaker has to work hard to understand the meaning.

Answers
You can buy books on Singlish from book stores in Singapore and on line and probably find them in Singapore libraries.
Big dictionaries and Reference sections of libraries have books or chapters on English grammar and spelling and common errors.

Stories
White Here
A shop assistant directed the Chinese girls, all size 6 or 8, to small cubicles on the left and sent me, size 16, to a larger cubicle on the right. She said firmly, "White here."

I had heard that in Chinese foreigners were known as big noses. I wondered why white people, who wore larger clothes were sent to different cubicles. Maybe so they could find the person wanting the larger sizes. When she returned and thanked me for whiting, I realised she had meant, "Wait here".

Pronouncing L and R
Peasant Frights
On flights to and from Hong Kong the announcers really do say, Have a pleasant fright. Asians have trouble with the letters L and R. Just as I have trouble rolling the letter r in Italian, the Asians have trouble with the letter L in English.

Theme of the Day
At Toastmasters International speakers' meetings, I often hear: "I will now introduce you to the team." I expect to meet the members of the committee. Instead I hear that the team is Chinese New Year. The speaker means THEME.

When I am the Grammarian or Language Evaluator, I ask the audience to say TEETH. I demonstrate placing your tongue behind your top front teeth to say T, and putting out our tongue and pulling it back under your top teeth or touching your tongue three times with your top teeth while breathing out to say TH.

Similes and Metaphors
Similar to and Simile
You are very similar to your mother.
Your dress is like butterfly wings.
Your bride's dress was like a ship's sails.

Metaphor
You are your father.
Her dress was butterfly wings.
The bride was a ship in full sail.

Metaphor Wrap up
Let's wrap up the meeting.

Oxymorons
Howling Silence (title of a book by Catherine Lim).

Phrases
Raining cats and dogs. One of many phrases I had to explain when teaching English to Singaporeans in a school. They don't need to understand the origin of the phrase. They need to understand that it means raining very hard, torrential rain.

Why you should explain jargon
I am a Singapore Resident. I have lived in or visited Singapore every year for two decades. I recognize and understand:
Ni how? (Translation: How are you?)
Gong Xi Fa Chai (Happy New Year - not literally happiness but something about prosperity)
Hong Bao - red packet containing money for children and unmarried relatives or vouchers or discount coupons for customers.
Lo Hei (Chinese New Year Dish of mixed colourful shredded vegetables.)

But many foreigners won't understand Singlish. If you are a tour guide leading a group, a restaurant owner, taxi driver, or speaker in a speaking contest, one person in thirty in a room of people will not understand. They will appreciate a translation.

Anything anybody does not understand is a distraction. They might miss the next thing you say while trying to get the translation from they mobile phone. They might distract you, the speaker, and other members of the audience, by loudly whispering to the person next them: "What did he say?"

If you are in a speaking contest and the vote is divided, one extra judge is the pre-arranged tie-breaker. If the contest has a clear winner, that one person has no vote. But two speakers might get an equal number of votes. You can have as few as five judges and three speakers. The voting could be as low as two each for two speakers, one vote for the third speaker. The result of the competition is decided by the one vote of the tie breaker. If they cannot understand the punchline of your speech, the title, the joke, the dialogue, they are likely to give their vote to the other speaker.

Other Misunderstandings
Singaporeans often confuse lend and borrow.

Tips
Use the grammar and spell checker on our computer to edit the draft of any speech or greeting you are planning when meeting people who speak English or Singlish.

Author
Angela Lansbury, English language teacher and tutor. I visit Toastmasters Clubs in the UK and Singapore and have tight workshops in China and Singapore on public speaking and English grammar and pronunciation. I also teach individuals as a home tour and on Skype.