You see lots of strange instructions in Singapore.
I saw this sign in Singapore in November 2018. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Add an r to the word late and you get later. Latter means the last of two or more.
When I first came to Singapore, I was unnerved by signs which instructed: Pedestrian this way! In England the sign would have read: Pedestrians this way.
In England, signs address all of the pedestrians, not just me.
I felt like I was being watched on a CCTV camera to see if I obeyed the instruction.
I started learning Bahasa Malay. (That means Malay language - you put the word bahasa meaning language in front because adjectives go in front of nouns and they don't have the word Malaysian, just Malay language and Malay people).
Esperanto follows the simple system of spelling and grammar.
How do you work out what muddled messages, particularly on restaurant menus, might mean.
1 Try to guess what the writer was likely to be saying.
2 Look at the other language or other notice for a clue.
3 Look for similarly spelled words. (If you play Scrabble, or have a scrabble word hunt programme, this can help.)
Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
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