Who speaks three languages in Singapore but not English?

Chineasy aid to learning Chinese picure language showing coloured pictures.

Singapore flag.

US flag
Singaporeans who studied in the USA will have American accents.

UK flag
British pronounication is the norm, inherited from parents who lived int he era when Singapore was British and schools tught British English then as now. Also founding father of the nation, Lee Kuan Yew, studied in the UK, so he favoured British English.

Many people in Singapore speak Mandarin which they learn at school and at home two Chinese 'dialects', one from each parent, such as Hokkien and Teochew. They struggle with English because English has a past tense whilst Mandarin speakers simple say I go yesterday. Also they do not have 'the' and 'a' so every English sentence is difficult to create and to recognize. I discovered this when I started learning Mandarin.

Useful language learning websites
Memrise.com
Duolingo.com
chineasy.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity/?multi_permalinks=2383118521906906&notif_id=1568518579063017&notif_t=group_highlights

Author
Angela Lansbury, teacher of English and other languages, author of 20 books.

Singapore National Day Celebrations To See: Oct 6, 9, 10

Flag of Singapore

Singapore National Day is August 9th, and it celebrates independence in 1965 from Malaysia, now the neighbour with whom Singapore makes constant efforts to stay on good terms.

The national languages of Singapore are English, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay and Tamil.

Events to watch in person or on TV:

1 The parade.

2 The speech.

3 The fireworks.

Things to do:
Volunteer to help.
Attend events at your Community Club.
Watch TV.
See the parade.


Birthday Banner at Community Club in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Photograph flags in streets and banners adorning Community Clubs.
Select red and white outfits to wear, such as white shirts and blouses, red ties and jackets, red shoes, red brooches..
Find red and white food or drink such as:
White bread and tomatoesL yogurt and strawberries, milk, white lassi, red and white plates.

Writing from Singapore in the week of Friday 28 July 2019 I can tell you that the Singapore flag has been displayed along the streets and on the buildings for days.

Singapore flags reflected in the pool. Cashew Heights. Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.




Flags on a balcony at Cashew Heights condo complex.

Happy Birthday Singapore vertical banner. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Features on the vertical banner to notice and point out to tourists: red and white of the flag with a crescent and stars, the Merlion symbol, the fireworks

I am president of Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Club and we will be wearing red and white, the colours of the national flag, at our meeting held two days earlier, July 7 2019. Other Toastmasters Clubs will do the same.

You can buy Singapore flags to drape over the back of the car's exterior wing mirror. Novelty, souvenir and stationery shops also sell attractive round badges with the flag symbol.

A preview of the fireworks takes place on August 6th. You can see a video preview online. At the weekend, on Saturday 10th of August, 2019, another five fireworks displays will be in the heartlands, the suburbs.

Good vantage points are high residences or offices or rooftop bars (which might sell tickets or increase prices like on New Year's Eve). If you can hear te fireworks but not see them at a buidling such as a hotel, try walking around to a public area such as a stairwell or lift lobby on the other side of the building.

Check last train times. Wear read and white and keep your camera charged and with you ready to capture the magic moments.

Make A Cake
American
Earlier in July I wondered how to make a cake for July 4th and the whole month at my Toastmasters Club meetings showing the American flag. I now know you can use raspberries or strawberries and white icing, and red food colouring. (For an American or UK flag for the blue add blueberries.)

Singapore
Cheapest, smallest, simplest. Buy a cupcake. Cover half with white frosting. Put red jam or dyed red over the other half. (Or red foil taken off a wrapped chocolate.) Cut white frosting into a crescent and five small five point stars. And / or add the letters Sg. And place the cake on a large plate on a print out of the singapore flag.

Red Food Colouring
When I looked at rainbow cakes most cooks said that natural dyes such as beetroot and strawberry gave very pale colours and you would get better results from food colouring.

Flags and badges
Flags and pages are sold at novelty stores, cheap Singapore dollar or two dollar stores, stationery stores.

You can buy a hat with the letters SG for 5 Singapore dollare from the shop in the YWCA.

Useful Websites
FIREWORKS
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ndp-2019-fireworks-to-be-set-off-from-singapore-river-for-the-first-time

DIY & BOUGHT FLAG CAKES
Simple flag cakes in red and white
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food/a-slice-of-patriotism
https://bakeavenue.com/products/singapore-flag-cake
Elaborate cakes showing flags, personalities, landmarks, Merlions and more
https://mothership.sg/2015/08/this-is-the-amazeball-result-when-19-super-creative-patissiers-bake-birthday-cakes-for-singapore/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.

How To Remember Flags - a few fun flacts on flags from the UK, USA and Canada

I like to recognize flags which are flying.

The easiest ones to remember are the most distinctive.

The American flag is also called the stars and stripes.


How many stars and how many stripes? What do they represent?

The UK flag is called the Union Jack.









The design is a union or combinaton of three flags. The red cross on white you might recognize as the flag of England which is flown all over London when there are football matches involving the England team.

This flag, now I look at it, is not a correct version of the flag. The whites should be slightly off centre.
When the flag is flown upside down (originally and usually by sinking ships) it is a distress signal. Who knows or cares?

First, anybody in the navy or military knows. They need to be able to fly a distress signal when in trouble and recognize one flown by their own group or anybody else.

Boy scouts are taught this. I recall telling my small son this and was surprised he knew. He said he learned it from the Boy Scouts. They might fly the flag over the premises or at an international meeting. I presume girl guides are taught this either as part of general training or to attain one of the badges. If you are a steward or usher at an itnernational meeting and wear a flag on your clothing to indicate that you speak English you need to have it swn on the right way up.

(Having a coffee break. More later.)


The red maple leaf of Canada.


Useful websites
You will see the national flag on the page of any country in Wikipedia. Also check Wikivoyage and Wikitravel.
wikitravel.org
wikivoyage.org

Travel Information
visitbritain.com
visitbritainshop.com

Useful Information and Websites
Travel and Tourism
visitlondon.com
visitbritain.com
visitbritain.org
visitbritainshop.com
visittheusa.co.uk

Transport
virginatlantic.com (airline UK to USA and USA to UK and Europe and world)
skyscanner.net (flight date and price comparisons and offers)
citimapper.com
tfl.gov.uk (transport for London)
rome2rio.com (directions)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

The flag of the USA and of Malaysia - like the US flag - why?

Problem
I love flags. I learn flags. I like to test myself on flag quizzes. The flag of Malaysia looks like the US flag which you might find a problem, a pleasure or a puzzle. Why those colours, the stripes and the star?

The US flag

Stars and stripes.

The first time I saw the Malaysian flag from a distance I thought it was the US flag. When I got closer I thought it was like one of those tee-shirts which copy Western ideas but either get the wrong or make minor changes for copyright reasons.

Flag On A Tour
I took a tour of Kuala Lumpur. A national monument resembles a famous photo of the US flag being hoisted by successful soldiers in WWII at Iwo Jima. The Malaysian monument was created inspired by the same statue. I think it was the same sculptor-designer.

Our tour guide explained the story behind the sculpture and the symbolism of the Malaysian flag was explained.  But I was busy taking photos and that day I heard so much information that by the end of the day I had forgotten.

Learning Flags
I have since decided that it is a good idea to learn the country's flag before visiting the country or taking a guided tour. That way you can reinforce what you already know, and understand any garbled English or half-heard sentences. With your basic knowledge, you can and add on information which is not readily available on the internet.

Does knowing the country flag have any practical use to a tourist? Yes. You need to know your host country's flag as it could help distinguish your tour bus from those of coaches in the car park from other neighbouring countries.

The Malaysian flag.
1 It looks like the US flag with stripes but has a yellow moon section. If you thought that might be an Islamic symbol, you are right.

No, it isn't a copy of the US flag. The red and white stripes came from a trading company in Malaysia.

I was interested to read in Wikipedia about how the flag was chosen by popular vote from the  Malaysian people from a choice of flags. The current flag one in one sense by default. Some voters thought the alternative star flag looked too much like the Communist flag.

Once you have fixed in your mind you can add on the comments by the tour guide, the guidebook you buy, the free leaflet, and the comments by people from other countries about how they recognize the flag and how it resembles or differs from other flags.

What about the number of points on the star?

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Malaysia
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iwo-Jima-3c.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Monument_(Malaysia)

(NB the country code for Singapore is 65).
As you cross the border your phone will give pings and popups with offers of charges for logging onto the Malaysia phone systems.

Useful Websites
www.bandarmalaysia.my
visit-malaysia.com
singaporeair.com (Singapore Airlines)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author, speaker, teacher of languages. business trainer and workshop leader.
See my other posts on Singapore and Malaysia and learning Chinese and Malay. Please share links to your favourite posts.