Lost at River Hongbao
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Feb 11, 2011 - ST Forum
ON SUNDAY evening, I took my family to the River Hongbao carnival to understand and get to know more of the country I am trying to embrace as my permanent home.
We enjoyed it a lot and were really impressed by the decorations, atmosphere, cultural programme and fun rides for the children.
But amid all the fun and extravaganza, I felt a little out of place. Most of the signs in the food stalls and the price lists were in Chinese. I wanted to try the food but did not know what to ask for as I do not eat pork and beef for religious reasons. Even the compering was exclusively in Mandarin. I felt like an outsider, not welcome to join in the festivities.
I understand that the festivities are to commemorate the Chinese New Year, but in cosmopolitan Singapore, where people from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds live together harmoniously, a little sprinkling of English can go a long way.
Bilingual compering in English and Mandarin, and names of food items and price lists in English would have made us feel more at home, more comfortable and truly integrated.
Kunwar Bir Singh
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dear kunwar bir singh..
it's a chinese festival... of course the damned signs and the host would be speaking in mandarin...
get over it
you do not expect someone in a sikh festival to be speaking in anything other than bengali
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punjabi...
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Learn to enjoy.
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Dey~~~
wat later come another person that say he dunno english and chinese then how???
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No Pork, no Beef, surely he can recognise a chicken wing right?
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
Feb 11, 2011 - ST Forum
ON SUNDAY evening, I took my family to the River Hongbao carnival to understand and get to know more of the country I am trying to embrace as my permanent home.
We enjoyed it a lot and were really impressed by the decorations, atmosphere, cultural programme and fun rides for the children.
But amid all the fun and extravaganza, I felt a little out of place. Most of the signs in the food stalls and the price lists were in Chinese. I wanted to try the food but did not know what to ask for as I do not eat pork and beef for religious reasons. Even the compering was exclusively in Mandarin. I felt like an outsider, not welcome to join in the festivities.
I understand that the festivities are to commemorate the Chinese New Year, but in cosmopolitan Singapore, where people from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds live together harmoniously, a little sprinkling of English can go a long way.
Bilingual compering in English and Mandarin, and names of food items and price lists in English would have made us feel more at home, more comfortable and truly integrated.
Kunwar Bir Singh
Kunwar Bir Singh:
Uhh... hello? It is a Chinese festival, no?
There's just no pleasing some people.
You make the festival billingual, people will complain that it has lost its authenticity.
You make the festival Chinese, this joker will complain that he cannot understand.
So if I were to attend a Punjab festival in India, must I expect all the signs there to be in English?
Cuckoobird.
P.S. I'm an Indian/Malay Muslim Singaporean. This is MY own country. And I can understand. Why can't you?
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baboon can find food better
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Originally posted by CKeer:
No Pork, no Beef, surely he can recognise a chicken wing right?
The chicken wing may have been fried in oil with lard or cooked with utensils that has been previously used for pork or beef. Some religious people don't like that.
And come on guys, shouldn't such events be more open to all people in Singapore, regardless of race, language or religion? Let this event have more English lah. Then we can go celebrate... whatever event they do as well, and not feel so blur when they are all in a foreign language.
Maybe cos I feel so blur when going to other countries that don't use the languages I do, do I feel that language should not be a barrier for people from appreciating another culture.
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Originally posted by ThunderFbolt:
The chicken wing may have been fried in oil with lard or cooked with utensils that has been previously used for pork or beef. Some religious people don't like that.
And come on guys, shouldn't such events be more open to all people in Singapore, regardless of race, language or religion? Let this event have more English lah. Then we can go celebrate... whatever event they do as well, and not feel so blur when they are all in a foreign language.
Maybe cos I feel so blur when going to other countries that don't use the languages I do, do I feel that language should not be a barrier for people from appreciating another culture.
When you visit another country, you want your experience to be as authentic as possible. You want the locals to do as they always do, cook as they have always cooked, and perform as they have always performed.
Once they start doing things differently to cater to tourists, the authenticity is lost. Sure, you may be able to understand the experience better, but the experience is no longer real.
If language is such a barrier to you, you can always go to a tour agency and hire an English-speaking guide.
Heck, this is Singapore. If you don't know what is going on, just ask. Even most old aunties and uncles know enough English to get by.
If anything, the impression I get from this guy's letter is that he works in Singapore (I quote: '..... to understand and get to know more of the country I am trying to embrace as my permanent home').
So why can't he just get a local colleague to help show him around?
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chinese new year changed to spring festival
need to change again to FT festival coz some FTs dun read chinese
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Originally posted by fudgester:
When you visit another country, you want your experience to be as authentic as possible. You want the locals to do as they always do, cook as they have always cooked, and perform as they have always performed.
Once they start doing things differently to cater to tourists, the authenticity is lost. Sure, you may be able to understand the experience better, but the experience is no longer real.
If language is such a barrier to you, you can always go to a tour agency and hire an English-speaking guide.
Heck, this is Singapore. If you don't know what is going on, just ask. Even most old aunties and uncles know enough English to get by.
If anything, the impression I get from this guy's letter is that he works in Singapore (I quote: '..... to understand and get to know more of the country I am trying to embrace as my permanent home').
So why can't he just get a local colleague to help show him around?
she forget the fun part of the learning.
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Originally posted by fudgester:
When you visit another country, you want your experience to be as authentic as possible. You want the locals to do as they always do, cook as they have always cooked, and perform as they have always performed.
Once they start doing things differently to cater to tourists, the authenticity is lost. Sure, you may be able to understand the experience better, but the experience is no longer real.
If language is such a barrier to you, you can always go to a tour agency and hire an English-speaking guide.
Heck, this is Singapore. If you don't know what is going on, just ask. Even most old aunties and uncles know enough English to get by.
If anything, the impression I get from this guy's letter is that he works in Singapore (I quote: '..... to understand and get to know more of the country I am trying to embrace as my permanent home').
So why can't he just get a local colleague to help show him around?
I would agree that I want my experience to be as authentic as possible. However, I would not be able to have any experience whatsoever if I don't understand any of what is going on. And why would the experience be diluted if it is no longer spoken in completely in it's original language? For example, you see tae kwon do being taught all over the world, when it was originally from Korea. Is the essence of the art lost when the language changed from Korean? Or for Islam, while people study Arabic to fully understand the Qu'ran, the book was first translation into the language of the people to be converted too.
Give them a sample before letting them choose if they want the whole course. Not dump them in the soup tureen.
I understand the problem of catering to tourists. Looking at places like Rome, it is said that the original Italian culture is lost to the tourist traps all around. However, I think it would be good, and sufficient for signs around with explanations in various languages, including the original one at the top.
Language isn't really much of a barrier for me here. I am Singaporean too. But looking at places, like Japan for example (aside from Tokyo), Japanese is almost exclusive used, and the locals there are too shy or just do not know how to explain in the languages I do know.
In this case, he isn't asking for signs in Punjabi or some other obscure language. He is asking for one in English. You know, the administrative language of Singapore? (Or we could put signs in our National language, but that would kill almost the entire new generation... =P )
(You say hire a tour guide. How do you know the tour guide isn't going to take you to the known tourist traps? Not to mention that the better tour sites are usually off the map. ;) )
He is looking towards Singapore as a permanent home, not looking to China. Why does he have to learn Chinese to understand an event in Singapore? Or else, for that matter, we should have Christmas in Italian (or whatever the original language was). Why spoil the cultural experience for such an important event?
A local friend would help his experience, but it would only help 1 person/group. Why not help the rest?
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There's one thing we do not even realise it today
our Chinese dialects are literally mixed w/ Melay. Our PRC folks wun even understand our dialects either
Just follow wat ppl in the district does and nothing would go wrong
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it's as simple as asking/inquiring from the stallholder/sales girl/guy of the item sold, ingriedient and price. i think the general population has a grasp of basic english.
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Originally posted by cassie:
it's as simple as asking/inquiring from the stallholder/sales girl/guy of the item sold, ingriedient and price. i think the general population has a grasp of basic english.
actually, no.. some do not have basic grasp of english.. because of people like our writer there, who insist on their adopted country catering to them, do not learn the common and unifying language of the country...
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wah biang eh.
oladi crowded liao.
still go there block road.
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Very crowded there, totally ugly there, in the past, there's still a bit of coastline, some park benches, trees, some space for recreation fishing, now all occupied by F1, another side, a new road and other don't know what things.
I don't visit there no more. Very ugly. The entire place is now wrecked.
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Frankly, even born and bred Singaporeans find themselves out of place in their own country.
Let alone a new citizen.
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Originally posted by Askingyouto:
Very crowded there, totally ugly there, in the past, there's still a bit of coastline, some park benches, trees, some space for recreation fishing, now all occupied by F1, another side, a new road and other don't know what things.
I don't visit there no more. Very ugly. The entire place is now wrecked.
The F1 pit is so hot during daytime. Horrible place.
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Originally posted by charlize:
Frankly, even born and bred Singaporeans find themselves out of place in their own country.
Let alone a new citizen.
The moment native Singaporeans step out of their house is like stepping out of Singapore already. -
Originally posted by tranquilice:
The moment native Singaporeans step out of their house is like stepping out of Singapore already.
I am greeted by the bangladesh foreign worker sweeping the floor on the void deck.
The BC on the bus I take to town is from PRC.
The staff serving me my fast food is Filipino.
The staff serving me at the retail store is from Myanmar.
The only place I was served by a Singaporean was at the arcade when I wanted to play toami gyo.
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Times are bad.
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Hell is too crowded but fools rush in.
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u refering to sg?