李光耀承認推行雙語教學政策錯誤

almom

原帖由 thankful 於 09-12-6 12:49 發表
It's the number on the top right hand corner of each post.  I couldn't believe you are still following all these.  I thought people would have long given up.

Given up the other one, definitely.

This one is more heated but at least at a higher level. So although I am not exactly following everything, I do not mind reading some. Kids are at their swimming practice for the whole morning. Nothing to do for a "see lai". So I am a nosy 塘邊鶴.

BTW, my problem is, the newest message is always message #1 (on my screen). The number keeps changing so it is impossible to locate a message by #. One minite, it is #20. When there is a new one posted by someone, it is pushed back and becomes #21 and so on.

mattsmum

a passer by

when I first got to know singapore students in UK may years ago, I noticed that they spoke good english with everyone else except singaporean, but when they sit together in the dinning table, they deliberatly spoke changed their tone and spoke with accent. I felt funny. I thought they wanted to creat a home atmosphere in a hall in UK.

原帖由 stccmc 於 09-12-6 12:17 發表
I have already given criteria:

"assuming the HK & Japs have good English Grammar but having local accents."

Darwin taught us that given long enough time, impossible becomes possible.  What is the po ...

almom

原帖由 mattsmum 於 09-12-6 13:33 發表
a passer by

when I first got to know singapore students in UK may years ago, I noticed that they spoke good english with everyone else except singaporean, but when they sit together in the dinning table, they deliberatly spoke changed their tone and spoke with accent. I felt funny. I thought they wanted to creat a home atmosphere in a hall in UK.

mattsmum,
I have this one Singaporean friend whom I have known since I was in junior high. And some how we are now both living in Hong Kong. After all these years, believe it or not, when I speak to her, I have some Singaporean accent, while she has long ago been able to get rid of hers. Should I be worried? :)

papa_pop

Thankful should be thanked for pointing out my logical fallacy in the sentence "If not for the Singlish..." while noting that Singaporeans are bilingual.  Think some of the heated arguments stem from my poor English.  

I agree that accent does not matter as much as 'content' as long as it does not hinder the effectiveness of the verbal communication.  But some accents do bother us a bit (non-native and native included), especially those who have not 'tuned' the accent to the wider community of the English-speaking world.  No need to second guess my position on the above.

By the way, the school McCourt was teaching in New York in late 60s has a student body comprising quite a few second- or third-generation of Irish and Italian immigrants.  In fact, he had spent a couple of years at the pier as he had difficulty finding a teaching job (he attributed it to his Irish brogue) despite a college degree in English from NYU.

mattsmum

maybe you just imitate, unconsciously,  your friend's accent to let both of you feel that you are closed friends. just like we speak baby language with babys.

原帖由 almom 於 09-12-6 14:19 發表



mattsmum,
I have this one Singaporean friend whom I have known since I was in junior high. And some how we are now both living in Hong Kong. After all these years, believe it or not, when I speak t ...

[ 本帖最後由 mattsmum 於 09-12-7 22:26 編輯 ]

iamfine

Are you Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?