How do Singaporeans view Hong Kong People???
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Hello,
I'm from Hong Kong. I'm getting temporarily transferred to Singapore by my company, so I will be living and working with Singaporeans. I know English and HK style cantonese fluently. I'm horrible at mandarin. Since I've never been to Singapore or heard of Singapore much while I was in HK, I was wondering how do Singaporeans vire Hong Kong People??
Thanks in advance.
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Originally posted by Coreylangan:
Hello,
I'm from Hong Kong. I'm getting temporarily transferred to Singapore by my company, so I will be living and working with Singaporeans. I know English and HK style cantonese fluently. I'm horrible at mandarin. Since I've never been to Singapore or heard of Singapore much while I was in HK, I was wondering how do Singaporeans vire Hong Kong People??
Thanks in advance.
first things that come to mind..... actually the bus incidents. I think hong kongers and buses don't mix well..
the incident in philippines and the HK bus uncle,
I'm suppose to be cantonese but can't speak much beyond "sek fan" or yam cha
I've ....learnt so many cantonese phrases in that one little clip on youtube.
and be prepared to be referred to as "honkie"
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Originally posted by Coreylangan:
Hello,
I'm from Hong Kong. I'm getting temporarily transferred to Singapore by my company, so I will be living and working with Singaporeans. I know English and HK style cantonese fluently. I'm horrible at mandarin. Since I've never been to Singapore or heard of Singapore much while I was in HK, I was wondering how do Singaporeans vire Hong Kong People??
Thanks in advance.
but I think you guys are crazy to scream at the chinese tourist that way. not that we don't share the same sentiments
but still.....kinda wrong
I dunno if it's just me but I found that most hongkies I've met have perky butts....both men and women.
according to non locals who confid in me...... they were amazed by how broken our mandarin and english is. so I doubt language would be a problem...... some locals don't speak mandarin at all. an ex colleague made sure she could speak proper english fluently (she trained to make sure she had a UK accent cos someone told her we spoke british english)before she came.....only to find out to her horror, she don't know what her colleagues were saying when they spoke english to her.
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Corey, just open your eyes and ears wide, observe and adapt to the environment. By the way, read more on Singapore cultures, traditions and ethnics diversity because you really need to know them. And use only one passport, either PRC issued passport or HongKong passport as a British Subject, when entering Singapore and when applying for official permit to work in Singapore. Good Luck.
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Originally posted by Coreylangan:
Hello,
I'm from Hong Kong. I'm getting temporarily transferred to Singapore by my company, so I will be living and working with Singaporeans. I know English and HK style cantonese fluently. I'm horrible at mandarin. Since I've never been to Singapore or heard of Singapore much while I was in HK, I was wondering how do Singaporeans vire Hong Kong People??
Thanks in advance.
Welcome to Singapore!
Hong Kong and Singapore are both colonies of the Brits, 2 of the 4 asian dragons, fighting for the position of the world no 1 ports for many years, and you have not heard much of Singapore? you are not a typical Hongkie I know.
Suggest you begin by knowing us....we are a multiracial, mulicultural society, know the sensitive issues in race and religion, English will get you by in business, but if you want to know more about the live on the ground, Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay, will get you further. Know that we are a nation, not a part of China, so in many ways we behave like a nation, we have our own foreign policy, our very own armed forces, we find our own drinking water, we need to make sure that we prosper as a nation, ...there is much to know about Singapore.
You also need to recognise is that you are now just one of the many foreigners working and living in Singapore, how we vire you depends on how you present yourself to Singaporean. When you walk on the street, ride on MRT or drive along Orchard Road, nobody will know where you come from, until you do something, people will tell if you are a polite person, or a nasty person. it is only when you speak, then we know that you are from Hong Kong.
Have a good stay.
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Thanks for all your input. I was transferred to Tokyo a while back and it was a good experience. Overall people was friendly and it was there that I learned a little bit of Japanese and found out how similar japanese and cantonese was!! I also managed to find myself a loving wife while I was in Tokyo.
Having lived only in Hong Kong and Tokyo my whole life, I feel that language maybe a problem. Do Singaporeans speak cantonese or English?? I know that Japanese isn't spoken.
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Hi Corey, Singaporeans generally converse in English / Singlish / Mandarin.
Don't worry about your Mandarin, if you can speak English, it is good enough for you to converse to many Singaporeans already.
In my circle of friends, those who came from Hong Kong are well-received so I think you will fit in pretty well here!
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Singaporeans and HK people share one thing in common - hard working people.
But be forewarn, singaporeans in office are well known for their blatant rudeness.
They will scream at you with profanities when you don't get your job done.
Even when you drive, you find their driving sucks and they are rude on the road.
Service though is excellent, the restaurants, hotel and cafes - they treat you well.
Singaporean women can be attractive but very materialistic. They demand for the sky. They tend to nag a lot too.
The employers there are King. You are the slave. You work like a robot. If you have any human emotions and wanna complain to HR, they will fix you up. But since you are from HK, they likely won't fix you up because you have China support.
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language wise, in HK canto is the normal language you use.. over here, Canto is considered a dialect and it isn't a language tat everyone knows.
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I'm glad that singaporeans are also hard-working. When I was in HK, I went to work from 8:30am to 10:30 pm and that's on a normal day. There were times I had OT and worked until 4:00am. The work culture in HK is very stressful as well. I was kinda hoping singapore would be a bit laid back but I guess not!! But that's ok
I'm not sure if my wife would be coming b/c she doesn't seem too thrilled...Hope singaporean girls are not like HK or japanese girls or she may have to come or else she may be mad!!
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Originally posted by Coreylangan:
I'm glad that singaporeans are also hard-working. When I was in HK, I went to work from 8:30am to 10:30 pm and that's on a normal day. There were times I had OT and worked until 4:00am. The work culture in HK is very stressful as well. I was kinda hoping singapore would be a bit laid back but I guess not!! But that's ok
I'm not sure if my wife would be coming b/c she doesn't seem too thrilled...Hope singaporean girls are not like HK or japanese girls or she may have to come or else she may be mad!!
Tell your wife, the real threats are not SG girls, but the foreign girls from China , Philippines anD some other less developed countries. We have ALOT of them here... cheap and easily available.
So I suggest she come, or else she will regret.
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Don't worry Singaporeans are very polite, caring and helpful. And girls are pretty and well mannered, if you know what I mean.
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Originally posted by Coreylangan:
I'm glad that singaporeans are also hard-working. When I was in HK, I went to work from 8:30am to 10:30 pm and that's on a normal day. There were times I had OT and worked until 4:00am. The work culture in HK is very stressful as well. I was kinda hoping singapore would be a bit laid back but I guess not!! But that's ok
I'm not sure if my wife would be coming b/c she doesn't seem too thrilled...Hope singaporean girls are not like HK or japanese girls or she may have to come or else she may be mad!!
Singapore is super humid place. So if you person don't like to sweat, its horrible place for you. Never wear a sweater or a suit and tie out in open, you will melt like snowman.Everybody live in singapore are like a mice on an exercise wheel, they don't allow you to rest. THis is why the shopping complexes and bus stops got no place to sit because LKY wants you to stand all the time - better, cheaper and faster policy, motion creates productivity, sitting down doesn't. If you want to sit, they force you to go to the restaurant to get a place to sit, to make you pay for it.
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Hi, I'm still a student and know Cantonese but not too fluent in speaking since I'm born and raised in Singapore. Both my parents speaks Cantonese, but only one of them is from Hong Kong.
What I think, both are hectic and crowded areas. I see quite a few Cantonese speakers at school or work place so you may be able to find someone able to converse in Cantonese. As said, English will be good enough to get you through here except the Singlish which can be difficult to understand.
I always have a positive view of HK since my dad always say why somethings in HK is better which I will like to avoid going further. There are all sorts of dissatisfaction around the world anyway.
Enjoy your stay
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but I think you guys are crazy to scream at the chinese tourist that way. not that we don't share the same sentiments
but still.....kinda wrong
So, do you think singaporean don't behave in this way, or no inccident worse than this have happened in other countries????
I think the local media should have a more balanced coverage of news by reporting more news from other countries like malaysia, indonesia, philipines, arabs and african nations etc. Then, we will be able to compare which countries have more clowns.
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Being a cantonese from a family with strong cantonese cultural background, I most welcome the Hong kongers to be part of the singapore family. From my experience, contrary to my encounter with other chinese from places like PRC and Taiwan, the hong kongers are the closest to in many ways to singapore chinese, especially the cantonese like me.
Corey, integration should not be a problem to you, as far as i see it, because the ethnic Chinese is the majority in Singapore. But, you must always exercise self-censorship to prevent yourself from being the next target of anti-foreign chinese in the current sino-phobic atmosphere in singapore.
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Unlike hongkong, singapore is a dictatorial country. No freedom of speech. PAP country everybody's ass. Full of rules and regulations. Cannot do this cannot do that.
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Hey Corey, welcome to Singapore! Don't worry about Singapore, there is quite a number of Hong Kongers here, infact I have a couple of friends from Hong Kong who has been living here ever since. Welcome again!
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I think most are normal or neutral. No special feeling or whatsoever. Just treat them like ourselves.
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Originally posted by speakoutfor:
Unlike hongkong, singapore is a dictatorial country. No freedom of speech. PAP country everybody's ass. Full of rules and regulations. Cannot do this cannot do that.
Haha...HK is kind of a mess in terms of politics. Politics in HK is fun, but dirty at the same time.
Thanks for the insight. HSBC already confirmed my transfer and apparently I'm bringing my wife with me. LOL
It seems that not a lot of people in sg speak cantonese so I guess I'll have to brush up on my horrible mandarin. My wife will have a much harder time so I don't know how she will survive. She knows only Japanese and Cantonese. I don't know how she can communicate in sg.
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No special feelings laah as I observed. I was living in Singapore and now HK.
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Don't be too loud. Don't offend us. And you'll be safe. hahaha. Juz kiddin.
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speak softly in public.
keep to ur own space.
in short, don't be like those �虫。
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its just like another city.. all people live in city behaviour are alike
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Just remember one thing, many people here are bilingual, but that does NOT make Singapore a bilingual country (English and Mandarin), as many Hong Kongsters and PRC people believe.