Service Staff Who Can Only Speak Chinese
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Originally posted by rainee:
Quite true.But some dishes are very hard to be written in English lolz. If you do a literal translation, it will probably come out sounding quite..wrong.
Like a few weeks ago.... when we went to a Chinese restaurant with a group of friends (majority of them are Caucasians), I ordered the Ginger & spring onion venison in sizzling plate which was only in Chinese but not in English. As it turned out, all of them actually like that dish.
These poor people just have no idea what they miss out on....
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Originally posted by Mymoja:
wat to do.... cos all the singaporeans are so well educated, some educated till dun know how to speak mandarin ..... i thot we singaporean are Bilingual? why some cant speak our own native language? i just wanna say remember your root.... not trying to be ahmoh
Do you realize that there are other people here with other roots as well? What about Indians and Malays? You want them to remember their "roots" and speak Mandarin?
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Originally posted by cherrycola:
Who will be willing to spend the extra time and effort to teach them English?If you hire them, then it is your responsible to ensure that they are taught those basic phrases. Otherwise, it is your own loss.
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Originally posted by rainee:
If you hire them, then it is your responsible to ensure that they are taught those basic phrases. Otherwise, it is your own loss.
I guess the very reason why they are hired is because employers can pay them a lower wage as compared to hiring a local.So if they are trying to cut cost here, they may not see the reason to spend money, time, and effort to teach them.
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Originally posted by cherrycola:
I guess the very reason why they are hired is because employers can pay them a lower wage as compared to hiring a local.So if they are trying to cut cost here, they may not see the reason to spend money, time, and effort to teach them.
Cutting costs? In the long run, they'll lose their customers...oh wait, they'll simply get more customers from the mainland.
Convincing people that Singapore isn't part of China is harder than ever now.
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Originally posted by cherrycola:
I guess the very reason why they are hired is because employers can pay them a lower wage as compared to hiring a local.So if they are trying to cut cost here, they may not see the reason to spend money, time, and effort to teach them.
Seriously, how hard it is to teach them a few simple phrases?
Some are so atrocious they can't even understand what does "water" mean.
And there are some who can't understand common Mandarin used here and expect us to speak to them in Mandarin complete with China accent.
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
Cutting costs? In the long run, they'll lose their customers...oh wait, they'll simply get more customers from the mainland.
Convincing people that Signapore isn't part of China is harder than ever now.
Agree. I guess they have yet to realise the impact. -
better don't let them work in the Bank... one or two missing zeroes make a very big difference...
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Originally posted by rainee:
Seriously, how hard it is to teach them a few simple phrases?
Some are so atrocious they can't even understand what does "water" mean.
And there are some who can't understand common Mandarin used here and expect us to speak to them in Mandarin complete with China accent.
Haha. Speak with Chinese accent? Oh gosh
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Originally posted by ~N3RD~:
better don't let them work in the Bank... one or two missing zeroes make a very big difference...
Ya. Banks cant afford to make that kind of mistake! -
Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
Cutting costs? In the long run, they'll lose their customers...oh wait, they'll simply get more customers from the mainland.
Convincing people that Signapore isn't part of China is harder than ever now.
So if based on marketing data, maybe they are getting so much more ah tiong customers, its so much easier to side line the local customers into minority. After all Ah tiong customers can speak chinese and will gladly buy from ah tiong service staff. Why worry about a couple of complaining local customer who don't make up much of the sales.
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Originally posted by rainee:
And there are some who can't understand common Mandarin used here and expect us to speak to them in Mandarin complete with China accent.
It's a bumpkin's view of the world. Not all oriental-looking people learn mandarin - what about those born in North America, Australia, Britain and Indonesia? They ought to have it knocked into their heads.
Some people will get their wish though when Western expats, tourists and investors get pissed off and leave.
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menu is in english...
i order in english....
what's wrong?
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Originally posted by rainee:
Should rename this place to China No. 2
And isn't the national language here, English?
as of today, Singapore's national language is still Malay. -
Language of commerce is English la.....They should be doing what the romans do, not come here and expect us to speak Chinese.
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YAY ME!
i don't need to pay $50 to get visa to go to China anymore!!
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Let us all resign ourselves to where the country is headed to.
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Originally posted by Xcert:
as of today, Singapore's national language is still Malay.I see. Which is ironic because it is used very rarely nowadays, except by the Malays.
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refer to my thread in SGTrains!
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
It's a bumpkin's view of the world. Not all oriental-looking people learn mandarin - what about those born in North America, Australia, Britain and Indonesia? They ought to have it knocked into their heads.
Some people will get their wish though when Western expats, tourists and investors get pissed off and leave.
The funny thing is they are actually foreigners in this land (I am one too, I admit) but they expect people to adhere to them. Some have been known to say,"Hey, you are in Singapore, how come don't know how to speak Mandarin?"
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Originally posted by sinicker:
refer to my thread in SGTrains!
Post up the link here?
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generally, isnt it a shame that a chinese cant speak chinese or arent interested in conversing in chinese? the same goes for a malay or indian who cant speak their own language (never met one until today. but plenty in the case of chinese)
i know a lot of people defended this situation by saying all singaporeans study and speak english because of survival.
but the unfortunate thing is a lot of local chinese arent interested in learning chinese or are not interested in conversing in chinese.
why? because the english language is more 'high class'? i cant help but believe that many chinese actually think or feel that way.
its the fault of our educational system that local chinese can hardly speak the chinese language and dialects.
i think it is only 'normal' for a mainland chinese to want to converse in chinese with a fellow chinese, regardless of nationality.
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I am totally conversant in Chinese or English, but I do not agree with the expectation that if I am Chinese, therefore, to remeber my "root" I have to know chinese. Or that these ah Tiong like to insult us that we should be "adhereing" to them instead of them adapting themselves to the environment here. Its a fact that these Ah Tiong are insensitive to our environment that we have a multi-racial society that speaking and only taking service in Chinese can be viewed as lacking. Knowing chinese has nothing to do with any "roots". Looking like a chinese does not mean we automatically know chinese. Its their inability to adapt and meet at a compromise, not our inability to adjust to their need that is causing the strain.
In simple english, they are coming to a muti-racial/multi-cultural country to work and yet they are asking us to bend over backwards for them? Then next time if i hire a maid, my maid will have to tell me to learn bahasa Indonesia first before she will work, and until them she will sit around and order me to work? Did they get their working attitude right in the first place?
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So all you people better go learn how to recite chinese poems and read up on chinese classics before you order your teh tarik at the kopi tiam next time.
Wait the kopi tiam lady scold you for being "un-Chinese".
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as I mentioned in the others posts "we are TIONG-GAH-PORES" soon..
that day I went to this coffeeshop & was served by a TIONG auntie..i told her : "Auntie, i want BANDUNG"..
she stared @ me with bewildered eyes & repeated aft me "bandung?"
=.=''' it was only when i said " 玫瑰露" then she understands me =.='''
Btw, when did Gah-Men change direction for the 1st language used in S'pore to be from English to Chinese? *fold arms & roll eyes*