I'm a U.S. exchange student from Arizona State University looking to study at the Singapore Management University in the fall. I have a couple of questions I was hoping some of you kind Singaporean redditors could answer :)
My heritage is Chinese and I'm really hoping to be able to improve my Mandarin this fall, though from what I hear most people just use English to communicate; do you guys think that studying in Singapore would actually be a good opportunity to practice Mandarin?
Is four months in Singapore enough to be able to experience a good portion of what there is to see and do? What kinds of attractions do you guys recommend I see?
How are Americans typically perceived by Singaporeans? Liked, disliked, indifferent?
Where should I consider staying? I was looking at either the Pearl Hill Hostel or the Carlisle Hostel. Ideally I would love to be somewhere close, somewhere that I could ride my bike to school from.
I would love anymore additional advice and input, thanks guys.
4个月是�够的,
bike? from arizona?
katar chia? foldable?
sure. bcos SG is filled with Chinese.
oh, then might as well u go right there to learn.
Chinese Singaporeans are fairly Chinese speaking. Most have the ability to converse and write in passable Chinese, even the English speaking crowd that is SMU. Their spoken Chinese is of a low standard, but is easy to learn, especially for a beginner.
Ironically your learning Chinese from them will be hampered by their even poorer standard of English, which makes for very poor and incomplete explanations.
I would instead suggest you have a good time while you're here. Be fun and hang out with the party crowd at SMU. Exchange students don't come here to study at all. Grades earned here don't count towards your grade point average. So plan on taking the harder mandatory credits here and aim just to pass.
Many Singaporeans have a reflexive anti-Americanism that they can't explain having. Some of it comes from identifying with China or resentment of sometimes obnoxious American expats here. But you won't encounter this at the personal level, much less with university age people. Most people know very little about your country (or any other) and aren't inclined to know. You will however be seen by taxi drivers as a schmuck. So have a friend show you around on buses and trains which will take you almost anywhere or at least ride cabs with you.
Four months is way too long. We're a boring, and small, city except with less cultural depth than a hamlet. It is as sterile a "city" as it's reputed to be. If you're into tourist attractions, none are "organic". You'll find your local friends very into food, and showing you the local tastes and little else. That's because we're a small, congested country with little room (physical and legal) for any other pursuit. We live in tiny apartments and don't own cars. There's lots of very affordable travel to neighbouring countries on weekends though. And you'll find few Singaporeans nearly as introspective as I am. I fully expect to be slammed and flamed for my honest comments here. You pay the flamers no attention, no one at SMU is as uncool as to express it in person.
Most Singaporeans have personal insecurities towards people of western origin (including asian western-nationals) and readily defer. This especially applies to girls so have a great time with them. They will however make a weak pretense of having "pride" in front of "westerners". It's a form of over-compensation.
You'll want to live as close to school (or transportation nodes) as possible because weather here is hot and humid. The hostels you mentioned are not within walking or biking distance but Pearls Hill is very accessible by bus from school. It's in a noisy, congested neighbourhood though. Carlisle is relatively more inconvenient but quieter, with some walking on both ends of a short train ride and would be my choice. Be careful where you chain up your bike. Your person is very safe in Singapore, but bikes do get stolen.
I could think of better places for an exchange term. But if you want an English-speaking country offering exposure to the growth part of Asia and where the course work is easy and you can party, Singapore's your place.
Singaporean and malaysian mandarin is too rojak. If you serious about learning mandarin should go to China. I know of korean friends who go there to one year to study mandarin.
Although I met a lot of singaporean who can speak mandarin, I also met a lot of singaporean who can't speak mandarin.
Originally posted by alize:Chinese Singaporeans are fairly Chinese speaking. Most have the ability to converse and write in passable Chinese, even the English speaking crowd that is SMU. Their spoken Chinese is of a low standard, but is easy to learn, especially for a beginner.
Ironically your learning Chinese from them will be hampered by their even poorer standard of English, which makes for very poor and incomplete explanations.
I would instead suggest you have a good time while you're here. Be fun and hang out with the party crowd at SMU. Exchange students don't come here to study at all. Grades earned here don't count towards your grade point average. So plan on taking the harder mandatory credits here and aim just to pass.
Many Singaporeans have a reflexive anti-Americanism that they can't explain having. Some of it comes from identifying with China or resentment of sometimes obnoxious American expats here. But you won't encounter this at the personal level, much less with university age people. Most people know very little about your country (or any other) and aren't inclined to know. You will however be seen by taxi drivers as a schmuck. So have a friend show you around on buses and trains which will take you almost anywhere or at least ride cabs with you.
Four months is way too long. We're a boring, and small, city except with less cultural depth than a hamlet. It is as sterile a "city" as it's reputed to be. If you're into tourist attractions, none are "organic". You'll find your local friends very into food, and showing you the local tastes and little else. That's because we're a small, congested country with little room (physical and legal) for any other pursuit. We live in tiny apartments and don't own cars. There's lots of very affordable travel to neighbouring countries on weekends though. And you'll find few Singaporeans nearly as introspective as I am. I fully expect to be slammed and flamed for my honest comments here. You pay the flamers no attention, no one at SMU is as uncool as to express it in person.
Most Singaporeans have personal insecurities towards people of western origin (including asian western-nationals) and readily defer. This especially applies to girls so have a great time with them. They will however make a weak pretense of having "pride" in front of "westerners". It's a form of over-compensation.
You'll want to live as close to school (or transportation nodes) as possible because weather here is hot and humid. The hostels you mentioned are not within walking or biking distance but Pearls Hill is very accessible by bus from school. It's in a noisy, congested neighbourhood though. Carlisle is relatively more inconvenient but quieter, with some walking on both ends of a short train ride and would be my choice. Be careful where you chain up your bike. Your person is very safe in Singapore, but bikes do get stolen.
I could think of better places for an exchange term. But if you want an English-speaking country offering exposure to the growth part of Asia and where the course work is easy and you can party, Singapore's your place.
Thank you Alize, I appreciate your comprehensive and honest response :)
Hm. About mandarin, i pick it up from my friends in NUS, tho, i'm a english. Hang-out w asian friends, if you lucky, you may get to learn their dialect, which is amazing. ;) Do notice, some are just making a wuss.
Hey I'm in a similar situation to you. I'm a female Australian student studying at NTU from Aug 2012 and am tossing up between Pearl Hill purely because of it's location or another student hostel somewhere out west near Jurong because it's close to uni and accomodation is vastly more comfortable for the same price. I'm wondering whether I should stay near the city at Pearl Hill if I'll only have 3 days of on-campus study. Is it worth living closer to the city for those 4 spare days?
I have extended family in Singapore and Alize's response is spot on.