Recently, the infamous interview of Ris Low, Miss Singapore World 2009, has been making the rounds on Facebook and other social networks. And when Mr. Brown spoofs the whole thing, you know it's big news. In between laughing at "zipbras", the diploma in "horse-pee-telly-tee" and "boomz", I sometimes feel we probably should not be too harsh on the girl because, honestly, I think many of us Chinese-educated folks went through the "leopard prings" phase as well.I came from an all-boys school, taking Higher Chinese for first language. My parents know as much English as an architect would know about the life cycle of the red-eyed tree frog, so Mandarin is naturally my mother tongue and only tongue. I spoke a smattering of English, and I struggled to keep up with my classmates during PSLE.
My vocabulary was limited, due in part I rarely read in English, and my only source of vocabulary was from popular media. I watched Candid Camera a lot and I laughed so much, when the question paper asked what candid meant, I shaded option D for "funny". (I am not kidding, this was a real question, and in retrospect, I felt the setter was rather devious to put "funny" as an option.) In Primary 1, when the school bully spat in my face, I went to the teacher and wailed, "Mrs. Goh! He spit... er... mouth water on my face!"Yup. They didn't teach the word "saliva" on Sesame Street, nor on Candid Camera.
In Sec 2, I met a friend in the Students' Council. He was the direct opposite of me; a typical "banana man" who looked Chinese but spoke Ang Moh. During our retreat to Malaysia, he sat next to me on the coach, and got me conversing in English. I started grabbing for words so that I can at least answer in a complete sentence. Fortunately he was a friendly chap, and at least didn't look disturbed at my dismal command in English. And this was how I seriously started to build up my foundation in English.
I went through secondary school memorising arcane English words to help expand my vocabulary. I would write archaic things like "the wisps of filamentary clouds floated across the welkin, and the balmy zephyr caressed the blades of grass on the verdant meadow". Rest assured I never touched these words again, not even when preparing for my SAT.
My days in JC changed everything. Forced by circumstance I started to converse more in English, and GP was so demanding I had to imbibe Newsweek and BBC religiously. Studying the SAT word list also helped, though words like "piebald" are not really that useful to pick up.
As such, I fully understand the plight of Miss Low. Who knows, if you get her started in Mandarin, she will inundate you with the profound teachings of Confucius, and urge you to discuss the merits of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Let's laugh with her. Not at her. =)
*Afternote: learning English by memorising individual words is a risky affair. Like any language, there are nuances that you will fail to appreciate if you do not understand the exact meaning of the word. So, do use the thesaurus with caution. I am saying this because, I once used "eulogise" on a living person, when all I really wanted to do was praise him for his good work. You've been warned.
Being Mandarin educated, I have also come a long way in getting to know the English Language. However I have never believed in 'blindly' memorising words to expand my vocabulary. If learning a language was this easy, I would have already mastered Japanese.
ReplyDeleteI would think that the hype about this interview was the way she had put herself across during the interview with the faltering speech and awkward articulation. More importantly, she actually won the competition even with such a poor delivery! I wonder how she fared during the Q&A segment in the competition.
No doubt that she is indeed quite photogenic and can be good at catwalks, but I don't think that this is the kind of speech we would like to use to represent Singapore on the international stage.
I'm not saying that we need an impressive vocabulary and immaculate enunciation, but just plain simple English and proper articulation. I hope that at least this will strive Miss Low to start practise speaking in English more frequently and that there will be an improvement in her speech when she represents us in South Africa.