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Well almost half of Singaporeans still speak Mandarin as their first language, so the Mandarin ability is actually pretty good. Many can speak both English and Mandarin quite well.
Pretty good, maybe, but that depends on your criteria for that. To me, it seemed like the Mandarin speaking/reading/writing ability of most Chinese Singaporeans I met was a bit above passable but not really good. I did think the people who spoke Hokkien had a fun accent (though they probably felt the same with me speaking American-tinged Taiwanese).
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Originally Posted by OyCrumbler
Pretty good, maybe, but that depends on your criteria for that. To me, it seemed like the Mandarin speaking/reading/writing ability of most Chinese Singaporeans I met was a bit above passable but not really good. I did think the people who spoke Hokkien had a fun accent (though they probably felt the same with me speaking American-tinged Taiwanese).
Probably yeah, they're not immersed in an environment where everything is totally Chinese like in Taiwan or China.
I don't know how people would quantify it. But, I've regularly heard that residents of Hong Kong/Macau are losing their English abilities since the handover. Don't know if its more a result of more mainlanders moving to Hong Kong/Macau, who don't know English, or other factors.
What are your thoughts, perceptions, direct experiences (if you have them), things you've read, etc.
Did they speak a lot of English in Macao before the Portuguese handed the territory back to China?
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Originally Posted by minibrings
Did they speak a lot of English in Macao before the Portuguese handed the territory back to China?
English ability seemed noticeably lower in Macau than HK, as you'd expect. Few spoke any Portuguese. There was a small Portuguese and Macanese (mixed Portuguese and Chinese) community at the time of the handover and a smaller one today.
Pretty good, maybe, but that depends on your criteria for that. To me, it seemed like the Mandarin speaking/reading/writing ability of most Chinese Singaporeans I met was a bit above passable but not really good. I did think the people who spoke Hokkien had a fun accent (though they probably felt the same with me speaking American-tinged Taiwanese).
Really depends on what you compare it to. We all agree that Singlish also sounds funny although that is the lingua franca and one can definitely get by with just English in Singapore. I did hear considerably fewer lahs in my last visit there compared to earlier visits.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Originally Posted by GoldenTiger
Really depends on what you compare it to. We all agree that Singlish also sounds funny although that is the lingua franca and one can definitely get by with just English in Singapore. I did hear considerably fewer lahs in my last visit there compared to earlier visits.
Ah, got so many foreigners don't know how to talk the local lingo, lah!
Seems like there are still many in Hongkong who can't speak English.
I never knew that people from Macau can really speak English, they can't even speak Portuguese when it used to be a Portuguese colony.
Seems like there are still many in Hongkong who can't speak English.
I never knew that people from Macau can really speak English, they can't even speak Portuguese when it used to be a Portuguese colony.
Hong Kong and Macau were not like other colonies. China was still there and local people considered themselves Chinese.
Seems like there are still many in Hongkong who can't speak English.
I never knew that people from Macau can really speak English, they can't even speak Portuguese when it used to be a Portuguese colony.
How do Philipino servants communicate with their masters in Hong Kong? in English I suppose?
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