Singaporean complained my English doesn't sound genuine.
"Do you speak like this at home?"
(extremely cautiously) "Erm...what do you mean...Like how I usually speak to you?
"Yes. Just like the way you usually speak here."
"erm...it depends." (oh shit.) "Like....erm....you see I rarely speak English at my hometown. I mean, I usually use English in an academic context. It's not a life language to me. Erm....so.....it's not like I'm trying to feign superiority over your Singlish accent by adapting to the accent of a white male American trying to purposely sound different."
"Cuz when you speak like that, it feels......not genuine." (wtf - I think your Singlish and 超级标准punya Mandarin cukup "non-genuine" lo, but I've kept it to myself all this while, understanding it as a result of politico-cultural conditioning.)
(pause 10 seconds)
"I'm just trying to adapt to their accent. I mean, I always thought of English as a foreign language, so I try to speak like how a foreigner would speak."
"But they are brought up to speak this way, you are not."
(American beside me looked awkward.)
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More socio-politico-cultural analysis coming soon. (Gee.....我真的很假meh? 我尽量做到真了leih...)
2 comments:
If I were you, I will just ask him," So how'd you know mine ain't genuine? And who are you to judge me, when you are brought up in Singapore? Don't go around prancing on others' accent when you have no superiority over theirs. You ain't no native English speaker so you have no say. I get to speak the way I want, and as long as I convey my message MY way, and everyone else other than YOU gets it, its the least of my interest to take you consideration into account."
Just tell them off. They do not worth your time.
Tempus:
I can see where he was coming from, but I felt hurt by his bold statement.
In these few days I became aware that I and the Singaporean (especially I) have tended to extrapolate our experience in our countries to the other. Wonder if that might have contributed the slightest bit to this conflict, cuz...oh God! It can't just be me right!
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