Simon, the new manager from the UK, experiences Singlish on his first day at work.
Phone-in Lesson 02
Download Phone-in Lessons 2002 – Lesson 02 (ZIP, 2.6MB)
| Simon arrives at HotDotCom for his first day at work… | |
| Jaya: | Hello, Simon! Welcome to HotDotCom! |
| Simon: | Good morning. You must be Jaya – so glad to put a face to the name at last! |
| Jaya: | Hope you’ll be happy working with us, Simon. Mei Ling is just on a call. As soon as she’s finished, I’ll take you through. |
| Simon: | Thanks. I’ll wait here, then. |
| Gary arrives late, and whistling a football tune… | |
| Jaya: | (slipping into Singlish) Gary! So late lah! Come early 5 minutes next time OK? |
| Gary: | Sorry, lah! |
| Jaya: | So much to do! Ok first you fax me this to Mr Das. After, you help me go to post office. After, you copy file and you take to other office. |
| Gary: | Wah lau! Still haven’t eaten breakfast, leh! |
| Jaya: | (continuing, agitated). Then you find way to send this to Suntec City. Oh and you get Simon coffee, ah! |
| Simon: | It’s quite all right, Gary. I can get my own coffee. If you could just show me the way. |
| Gary: | OK lor. |
| Later, in Mei Ling’s office… | |
| Mei Ling: | Come on in Simon. Sorry to have kept you waiting. (pause) Simon? Is anything wrong? |
| Simon: | What? Er… no… not really (pause) But I am a bit taken aback by Jaya’s attitude. |
| Mei Ling: | (surprised) His attitude? What makes you say that? |
| Simon: | The way he ordered that young employee around. |
| Mei Ling: | Ordered him around? But they’re the best of friends. |
| Simon: | Well, he was definitely bossy. He kept saying ‘you do this’ and ‘you do that’. I was quite embarrassed. |
| Simon: | (laughing) Now I can see what upset you, Simon. But it wasn’t Jaya’s attitude, it was his English! |
| Replay… | |
| Jaya: | So much to do ah! Ok, first you fax me this to Mr Das; after, you help me go to post office; after, you copy file and you take to other office. |
| Simon: | In good English we don’t use ‘you’ when asking someone to do something. |
| Mei Ling: | Unlike Chinese dialects and some other languages, using ‘You’ in English makes it sound like you’re not being respectful, like you’re ordering people around. |
| Simon: | In good English we show politeness by adding expressions using ‘could’, and ‘would’. |
| Mei Ling: | Could you send this to Suntec City?… Would you get Simon a coffee? (pause) Even a simple ‘please’ at the beginning makes all the difference. |
| Simon: | Please take this to the post office… please copy this file… please help me with this. |
| Mei Ling: | When you’re under stress it’s not always easy to monitor your English. |
| Replay… | |
| Jaya: | (continuing, agitated). Then you find way to send this to Suntec City. Oh and you get Simon coffee, ah! |
| Narrator: | Yet improving your English also means improving your image. So don’t let your English slip downhill, phone in every day to stay on top. |
Quiz Point
Yesterday, Jaya told Gary to “Come early 5 minute next time”. The correct form is: “Come 5 minutes earlier in future.”
Written by Niamh O’ Leary, Laraine Bamrah, Harry Allen, Clare Williams, Shirley Lim and Alaisdair Raynham for The British Council, in association with the Speak Good English Movement.
© Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts and British Council Singapore 2002
