Lifestyle

The Dark Reason Why Some S’poreans Are Proud That Their Chinese is Bad

2021-05-16 , 3:28 pm

Last Updated on 2024-06-21 , 10:10 am

Some of us may think that our Mandarin is good, but if we get a translator from China to directly translate our Mandarin, our delusions will be popped like a bubble.

If you try to speak to a person from Taiwan or China in our broken Mandarin, the natives will be so confused they might think you’re speaking another language.

A cat language, maybe

But, we’re not here to teach you Mandarin.

Instead, we’re here to talk about something dark.

Over here in Singapore, it seems like people appear to be proud that they are a Banana.

Reader: Banana?

Yes, Banana. Outside Chinese, inside English.

They are proud that they’re unable to speak Mandarin well. But why is that the case? Shouldn’t we be proud of our mother tongue?

Today, we’re going to debunk that.

If you’d like to watch a cat explain this entire issue to you instead, here’s a video we’ve done (watch till the end to understand the concept):

Why are Some Singaporeans Proud that Their Mandarin Isn’t Good?

So you notice that when some of us speak to a foreigner from the US or UK, we would sometimes follow his or her accent subconsciously?

This is due to your subconscious mind wanting to be in a certain “class”.

Language doesn’t just allow us to communicate with one another. They have social impacts too.

An example would be the culture in South Korea. During conversations, people have to change the words they use when they speak to different people.

If you’re younger, you speak to someone older in a different way. This is commonly seen in Korean shows, be it drama or reality TV. Some of the Koreans will even ask their seniors or people of the same age if it is alright to speak to them casually.

Although things are not as formal in Singapore, our language and mannerism change when we speak to different people.

And now, let’s go back to the example of the angmo. Why do we follow their accents when we talk to them?

Like it or not, that is because we think that they are of a higher ‘class’, and we want to be in the same ‘class’.

Thus, we use an obnoxious fake accent when speaking to them.

And don’t bother giving the excuse of “because I respect them”, because when you speak English to someone that is not from the US or UK, you’ll realise that your accent doesn’t change.

That is because you subconsciously think you don’t want to go down to that “class”.

Or maybe you don’t respect them?

Speaking English is considered “successful”

In our world now, the more so-called “successful” countries have English as their native language. So, we kind of want to be associated with that country. If we can speak English, it means we’re successful too.

Stupid, right?

Unfortunately, that’s how this works, though this is a simplified idea of why we do that.

The “chim” reason is that we’re trying to get into some circle that’s made up of primarily English speakers. And that circle comprises mainly of foreigners from the US or UK.

Now, unsurprisingly, this is the same for the reason why some people aren’t proud of using Singlish.

The very thing we use for communication is, unfortunately, a tool for social status after all.

There would be people who disagree, but just for your info, the information in this article is vetted by two people who major in English and studied linguistics, so they actually learned this in university.

To know more about this subject, you can read up on something known as sociolinguistics.

Featured Image: airdone / Shutterstock.com

The Dark Reason Why Some S’poreans Are Proud That Their Chinese is Bad

Why are Some Singaporeans Proud that Their Mandarin Isn’t Good?

Speaking English is considered “successful”

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