Can tables move on their own?

I wondered what this sign meant until I read the Chinese text. What is the restaurant management trying to say?

"Please do not move the tables around"

To "shift" something means to move it. However, "shifting" something infers that the object in question, in this case the tables, move by themselves, without human intervention, as in "shifting sands". In the latter, the sand moves about on its own from movements beneath the surface of the earth. Tables in a restaurant do not move themselves unless there is an earthquake.

When living in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual country like Malaysia (where I spotted this sign), we do end up with mastering one language over another, even though we are supposed to be proficient in both. In this case, the manager or owner who typed up this sign is obviously better at Chinese than English, hence the funny English phrase.

While English is not an easy language to learn, it does help to ask for help before putting up signs that embarrass yourself and display your lack of understanding of the language. Learning is lifelong. Let us take every mistake as a learning experience.

Have fun with English!

Do you sell "seever"?

At a baking goods store:

Young Chinese man: Do you sell "seever"?
Cashier: What is that?
Young Chinese man: To sieve.
Cashier: It's outside, over there (pointing in the direction of the shelf outside the store).
Me: Sieve, not "seever".

Young man and his mother proceed out of the store to the said shelf, out of earshot.

Cashier: This one isn't so bad. Sometimes the customer says something we don't understand and get scolded in the process. Indians are the worst! We don't understand what they say and ask politely for them to repeat.
Me: Sometimes their intonation ...
Cashier: Indian accent! So difficult to understand! And they won't admit it!
Living in a multi-racial and multi--cultural society has its joys and pains, more joys than pains. Varied accents and interpretations of English words can be a source of laughter or anger, jokes or misunderstandings. Sometimes we just have to think a little convoluted to figure out what the other person is trying to say (and hopefully not embarrass him while doing so).

Language is fun and essential to human communication. Communicate to be understood across cultures. Do try to use the correct word(s) and grammar. Most importantly, have fun in the process!

Happy language learning!

3 countries, 1 piece of history

Piece of Berlin Wall on display in Singapore

This headline caught my eye when I saw it. Three countries were involved in this display: former East Germany, Singapore (where Bedok is located) and USA.

Former East Germany: piece of Berlin Wall that was on display.
Singapore: welcomed the piece of Berlin Wall to be displayed in Bedok, where the then-Member of Parliament (MP) was personal friends with the owners of the piece of Berlin Wall.
USA: where the owners of the piece of Berlin Wall are from and will be returning to shortly.

Is this multi-cultural? Certainly. Singaporeans living in Bedok (an everyday, ordinary neighbourhood) got to appreciate a piece of world history, plus the artwork that was painted on. Some of the elderly who have never been to school may not even know where Germany is, or that there once was an East and a West Germany, divided by a large wall. Yet, thanks to the generosity of the American owners and the innovative thinking of the MP and personal friend, ordinary folk were exposed to a piece of world history that would enrich their lives for a period of time.

Well, the display period has come to and end, but the people who have seen this piece of art will have their lives forever changed. One cannot walk past a piece of world history and not be affected by it. Similarly, one cannot come into contact with a person of another language and culture and not be affected by it.

Let's embrace another language and culture, instead of waiting for another language and culture to affect us. Our lives will be so much richer for that.

Let's celebrate each other's language and culture!

Fun Language Tools

Our childhood language

Japanese food ordered in English

My classmate from primary school was ordering dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Since she frequented the place, the rest of us classmates decided to leave the ordering to her. As she was talking to the waitress, my ethnically Indian, Singapore-born and raised, and educated in the UK, friend commented, "You can tell she's a convent girl because she's ordering (food) in English."

That set off a conversation about our transition from primary to secondary school. All seven of us at dinner have been classmates and schoolmates from primary to secondary school, spanning 10 years in all. In primary school, we spoke English all the time, even at home. We laughed at those who were good at Chinese, or who came from predominantly Chinese-speaking homes. We were the despair of our Chinese teachers of every class till we left school.

When we entered secondary school, we were placed in classes with girls from another convent school. As one of my classmates put it, "We were all wondering who these girls were. They were all speaking Chinese all the time. So 'cheena'." ('Cheena' is a derogatory term for Chinese-educated people who can't speak proper English.) In reality, these girls were more comfortable speaking Teochew 潮州话 to each other because that's what they spoke at home. Somehow England and China in the same school just don't mix well. To this day, we still have a bit of a divide between us, even though we may have been in school together for four years. When trying to trace former classmates, one of the questions we ask is, "Which school was she from?" Looks like the divide will continue to stay for a long time yet.

I think I've come a long way since then. Today, I am comfortable with English, Chinese, Indonesian, Cambodian, even Thai, though I may not be as fluent in it as with the other four languages. I love being around people of different cultures, who speak different languages. They enrich my life so much. I don't think I can go back to the days of being monolingual (speaking and understanding only English) again.

Do I fit in with my classmates? Of course I do! I spent many precious growing-up years with them. We share tons of good memories that still leave us in stitches today, as we recount the fun and carefree days of childhood and teenage years together. But my life has taken on a richer flavour for all the multi-cultural friends I have made since my childhood. I would not want to trade this for anything in the world. These friends are precious treasure of a lifetime.

Enrich your life today by learning a new language and opening up a whole new world!

Fun Language Tools

Is English spoken in Australia?

Sydney and Melbourne are multi-cultural cities. A short visit to these two cities have made me realise how much the cities have changed in demographics. Eight years ago when I visited, I heard a lot of English spoken except in Chinatown. Today, I hear so many languages spoken than English. Practically everyone is bilingual. Every kind of food is available anywhere and everywhere. You have so many choices: Chinese, Greek, Italian, Vietnamese, Middle-Eastern, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Hungarian, Australian, Indian, ... the list goes on and on. So spoiled for choice.

There seem to be more languages spoken than English. As I'm on the bus or walking on the street, I hear Indian languages, European languages, Asian languages, ... very little English. So why does the non-English world want to learn English? Is it really a universal language spoken everywhere? Maybe.

While the non-English-speaking world is learning English, then the English-speaking world should be learning other languages. Since mastering a language takes time and a lot of effort, both worlds should learn other languages. That way we can all meet half-way when it comes to communication. After all, "the only language that everyone speaks around the world is bad English." (Bennie Mostert) What is key is communication. Remember, body language counts a lot too!

Have fun communicating! Learn a new language today!

Fun Language Tools