10 home home
10
home
home 11
[ special report: chinese nationals & the language barrier ]
thesundaytimes August 30, 2009
August 30, 2009 thesundaytimes
SORRY, NO ENGLISH These days, Ms Amber Yu wins praises from customers at the cafe she works at for her bubbly small talk with them. It is a far cry from 11/2 years ago when the Fujian native first came to Singapore to find work here. Although she had learnt basic English in high school, it was so poor even numbers tripped her up. “Once, another staff member told me to take an order to table 12. It took me some time to figure out if she meant ‘12’ or ‘13’. I felt so miserable,” she recalled in Mandarin. Another time, she was chided by a customer when she could not catch her order. “I said, ‘Sorry, I’m from China. I can’t understand you’. She was annoyed and said, ‘How come you China people can’t speak English?’” Ms Yu, 21, took these setbacks positively. She enrolled in a three-month English training course paid for by her company. She has even picked up a Singaporean accent. “Now, some customers ask me if I’m a Filipina. I ask them, ‘Do I look like one?’” she said with a laugh. Service staff from China have been the target of complaints since rules were relaxed to allow them to work in the industry two years ago. As of December last year, some 508,000 foreigners worked in the two-million-strong service sector. It is not known how many are from China. But readers have written to The Straits Times Forum page, pointing out the China service staff’s poor English and the misunderstandings, delays and frayed tempers that resulted. So strong is the frustration that more than 10,000 people joined an online group called “I am Singaporean and tired of service staff who can speak only Mandarin” on popular social networking site Facebook. It was started last August by undergraduate Kavita Devi Thamilselvam, 23. The sentiment, from people The Sunday Times spoke to, was that service staff must have a working grasp of English as it is the lingua franca of multiracial Singapore. After all, non-Chinese here mostly do not speak Mandarin. Ms Salfariza Nazarudin, 28, an administrator, said shopping is becoming a frustrating affair for her. Case in point: She was at a supermarket last year when she ap-
Service staff from China have been the target of complaints for their poor command of English. The Sunday Times spoke to 15 and found that most had basic training in English before coming here. But they have problems understanding the way Singaporeans speak English. Some are taking language courses to brush up on their fluency. words to exproached a Chipress herself. na service staff “I then ask member to help the customer if her look for it’s okay for me whipped cream. to use Manda“He gave me rin. Most of the a blank look, time, they are then mumbled Jamie Ee Wen Wei fine with that,” in Mandarin... she said. In the end, he All the service staff interviewed asked a colleague to help me,” she said they had learnt basic English said. Ms Sophia Siew, 25, who is cur- in school in China. Most have at rently unemployed, had a similar least secondary-level education. A few have university degrees. encounter at a shoe shop. But all said their foundation is She said: “I have no issues about foreigners coming here to seek a weak because they started to learn better life, but it makes no sense English, which in any case was not that service staff can’t speak Eng- their core language, only from secondary school onwards. lish. This becomes a hindrance.” Some also pointed out that they The 15 China service staff whom The Sunday Times spoke to learnt American English back were aware of such a sentiment. home, and said that the sentence They agreed that service staff here structure of Singapore English is unshould know how to speak English, familiar to them. but asked to be cut some slack. Sichuan native Belle Hwang, a Most said they do try to use Eng- 21-year-old sales promoter at a lish at work even though their com- pharmacy, said in Mandarin: “In China, the stress is mainly on writmand of the language is shaky. Chengdu native Jin Xiao, who ten, not spoken, English. So even works as a service coordinator at an though we do well in tests, we canair-conditioning firm, said in Man- not understand or speak English as darin: “Knowing how to speak Eng- well as Singaporeans.” Fellow Sichuan native Vicky lish is necessary here. Many people here can speak Mandarin but we Liao, 23, a service coordinator, said need to speak English if we want to China nationals are sometimes embarrassed to speak English because raise service standards.” The 26-year-old is a finance grad- of their poor pronunciation. She uate and studied in an English-lan- said customers have complained guage institute in China for two that they are unable to understand years. Still, she could not get used her accent. To improve their language profito the accent here initially. “The way Singaporeans speak ciency, some said they would read English...there’s a Hokkien accent books or watch English-language here. It’s very different from the television shows with Chinese subEnglish pronunciations that we titles. were taught,” Ms Jin, who has been Others like Ms Hwang carry an here for five months, said in Manda- electronic dictionary with them to rin. She is doing a telephone con- translate words and phrases from versation course at the Institute of English to Mandarin. Technical Education’s Bishan cam“I must keep learning because pus. customers will ask questions not reShe still occasionally finds it lated to my work, and if I have to hard to find the right English make them repeat themselves, they
may get annoyed,” she said. For some, however, work simply takes up too much of their time and learning English has to take a back seat. Jiangsu native Bao Jiakui, 40, who works at a dessert kiosk in Bishan, said she does not even have enough time to rest after her 12-hour shift. “I want to learn but who will give me the time to do that?” Sighing, she added: “I should have put in more effort to learn English in school.” But some felt the language issue is not as big as it has been made out to be. Sales assistant Qiao Ying, 30, who mans a jewellery pushcart in Bugis Junction, said more than 90 per cent of her customers would converse with her in Mandarin. She has to speak English only when serving non-Chinese customers or foreigners. “Chinese Singaporeans will naturally speak to me in Mandarin. They can probably tell that I’m from China. If it’s a Malay or Indian customer, I just let them choose the jewellery on their own.” She added that Singapore is not a conducive environment for China nationals to learn English as “many people speak Mandarin too”. Indeed, outside of work, many China nationals can get by with using Mandarin in the heartland. Most felt saddened by the brickbats they received from critical locals, and some said they sense that Singaporeans do not welcome them. Ms Wang Cuixia, 30, who works in a snack kiosk in Bugis Junction, said she has met Singaporeans who would glare at her when she bumped into them on an MRT train. “They will give me a look even though I’ve said sorry to them.” Given time, the China nationals say they can lick the language problem. Ms Qiao added: “You can speak English and we can speak Mandarin. Rather than criticise us, why don’t we learn from each other?” [email protected] Does it frustrate you that service staff from China can’t speak English? What can be done to alleviate the problem? Send your comments to [email protected]
ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
For Mr Li, satisfaction comes from knowing his customers are satisfied with his service, even though he sometimes struggles when he converses with them in English. It is having the right attitude that matters, says the Fujian native.
Learning English bit by bit
ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
Electronic dictionary is her best friend China-born Zheng Mei Ling’s best friend could well be her electronic dictionary. She bought the hand-held device, which can generate the Chinese equivalent of English words, before she came to Singapore from Zhejiang province. It cost her 300 yuan (S$63). The 27-year-old carries the device everywhere. She whips it out whenever she comes across difficult words. It is particularly useful at work. She has been working as a sales assistant at The Cocoa Trees, a chocolate company, at Plaza Singapura for almost two years now. “Sometimes, I have to read company memos and there are words that I don’t understand. I will use the dictionary to find out their meaning,” said the high school graduate. There are only two service staff from China working at the chocolate chain. It has 14 branches, located in shopping malls and at the airport’s Terminals 1 and 2. Ms Iris Chua, its human resource manager, said The Cocoa
Trees chose to hire China nationals because of the increasing number of China tourists. The company, which hired Ms Zheng from China, does not provide English training for its staff but it does have a week-long training programme on product knowledge and customer service. Initially, Ms Zheng’s vocabulary was limited to greetings like “Hello, how are you?” She said: “Sometimes, if I don’t understand what the customers are saying, I tell them I’m new. Most of them are quite understanding.” The learning curve was steep but she managed to learn work-related phrases from her Singaporean colleagues. In her free time, she also buys and reads English books to improve her language proficiency. Her hard work has paid off. Customers praise her for her good command of English. Even her Singaporean colleague is impressed by her. When she gave herself five out of 10 points for her command of spoken English now, her colleague interrupted and said: “I will give her seven points.”
‘Get them to pass English test before issuing work permit’ The lack of a benchmark to gauge English language proficiency when hiring foreign front-line staff is what’s ailing the service industry, said insiders, experts and MPs. A minimum standard of English should be set for foreign service staff and the Government has to take the lead and enforce it, they said. Mr Tony Du, 53, president of the Tian Fu Club, a social networking club for new Chinese immigrants, said the complaints about China service staff signalled that some employers are not hiring the right people for the job. Mr Du, who runs an investment and human resource consulting company, is all for the authorities setting guidelines to regulate the quality of front-line service staff. For instance, the authorities could make it compulsory for foreign service staff to know a list of 50 commonly used work-related English phrases before granting them their work permits. The Sichuan native, who has been a Singapore citizen for 15 years, said: “I believe employees are willing to take the test. They want to be fit for their jobs too. Right now, the problem is there are no clear guidelines on English standards for the industry.” Currently, there are no specific prerequisites on English proficiency for foreign workers joining the service sector. A Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesman said employers decide on their own needs for specific
jobs, including language requirements. Human resource consultants felt that firms seldom gave staff adequate training. Mr David Leong, managing director of PeopleWorldwide Consulting, said not many companies have induction programmes or basic English competency courses for foreign staff. Some companies may shorten the training period as they need their new hires to start work immediately, said Mr Josh Goh, assistant director of corporate services for The GMP Group, a human resource firm. “The faster learners will be able to grasp the language but the slower ones will have to learn the language on the job,” he said. His company has helped place 700 China workers in various companies, mainly in the food and beverage as well as retail sectors. It offers English training courses for China workers. Last October, the Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) started a 30-hour training and assessment programme for service staff. It is not an English course but is designed to help service staff use the language more confidently and effectively. To date, 127 retail workers have satisfactorily completed the programme. Another 84 workers are undergoing the programme. Half of the participants are China workers. Ms Lau Chuen Wei, SRA’s executive director, noted that there was
an increasing interest in the programme, but added that “it is certainly not by leaps and bounds”. “We don’t envisage the numbers to explode dramatically unless it is made mandatory for all service workers, locals or foreigners, to have a minimum competency in spoken English,” she said. She supports the idea of having an English language competency test for foreign service staff before they are issued their work permits. “If domestic helpers need to pass an English language competency test even though most of the time their interaction is confined to the household within which they work, what more a service worker who interacts with a larger community?” MP Yeo Guat Kwang felt it was fair that foreign service staff be trained and certified. “After all, when companies hire locals, they often require workforce skills qualifications too,” said Mr Yeo, who is the president of the Consumers Association of Singapore and co-chairman of the Customer-Centric Initiative, which helps local companies to raise their service standards. Labour MP Halimah Yacob agreed. She said: “The idea of a free market, letting an industry set its own terms...it does not always work. “In this case, the outcome will affect the quality of our service staff here. If Singapore wants to be a tourism hub, then there should be some regulation.”
Lack oral fluency “In China, we do well in exams but our listening and conversational skills may not be that good.” MS XIE MALI (left), a Chengdu native who works in Mini Toons here ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Getting used to the local accent She has a business degree and studied English back in China, but Ms Xie Mali was unprepared for the culture shock she experienced when she arrived here three months ago. The 26-year-old Chengdu native, who works for Mini Toons, a gift chain, said: “It was hard to understand the English here. It’s mixed with a bit of Malay and the sentence structure is different from what I was taught.” But her grounding in English helped, and she quickly got used to the local accent. “My listening skills definitely im-
proved. In China, we do well in exams but our listening and conversational skills may not be that good.” Mini Toons has 25 China service staff working at its 23 outlets in Singapore. Ms Xie mans the Mini Bits outlet at Changi Airport Terminal 2. The company provides in-house training for staff and enrols them for external courses to improve their English language proficiency. Ms Xie makes it a point to use English when serving customers. “Although there are a lot of Chinese here, we should still use English. You are showing respect to the
people here and it also helps you raise your service standards.” She said her customers have had no trouble understanding her. She often gets mistaken for a Japanese or Korean, she added. “There’ll always be one or two people who will ask me if I’m Japanese or Korean. Maybe the way East Asians speak English is quite similar.” She still gets a little upset when people criticise China nationals for the way they speak English, but she said: “If you want to learn, first admit that you are weak, then you can improve.”
Checking it up “Sometimes, I have to read company memos and there are words that I don’t understand. I will use the dictionary to find out their meaning.” Zheng Mei Ling (above), who bought an electronic English-Chinese dictionary before she came to Singapore almost two years ago. The high school graduate has picked up work-related phrases from her colleagues at the Cocoa Trees, where she is a sales assistant. She also reads English books to improve her language proficiency.
When Mr Li Yong began working as a barista at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf two years ago, he was stumped when a customer asked for a “plate”. “I didn’t know what a ‘plate’ was. My workmates explained that it means ‘pan’ (‘plate’ in Mandarin),” recalled the 21-year-old, who works at the cafe’s Terminal 3 outlet. “That was how I learnt English: by picking up new words and phrases from my customers and colleagues.” The Fujian native is among the 49 China nationals who work at the cafe chain’s 45 outlets in Singapore. They all went through a
three-month basic English programme to equip them with basic conversational skills, said Mr Vincent Chang, the company’s senior director of business development and controller (Asia Pacific). Despite the training he received, Mr Li still struggled in the first few months with the English phrases bandied about at his workplace. “Our foundation is in Mandarin, so it is quite difficult to have to learn so much in so short a time,” he said. Within six months, however, he passed an in-house exam that tested his work-related English skills. His colleagues were a big help to him. Most of them are Malays and Filipinos. “Sometimes, we would go out
on our days off. They will correct me if I say something that’s not right.” Mr Li counts himself lucky for not having really upset any customers. While his English is not perfect, he can now hold simple conversations with customers and give directions to tourists. He believes having the right attitude can help overcome any language barriers. “You just need to smile. Most of the time, our customers are quite understanding.” He hopes Singaporeans will give China nationals a chance to prove themselves as service staff. “I really like my job, and I get a lot of satisfaction from serving customers.”
home
home 11
[ special report: chinese nationals & the language barrier ]
thesundaytimes August 30, 2009
August 30, 2009 thesundaytimes
SORRY, NO ENGLISH These days, Ms Amber Yu wins praises from customers at the cafe she works at for her bubbly small talk with them. It is a far cry from 11/2 years ago when the Fujian native first came to Singapore to find work here. Although she had learnt basic English in high school, it was so poor even numbers tripped her up. “Once, another staff member told me to take an order to table 12. It took me some time to figure out if she meant ‘12’ or ‘13’. I felt so miserable,” she recalled in Mandarin. Another time, she was chided by a customer when she could not catch her order. “I said, ‘Sorry, I’m from China. I can’t understand you’. She was annoyed and said, ‘How come you China people can’t speak English?’” Ms Yu, 21, took these setbacks positively. She enrolled in a three-month English training course paid for by her company. She has even picked up a Singaporean accent. “Now, some customers ask me if I’m a Filipina. I ask them, ‘Do I look like one?’” she said with a laugh. Service staff from China have been the target of complaints since rules were relaxed to allow them to work in the industry two years ago. As of December last year, some 508,000 foreigners worked in the two-million-strong service sector. It is not known how many are from China. But readers have written to The Straits Times Forum page, pointing out the China service staff’s poor English and the misunderstandings, delays and frayed tempers that resulted. So strong is the frustration that more than 10,000 people joined an online group called “I am Singaporean and tired of service staff who can speak only Mandarin” on popular social networking site Facebook. It was started last August by undergraduate Kavita Devi Thamilselvam, 23. The sentiment, from people The Sunday Times spoke to, was that service staff must have a working grasp of English as it is the lingua franca of multiracial Singapore. After all, non-Chinese here mostly do not speak Mandarin. Ms Salfariza Nazarudin, 28, an administrator, said shopping is becoming a frustrating affair for her. Case in point: She was at a supermarket last year when she ap-
Service staff from China have been the target of complaints for their poor command of English. The Sunday Times spoke to 15 and found that most had basic training in English before coming here. But they have problems understanding the way Singaporeans speak English. Some are taking language courses to brush up on their fluency. words to exproached a Chipress herself. na service staff “I then ask member to help the customer if her look for it’s okay for me whipped cream. to use Manda“He gave me rin. Most of the a blank look, time, they are then mumbled Jamie Ee Wen Wei fine with that,” in Mandarin... she said. In the end, he All the service staff interviewed asked a colleague to help me,” she said they had learnt basic English said. Ms Sophia Siew, 25, who is cur- in school in China. Most have at rently unemployed, had a similar least secondary-level education. A few have university degrees. encounter at a shoe shop. But all said their foundation is She said: “I have no issues about foreigners coming here to seek a weak because they started to learn better life, but it makes no sense English, which in any case was not that service staff can’t speak Eng- their core language, only from secondary school onwards. lish. This becomes a hindrance.” Some also pointed out that they The 15 China service staff whom The Sunday Times spoke to learnt American English back were aware of such a sentiment. home, and said that the sentence They agreed that service staff here structure of Singapore English is unshould know how to speak English, familiar to them. but asked to be cut some slack. Sichuan native Belle Hwang, a Most said they do try to use Eng- 21-year-old sales promoter at a lish at work even though their com- pharmacy, said in Mandarin: “In China, the stress is mainly on writmand of the language is shaky. Chengdu native Jin Xiao, who ten, not spoken, English. So even works as a service coordinator at an though we do well in tests, we canair-conditioning firm, said in Man- not understand or speak English as darin: “Knowing how to speak Eng- well as Singaporeans.” Fellow Sichuan native Vicky lish is necessary here. Many people here can speak Mandarin but we Liao, 23, a service coordinator, said need to speak English if we want to China nationals are sometimes embarrassed to speak English because raise service standards.” The 26-year-old is a finance grad- of their poor pronunciation. She uate and studied in an English-lan- said customers have complained guage institute in China for two that they are unable to understand years. Still, she could not get used her accent. To improve their language profito the accent here initially. “The way Singaporeans speak ciency, some said they would read English...there’s a Hokkien accent books or watch English-language here. It’s very different from the television shows with Chinese subEnglish pronunciations that we titles. were taught,” Ms Jin, who has been Others like Ms Hwang carry an here for five months, said in Manda- electronic dictionary with them to rin. She is doing a telephone con- translate words and phrases from versation course at the Institute of English to Mandarin. Technical Education’s Bishan cam“I must keep learning because pus. customers will ask questions not reShe still occasionally finds it lated to my work, and if I have to hard to find the right English make them repeat themselves, they
may get annoyed,” she said. For some, however, work simply takes up too much of their time and learning English has to take a back seat. Jiangsu native Bao Jiakui, 40, who works at a dessert kiosk in Bishan, said she does not even have enough time to rest after her 12-hour shift. “I want to learn but who will give me the time to do that?” Sighing, she added: “I should have put in more effort to learn English in school.” But some felt the language issue is not as big as it has been made out to be. Sales assistant Qiao Ying, 30, who mans a jewellery pushcart in Bugis Junction, said more than 90 per cent of her customers would converse with her in Mandarin. She has to speak English only when serving non-Chinese customers or foreigners. “Chinese Singaporeans will naturally speak to me in Mandarin. They can probably tell that I’m from China. If it’s a Malay or Indian customer, I just let them choose the jewellery on their own.” She added that Singapore is not a conducive environment for China nationals to learn English as “many people speak Mandarin too”. Indeed, outside of work, many China nationals can get by with using Mandarin in the heartland. Most felt saddened by the brickbats they received from critical locals, and some said they sense that Singaporeans do not welcome them. Ms Wang Cuixia, 30, who works in a snack kiosk in Bugis Junction, said she has met Singaporeans who would glare at her when she bumped into them on an MRT train. “They will give me a look even though I’ve said sorry to them.” Given time, the China nationals say they can lick the language problem. Ms Qiao added: “You can speak English and we can speak Mandarin. Rather than criticise us, why don’t we learn from each other?” [email protected] Does it frustrate you that service staff from China can’t speak English? What can be done to alleviate the problem? Send your comments to [email protected]
ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
For Mr Li, satisfaction comes from knowing his customers are satisfied with his service, even though he sometimes struggles when he converses with them in English. It is having the right attitude that matters, says the Fujian native.
Learning English bit by bit
ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
Electronic dictionary is her best friend China-born Zheng Mei Ling’s best friend could well be her electronic dictionary. She bought the hand-held device, which can generate the Chinese equivalent of English words, before she came to Singapore from Zhejiang province. It cost her 300 yuan (S$63). The 27-year-old carries the device everywhere. She whips it out whenever she comes across difficult words. It is particularly useful at work. She has been working as a sales assistant at The Cocoa Trees, a chocolate company, at Plaza Singapura for almost two years now. “Sometimes, I have to read company memos and there are words that I don’t understand. I will use the dictionary to find out their meaning,” said the high school graduate. There are only two service staff from China working at the chocolate chain. It has 14 branches, located in shopping malls and at the airport’s Terminals 1 and 2. Ms Iris Chua, its human resource manager, said The Cocoa
Trees chose to hire China nationals because of the increasing number of China tourists. The company, which hired Ms Zheng from China, does not provide English training for its staff but it does have a week-long training programme on product knowledge and customer service. Initially, Ms Zheng’s vocabulary was limited to greetings like “Hello, how are you?” She said: “Sometimes, if I don’t understand what the customers are saying, I tell them I’m new. Most of them are quite understanding.” The learning curve was steep but she managed to learn work-related phrases from her Singaporean colleagues. In her free time, she also buys and reads English books to improve her language proficiency. Her hard work has paid off. Customers praise her for her good command of English. Even her Singaporean colleague is impressed by her. When she gave herself five out of 10 points for her command of spoken English now, her colleague interrupted and said: “I will give her seven points.”
‘Get them to pass English test before issuing work permit’ The lack of a benchmark to gauge English language proficiency when hiring foreign front-line staff is what’s ailing the service industry, said insiders, experts and MPs. A minimum standard of English should be set for foreign service staff and the Government has to take the lead and enforce it, they said. Mr Tony Du, 53, president of the Tian Fu Club, a social networking club for new Chinese immigrants, said the complaints about China service staff signalled that some employers are not hiring the right people for the job. Mr Du, who runs an investment and human resource consulting company, is all for the authorities setting guidelines to regulate the quality of front-line service staff. For instance, the authorities could make it compulsory for foreign service staff to know a list of 50 commonly used work-related English phrases before granting them their work permits. The Sichuan native, who has been a Singapore citizen for 15 years, said: “I believe employees are willing to take the test. They want to be fit for their jobs too. Right now, the problem is there are no clear guidelines on English standards for the industry.” Currently, there are no specific prerequisites on English proficiency for foreign workers joining the service sector. A Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesman said employers decide on their own needs for specific
jobs, including language requirements. Human resource consultants felt that firms seldom gave staff adequate training. Mr David Leong, managing director of PeopleWorldwide Consulting, said not many companies have induction programmes or basic English competency courses for foreign staff. Some companies may shorten the training period as they need their new hires to start work immediately, said Mr Josh Goh, assistant director of corporate services for The GMP Group, a human resource firm. “The faster learners will be able to grasp the language but the slower ones will have to learn the language on the job,” he said. His company has helped place 700 China workers in various companies, mainly in the food and beverage as well as retail sectors. It offers English training courses for China workers. Last October, the Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) started a 30-hour training and assessment programme for service staff. It is not an English course but is designed to help service staff use the language more confidently and effectively. To date, 127 retail workers have satisfactorily completed the programme. Another 84 workers are undergoing the programme. Half of the participants are China workers. Ms Lau Chuen Wei, SRA’s executive director, noted that there was
an increasing interest in the programme, but added that “it is certainly not by leaps and bounds”. “We don’t envisage the numbers to explode dramatically unless it is made mandatory for all service workers, locals or foreigners, to have a minimum competency in spoken English,” she said. She supports the idea of having an English language competency test for foreign service staff before they are issued their work permits. “If domestic helpers need to pass an English language competency test even though most of the time their interaction is confined to the household within which they work, what more a service worker who interacts with a larger community?” MP Yeo Guat Kwang felt it was fair that foreign service staff be trained and certified. “After all, when companies hire locals, they often require workforce skills qualifications too,” said Mr Yeo, who is the president of the Consumers Association of Singapore and co-chairman of the Customer-Centric Initiative, which helps local companies to raise their service standards. Labour MP Halimah Yacob agreed. She said: “The idea of a free market, letting an industry set its own terms...it does not always work. “In this case, the outcome will affect the quality of our service staff here. If Singapore wants to be a tourism hub, then there should be some regulation.”
Lack oral fluency “In China, we do well in exams but our listening and conversational skills may not be that good.” MS XIE MALI (left), a Chengdu native who works in Mini Toons here ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Getting used to the local accent She has a business degree and studied English back in China, but Ms Xie Mali was unprepared for the culture shock she experienced when she arrived here three months ago. The 26-year-old Chengdu native, who works for Mini Toons, a gift chain, said: “It was hard to understand the English here. It’s mixed with a bit of Malay and the sentence structure is different from what I was taught.” But her grounding in English helped, and she quickly got used to the local accent. “My listening skills definitely im-
proved. In China, we do well in exams but our listening and conversational skills may not be that good.” Mini Toons has 25 China service staff working at its 23 outlets in Singapore. Ms Xie mans the Mini Bits outlet at Changi Airport Terminal 2. The company provides in-house training for staff and enrols them for external courses to improve their English language proficiency. Ms Xie makes it a point to use English when serving customers. “Although there are a lot of Chinese here, we should still use English. You are showing respect to the
people here and it also helps you raise your service standards.” She said her customers have had no trouble understanding her. She often gets mistaken for a Japanese or Korean, she added. “There’ll always be one or two people who will ask me if I’m Japanese or Korean. Maybe the way East Asians speak English is quite similar.” She still gets a little upset when people criticise China nationals for the way they speak English, but she said: “If you want to learn, first admit that you are weak, then you can improve.”
Checking it up “Sometimes, I have to read company memos and there are words that I don’t understand. I will use the dictionary to find out their meaning.” Zheng Mei Ling (above), who bought an electronic English-Chinese dictionary before she came to Singapore almost two years ago. The high school graduate has picked up work-related phrases from her colleagues at the Cocoa Trees, where she is a sales assistant. She also reads English books to improve her language proficiency.
When Mr Li Yong began working as a barista at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf two years ago, he was stumped when a customer asked for a “plate”. “I didn’t know what a ‘plate’ was. My workmates explained that it means ‘pan’ (‘plate’ in Mandarin),” recalled the 21-year-old, who works at the cafe’s Terminal 3 outlet. “That was how I learnt English: by picking up new words and phrases from my customers and colleagues.” The Fujian native is among the 49 China nationals who work at the cafe chain’s 45 outlets in Singapore. They all went through a
three-month basic English programme to equip them with basic conversational skills, said Mr Vincent Chang, the company’s senior director of business development and controller (Asia Pacific). Despite the training he received, Mr Li still struggled in the first few months with the English phrases bandied about at his workplace. “Our foundation is in Mandarin, so it is quite difficult to have to learn so much in so short a time,” he said. Within six months, however, he passed an in-house exam that tested his work-related English skills. His colleagues were a big help to him. Most of them are Malays and Filipinos. “Sometimes, we would go out
on our days off. They will correct me if I say something that’s not right.” Mr Li counts himself lucky for not having really upset any customers. While his English is not perfect, he can now hold simple conversations with customers and give directions to tourists. He believes having the right attitude can help overcome any language barriers. “You just need to smile. Most of the time, our customers are quite understanding.” He hopes Singaporeans will give China nationals a chance to prove themselves as service staff. “I really like my job, and I get a lot of satisfaction from serving customers.”
