You Speak English?
11 April 2005 (taken from The Outdated Jamban)
It continues to amaze me the the gross assumptions that many aussies make. for those of you who are not living in australia, let me clarify. first aussies being way down under has always been quite the forgotten land. so forgotten, they were worth mentioning only 4 times in the New York Times a couple yrs back. But worry not about bruising their feelings. Its not like they cared anyway about the rest of the world.
Take their major channels on TV. Trivial things like Mary Donaldson's hat flying off in the wind would make headlines over well - anything! So much airtime is given to petty local news over more important world affairs - the reason i thought was why we watched the news or read the papers. Obsessed with themselves and their country, they seem to have quite forgotten everyone else. And no no, i take no offense. but surely this lack of worldly knowledge would soon prove itself to be detrimental to their image.
First day at transition camp, an aussie said to me "where are you from?"
"oh well i'm from Singapore"
"oh! but you speak such good english!"
Ok assumption no.1: Singaporeans or asians in general don't speak gd english.
On another occasion, an aussie asked me " So when did you come to Australia?"
"oh well i came here in Feb 2004 when i started school."
"really?! wow your english is very good!"
Assumption no.2: To speak good English, you have to stay in an English-speaking country like Australia for a long time
and today, my classmate asked me "so how long did you take to learn to speak such good english?" almost flustered and taken aback by her absolutely ignorant and ludicrous question, " well....hmmm...ever since i was born and could speak??!!"
Assumption No.3: If one does not look white, therefore coudnt possibly be raised in an english speaking background,thus had to learn to speak good english.
Points noted. English has always been my first language. my malay is atrocious. my arabic almost non-existent.
But enough of deriding my aussie mates. I luv them of course but some days , i just have to shake my head and go what the?!
Comments
i totally agree with you, i quit reading their newspapers.and here am i supposedly learning the art of journalism from this country. btw i hv a blog too, its my email add w/out d _ .blogspot.com!
Posted by: Suhana April 11, 2005 07:02 AM
ok haf added you ana. btw like your minah original rnb pic! haha farni! keke sori to post this here cant seem to post a comment on your blog.
Posted by: Munirah April 12, 2005 12:21 AM
YES! i agree bt the crap headlines!!! been griping bt that for the past three years, dammit.
heh, anyway, wanna share this with u:
melisa's friend was having a chat with an aussie coursemate wic apparently went something like the following. [the coursemate] so what language do you speak back home?[mel's friend] oh me? i speak thai, mostly.[the coursemate] oh! *look of epiphany* so... you're from TAIWAN?
d'oh! c'mon man. u're at uni.
Posted by: elia April 12, 2005 01:17 AM
HAHA! the stupidity....
Posted by: Munirah April 12, 2005 06:19 AM
i have a tag board now!
Posted by: Suhana April 12, 2005 05:51 PM
It continues to amaze me the the gross assumptions that many aussies make. for those of you who are not living in australia, let me clarify. first aussies being way down under has always been quite the forgotten land. so forgotten, they were worth mentioning only 4 times in the New York Times a couple yrs back. But worry not about bruising their feelings. Its not like they cared anyway about the rest of the world.
Take their major channels on TV. Trivial things like Mary Donaldson's hat flying off in the wind would make headlines over well - anything! So much airtime is given to petty local news over more important world affairs - the reason i thought was why we watched the news or read the papers. Obsessed with themselves and their country, they seem to have quite forgotten everyone else. And no no, i take no offense. but surely this lack of worldly knowledge would soon prove itself to be detrimental to their image.
First day at transition camp, an aussie said to me "where are you from?"
"oh well i'm from Singapore"
"oh! but you speak such good english!"
Ok assumption no.1: Singaporeans or asians in general don't speak gd english.
On another occasion, an aussie asked me " So when did you come to Australia?"
"oh well i came here in Feb 2004 when i started school."
"really?! wow your english is very good!"
Assumption no.2: To speak good English, you have to stay in an English-speaking country like Australia for a long time
and today, my classmate asked me "so how long did you take to learn to speak such good english?" almost flustered and taken aback by her absolutely ignorant and ludicrous question, " well....hmmm...ever since i was born and could speak??!!"
Assumption No.3: If one does not look white, therefore coudnt possibly be raised in an english speaking background,thus had to learn to speak good english.
Points noted. English has always been my first language. my malay is atrocious. my arabic almost non-existent.
But enough of deriding my aussie mates. I luv them of course but some days , i just have to shake my head and go what the?!
Comments
i totally agree with you, i quit reading their newspapers.and here am i supposedly learning the art of journalism from this country. btw i hv a blog too, its my email add w/out d _ .blogspot.com!
Posted by: Suhana April 11, 2005 07:02 AM
ok haf added you ana. btw like your minah original rnb pic! haha farni! keke sori to post this here cant seem to post a comment on your blog.
Posted by: Munirah April 12, 2005 12:21 AM
YES! i agree bt the crap headlines!!! been griping bt that for the past three years, dammit.
heh, anyway, wanna share this with u:
melisa's friend was having a chat with an aussie coursemate wic apparently went something like the following. [the coursemate] so what language do you speak back home?[mel's friend] oh me? i speak thai, mostly.[the coursemate] oh! *look of epiphany* so... you're from TAIWAN?
d'oh! c'mon man. u're at uni.
Posted by: elia April 12, 2005 01:17 AM
HAHA! the stupidity....
Posted by: Munirah April 12, 2005 06:19 AM
i have a tag board now!
Posted by: Suhana April 12, 2005 05:51 PM
Comments