PAP MPs and Office Holders' spoken english is Appalling!

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

I was channel surfing last night and caught a glimpse of today in parliament. Besides Ho Peng Kee's disingenuous buffonery, what shocked me even more was the bad and appalling diction by some PAP MPs and office holders, in particular: Ellen Lee when she tried to suck up to LKY by wishing him happy birthday, which was bad enough, but her bad diction was terrible and to think she is a lawyer to boot; this was followed by Teo Ser Luck who sounded like a two bit second hand car salesman/insurance agent and worst to come from Mrs Yu Fu, I mean this woman's spoken english is truly painful to the ear and to think that she is a Senior Minsiter of State. Made me cringe and my hair stand, yikes

 

[myjohnson]

Mind you, those were from prepared texts, listen to their off the cuff or shoot from the hip remarks will have you running to the toilet, to whatever end one needs to expel the disgust from.

 

[TeeKee]

I was channel surfing last night and caught a glimpse of today in parliament. Besides Ho Peng Kee's disingenuous buffonery, what shocked me even more was the bad and appalling diction by some PAP MPs and office holders, in particular: Ellen Lee when she tried to suck up to LKY by wishing him happy birthday, which was bad enough, but her bad diction was terrible and to think she is a lawyer to boot; this was followed by Teo Ser Luck who sounded like a two bit second hand car salesman/insurance agent and worst to come from Mrs Yu Fu, I mean this woman's spoken english is truly painful to the ear and to think that she is a Senior Minsiter of State. Made me cringe and my hair stand, yikes

the likes of Francis Seow who spoke impeccable English will not serve the Lee Regime...

 

[snrcitizen]

You should include the union chief. Every time he speaks I feel as though I am having my tooth pulled, and the best part of it all, he claims his whole family speaks "English" at home. I wonder.

 

[jw5]

I was channel surfing last night and caught a glimpse of today in parliament. Besides Ho Peng Kee's disingenuous buffonery, what shocked me even more was the bad and appalling diction by some PAP MPs and office holders, in particular: Ellen Lee when she tried to suck up to LKY by wishing him happy birthday, which was bad enough, but her bad diction was terrible and to think she is a lawyer to boot; this was followed by Teo Ser Luck who sounded like a two bit second hand car salesman/insurance agent and worst to come from Mrs Yu Fu, I mean this woman's spoken english is truly painful to the ear and to think that she is a Senior Minsiter of State. Made me cringe and my hair stand, yikes

They speak like that to be closer to the people on the ground.
Most Singaporeans speak like that.

 

[jw5]

the likes of Francis Seow who spoke impeccable English will not serve the Lee Regime...

Who's another guy who speaks impeccable English who will never serve the regime?

 

[jw5]

You should include the union chief. Every time he speaks I feel as though I am having my tooth pulled, and the best part of it all, he claims his whole family speaks "English" at home. I wonder.

Do you mean LSS?
Actually on someone's advice that he actually uses correct grammar, I listened carefully to a few of his recent speeches and found him to be right.
He actually speaks good grammatical English, it's just his diction and the tone that sounds off.

 

[pia]

What kills me is listening to school teachers and principals being interviewed on TV.

If educators are of that apalling standard, what more can be said of the students or of our overall standard of English?

 

[Frankiestine]

Do you mean LSS?
Actually on someone's advice that he actually uses correct grammar, I listened carefully to a few of his recent speeches and found him to be right.
He actually speaks good grammatical English, it's just his diction and the tone that sounds off.

Lim Swee Say that gin siah sway ministar? I cringe my ears whenever I hear him speaking English...

 

[Black Swan]

I was channel surfing last night and caught a glimpse of today in parliament. Besides Ho Peng Kee's disingenuous buffonery, what shocked me even more was the bad and appalling diction by some PAP MPs and office holders, in particular: Ellen Lee when she tried to suck up to LKY by wishing him happy birthday, which was bad enough, but her bad diction was terrible and to think she is a lawyer to boot; this was followed by Teo Ser Luck who sounded like a two bit second hand car salesman/insurance agent and worst to come from Mrs Yu Fu, I mean this woman's spoken english is truly painful to the ear and to think that she is a Senior Minsiter of State. Made me cringe and my hair stand, yikes

Wait till you hear WKS. His is the ultimate.

 

[i_am_belle]

Wait till you hear WKS. His is the ultimate.

LTK shd speak in either mandarin or teochew, its ok ... i think swee say has been asked (begged ?) to give mostly mandarin interviews bcos his english interviews makes u cringe ...

the MPs shd speak in the language they're most fluent in, bcos we have 4 official languages ... or isit 6 now including tagalog + hindi

hear more tagalog + hindi (spoken at top volume) now than english, mandarin, malay ...

can't stand that bloody MBT ! ... regarding the serangoon gardens issue, yesterday he said that residents' fear of traffic gridlock is valid, but why singaporeans always fear the worst ? why always worry abt worst-case scenario ? yeah, we worry alot bcos we have a govt that doesnt care two hoots abt us ! :(

 

[twochan]

Their lack of coherence in their speech reflects the processes going on in their thoughts.

LTK shd speak in either mandarin or teochew, its ok ... i think swee say has been asked (begged ?) to give mostly mandarin interviews bcos his english interviews makes u cringe ...

the MPs shd speak in the language they're most fluent in, bcos we have 4 official languages ... or isit 6 now including tagalog + hindi

hear more tagalog + hindi (spoken at top volume) now than english, mandarin, malay ...

can't stand that bloody MBT ! ... regarding the serangoon gardens issue, yesterday he said that residents' fear of traffic gridlock is valid, but why singaporeans always fear the worst ? why always worry abt worst-case scenario ? yeah, we worry alot bcos we have a govt that doesnt care two hoots abt us ! :(

 

[snrcitizen]

Do you mean LSS?
Actually on someone's advice that he actually uses correct grammar, I listened carefully to a few of his recent speeches and found him to be right.
He actually speaks good grammatical English, it's just his diction and the tone that sounds off.

Yes, I meant him. Unfortunately, his speech sounded so much like an old rusty engine grating away that I did not bother with his grammar. You are probably right. Perhaps I should try to listen to his next speech.

 

[theblackhole]

How on.Don't be so prejudiced, arrogant, snobbish,mean and ungrateful okay! We have world class government with a first world gahment. So please don't poke fun at our very eloquent speakers and leaders.All speak very well. Perfect Ingerish and perfect dickions! So please don't ridicule our million dollar leaders. Better apologise,repent and say sorry a thousand times. You think u belly good. Go and speak to the press or go to partyment and tok your piss!

 

[snrcitizen]

can't stand that bloody MBT ! ... regarding the serangoon gardens issue, yesterday he said that residents' fear of traffic gridlock is valid, but why singaporeans always fear the worst ? why always worry abt worst-case scenario ? yeah, we worry alot bcos we have a govt that doesnt care two hoots abt us ! :(

When the Serangoon Gardens residents first voiced their concerns, MBT just brushed it away by saying "It cannot be helped." Get paid millioans and then siam from work.

Now he is singing a different tune. Probably got whacked by someone to make him do some work at the very least, but having seen his SOP previously, he will form another "task force" to deal with the issue so that he can wash his hands off.

 

[The_Latest_H]

I was channel surfing last night and caught a glimpse of today in parliament. Besides Ho Peng Kee's disingenuous buffonery, what shocked me even more was the bad and appalling diction by some PAP MPs and office holders, in particular: Ellen Lee when she tried to suck up to LKY by wishing him happy birthday, which was bad enough, but her bad diction was terrible and to think she is a lawyer to boot; this was followed by Teo Ser Luck who sounded like a two bit second hand car salesman/insurance agent and worst to come from Mrs Yu Fu, I mean this woman's spoken english is truly painful to the ear and to think that she is a Senior Minsiter of State. Made me cringe and my hair stand, yikes

I think our Singaporean command of english, in terms of dictation, spelling and vocab, will have to improve. After all, even the latest generation of the PAP followers were educated locally, before they flew overseas to study.

 

[theblackhole]

HaHAha...thanks to the brave residents of serangoon gardens, our great leaders are listening.Yes they're listening for their own good. Better listen more....

 

[zack123]

The Parliament is still made up of a few Nantah graduates who would not have a goo command of English. It is tactically sound for the PAP as they would also need these people to reach out to the masses using languages which are familar to them. I would imagine that a PAP team which would make up of an all Queen English speakers would isolate themsleves from the masses.

 

[The_Latest_H]

The Parliament is still made up of a few Nantah graduates who would not have a goo command of English. It is tactically sound for the PAP as they would also need these people to reach out to the masses using languages which are familar to them. I would imagine that a PAP team which would make up of an all Queen English speakers would isolate themsleves from the masses.

Well, my opinion is that while your opinion is necessarily true, its not wrong to have the english educated MPs to have a better command of english. The MPs who are better in their mother tongues can continue to speak in either of 3 anyway.

 

[zack123]

Well, my opinion is that while your opinion is necessarily true, its not wrong to have the english educated MPs to have a better command of english. The MPs who are better in their mother tongues can continue to speak in either of 3 anyway.

I would say most of the younger PAP leaders speaks well. But since they are junior members, its not often that you hear them speak in Parliament.

However since English has been adopted as the first language, i believe that it would be good that all MPs speak the same language as much as possible. Of coz there are translators but it would reduce the essence of Parliament for direct communication between the MPs.

Just imagine if majority Chinese/Malay/Indian MPs decide to speak in their own language - there will be a feeling of racial divide.