Mandarin serves Sporeans?

[CannonFairy]

Yes. Or they could emigrate to other countries where they can be the majority and the street signs are printed in their native language.

It's only common sense. If a race is a majority in any other country hey the chances are there will be more "resources" devoted to this race's culture, language and so on. If chinese weren't the majority here let's say filippinos were instead there would be tagalog accouncements on trains instead.


It's this sickening mollycoddling this dumb society loves to do to minorities here that's why it emboldens them and makes them demand more and more. Peace and stability for them isn't enough. They aren't targetted in violent racial attacks, they aren't discriminated by society as a whole and the sky is the limit for them but that's not enough it's now nit picking and trying to find fault with every small thing in singapore. That's why you have people complaining about auntie in the shop didn't smile at him = racist. They have xin msn which sounds chinese and that's racist. They publish stats that don't put this race in a good light = racist and of course announcements in chinese = racist.

 

[whoami]

It's just an accouncement you bodoh. I believe they have english announcements too. Since you don't understand it even though you have lived you singapore for so long and should understand some mandarin just ignore it then. It's not for you.


Minorities cannot question the majority when we have threads with stupid titles like this? What a lying troll you are. You are very lucky to be a minority in singapore where you can live your life how you please and nobody comes in to harrass you. Why not you try being a chinese in malaysia or indonesia.

It's just an accouncement you bongok. I feel they should have Malay and Indian announcements too. Since you may not understand them even though you have lived you singapore for so long and should understand some Malay just ignore it then. It's not for you.

Btw bongok jamban moderator. If u and ur kind tink tis thread is racist, then u r oso calling my Malay MP Zaqy Mohamad a racist too. U have been calling Malays m&d. U have been calling Indians SNAKES. Stupid Jamban moderator.



By Derrick Ho & Pearl Lee

Transport operator SMRT has brought an abrupt halt to announcing station names in Mandarin in addition to English, amid an online debate over the issue.

It had said initially that the Mandarin announcements on some trains were a trial which began in October and would go on until next month. But late on Friday it told The Sunday Times that the trial ended on Dec 5.

The issue has stirred much discussion online with many questioning SMRT's reasons behind the move.

In a Nov 30 Facebook post, local writer Ng Yi Sheng, 32, said he felt the move was to "accommodate the growing number of Chinese- speaking immigrants" here and that his non-Chinese friends found it "deeply alienating". His post went viral.

Others asked why this was being done now, as station names have long been announced only in English on SMRT trains. Some asked if the operator would consider announcing names in Singapore's other two official languages, Malay and Tamil.

An SMRT spokesman told The Sunday Times that it had started the trial after receiving "considerable public feedback suggesting we announce station names in Mandarin to assist passengers, especially older citizens, who rely on announcements during their journey".

It considered announcements in all four languages, but found that the Malay and Tamil pronunciations of many station names were similar to English.

The spokesman said: "Some station names in Mandarin, however, sound very different. Take for instance, City Hall (Zheng Fu Da Sha), Somerset (Suo Mei Sai), Redhill (Hong Shan), Lakeside (Hu Pan) and Pioneer (Xian Qu).

"Thus, we started a trial that included in-train Mandarin announcements of the station names on some trains on our North-South and East-West lines from the first week of October."

Among those who did not agree with the SMRT move was Member of Parliament Zaqy Mohamad, chairman of the Communications and Information Government Parliamentary Committee.

Commenting on its explanation that the use of Mandarin was meant to help older citizens, he said: "I'm sure there are elderly Malays or Indians who may have the same difficulty and can be helped."

The Sunday Times spoke to more than 20 commuters, including cabby Lee Kim Swee, 67, who said he found the Mandarin announcements helpful.

"I don't have to look around frantically to find out which station I'm at," he said in Mandarin. "It benefits people around my age who, like me, don't understand English well."

Trade sales coordinator Rick Teh, 36, thought SMRT's move was commendable but felt that commuters would appreciate it if the announcements were in all four official languages.

On Friday, the SMRT spokesman said: "The trial has concluded and we will be deliberating over its value and appropriateness."

 

[Equalisation]

Aiyoh ... what nonsense.

Sekali there will be many quarells with regards to prawn noodle again and again.:o

 

[Confuseous]

Desmond hears you loud and clear - the 'trial' was cancelled last Friday, although it was meant to have run until the end of January.
He says that they will let us know the results of the trial at some future date.
Looks like a dead duck.

 

[whoami]

Aiyoh ... what nonsense.

Sekali there will be many quarells with regards to prawn noodle again and again.:o

No lah. We are all adults. Except tat jamban moderator. Wats tere to quarrel. But tat burggggar jamban moderator twist and turn the whole thing and say i am a racist. Anyway dont want to waste my time with tat troll. Been stalking me now and then. Tsk tsk tsk...

Every one knows tat announcement is meant for who.

When u in rome do wat the romans do, learnt and practise.

Period!

 

[whoami]

Desmond hears you loud and clear - the 'trial' was cancelled last Friday, although it was meant to have run until the end of January.
He says that they will let us know the results of the trial at some future date.
Looks like a dead duck.

MP Zaqy got 1 vote fm me!

 

[moolightaffairs]

I saw the title of the thread I assume we talking about the language as in spoken. I can't read nuts the chinese characters always fail in written chinese same goes for writing the Chinese characters. But I speak pretty ok. My spoken Hokkien and Teochew and Cantonese are very good. For my work and business it had served me very well particularly the dialects that got me closer to suppliers and customers who know these dialects, always get special prices from suppliers if I speak their dialects. Anyway what I really want to say is fucking PAP had killed the dialects in their quest to promote Mandarin. I pity the younger generations.

yeah! dialects is the way to create bonds. stupid pap trying to kill it off. we Chinese is like this, soil and blood. soil is where your root is and blood is from the forefathers. so when you speak dialect with your dialect group u will feel close.

 

[Sideswipe]

yeah! dialects is the way to create bonds. stupid pap trying to kill it off. we Chinese is like this, soil and blood. soil is where your root is and blood is from the forefathers. so when you speak dialect with your dialect group u will feel close.

pap need to promote mandarin ahead of rest of chinese dialects back then since china and taiwan are going the mandarin route. maybe pap should do more to promote and preserve the chinese dialects or to be exact do less to kill it off. the decision to make english the first administrative and working language naturally result in the decline of the chinese language and culture.

i don't understand the ill feelings toward the beiping dialect. it is really a beautiful-sounding dialect. you people should discard all the hokkien, canto chauvinism.

 

[Clone]

pap need to promote mandarin ahead of rest of chinese dialects back then since china and taiwan are going the mandarin route. maybe pap should do more to promote and preserve the chinese dialects or to be exact do less to kill it off. the decision to make english the first administrative and working language naturally result in the decline of the chinese language and culture.

i don't understand the ill feelings toward the beiping dialect. it is really a beautiful-sounding dialect. you people should discard all the hokkien, canto chauvinism.

Ah Tiongs also prefer to speak in their own dialects.

I'm not against the Beiping dialect, I'm wary of the Tiongs who speak it.

 

[RoyMcFarland]

The title itself puzzled me. Tats why i copy and paste the article fm ST. In wat way the announcement serves the Non Chinese?

Looks like Minorities cannot question the majority here. Or else we will be labelled as racist. But Chinese the like of Jamban moderator troll can go around calling Malays and Indians names. And tat is not racist?

Don't waste your time or brain cells, my friend. Let it go. Mr Jah, bless his soul, is an one trick pony, i.e one theme and one theme only. In a land, where my father was born in, and where I had to defend as a conscripted soldier for 25 years, I'm told that as a minority, I cannot question anybody or anything. Especially by sobs like him. Fortunately, the great majority of Chinese Singaporeans are fair and level headed and this piece of trash gives them a bad name.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

It's just an accouncement you bongok. I feel they should have Malay and Indian announcements too. Since you may not understand them even though you have lived you singapore for so long and should understand some Malay just ignore it then. It's not for you.

Btw bongok jamban moderator. If u and ur kind tink tis thread is racist, then u r oso calling my Malay MP Zaqy Mohamad a racist too. U have been calling Malays m&d. U have been calling Indians SNAKES. Stupid Jamban moderator.

ROFL a retarded comeback here as usual. Seriously who is complaining about malay and indian announcements? Who? If there were malay announcements i doubt any chinese sinkie would even make a noise. Here's the thing. Chinese sinkies aren't sensitive and complain kings like you. There are malay words and tamil words in the mrt trains and i don't understand them but i don't care nor mind. See how it turned against you trying to accuse the other party of being a sensitive whiny cry baby but that's not the case. Since when chinese ppl ever complained about small stupid things like that? They have always been bending over backwards to accomodate all your silly little complaints but you still take it further always trying to push the limits.


Wah! hiding behind the pap malay mps skirt. Well you have been calling me racist so similarly you have been calling our great esteemed leader LKY, LHL and the other chinese ministers racist and you disagree with LKY's inconvinent truths. So now you're going to change the standards somehow that it's ok to call LKY and all chinese racists when you call me a racist but somehow others cannot do it to you?

m&d isn't a racist term. It just rhymes with mat ok m&d.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Don't waste your time or brain cells, my friend. Let it go. Mr Jah, bless his soul, is an one trick pony, i.e one theme and one theme only. In a land, where my father was born in, and where I had to defend as a conscripted soldier for 25 years, I'm told that as a minority, I cannot question anybody or anything. Especially by sobs like him. Fortunately, the great majority of Chinese Singaporeans are fair and level headed and this piece of trash gives them a bad name.

1 trick pony?

I have been posting on the boxing match on manny, posted on numerous topics in singapore and contributed numerous threads on many different issues but of course a liar like you wouldn't admit it.

In fact what has your existence been in this forum. Like that whoami and psy83 your sole existence in this forum is to troll me and follow me around acting all butt hurt. You're not even a trick pony.

Don't make it seem like you're suffering under some great injustice by being a minority in singapore where your life isn't in danger, you don't get harrassed, you can live however you please here. Why not you try being a minority like a kurdish person in iraq? Or a chinese in indonesia or malaysia?

Defend sg as a conscripted soldier for 25 years. Oei you sure or not? 2.5 yrs you multiple it by 10? What a bloody liar you are and also here's something else. EVERYONE Every male sinkie has to serve ns. The way you put it it's like your service is somehow more valuable than another singaporean's. I and many others served for 2.5 years so we definitely have the right to speak our mind.

 

[scroobal]

Dedicated to many Singaporeans who were told by an old man who came from a minority dialect group that Mandarin is their mother tongue.

Daniel Yap · Top Commenter · Singapore, Singapore

Eh, Auntie,

You write until like you see Singapore heartlanders no up like that. You think heartlander cannot take train from Joo-long go Or-chet meh? We will "(lost our) way" one ah? You think must English so powderful until your like that then can sit MRT ah? The last 20 years my grandmother lost on the MRT ah?

You make fun of how we heartlanders pronounce English names. If you so pek chek, why never ask them to use your daughter's Chinese name? Because why? Your daughter got no Chinese name ah? Same what? You think Sir Stamfot Laffle come Singapore everybody can say his name macam English accent one ah? No right? Your English accent go other English-speaking country also sound different, right? So I say "Joo-long" you say "Jew-wrong" suat lah! Must come out and talk like you see heartlander no up ah?

Our country heartlander got some tok Mandarin, some tok Hokkien, some tok Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew, Tamil, Malay. Simi tok kong idea you have that this is "for heartlanders" one? You then must "become more compassionate and tolerant of each segment's different needs, rather than being oversensitive in looking for bias and injustice".

But you are correct about one thing - these new station names benefit your "Chinese-speaking clients"; they do not really benefit Singaporeans

 

[Liquigas]

You think Sinkies today will speak dialects to their children instead of mandarin even without the government initiated Speak Mandarin Campaign? My hokkien friend is very passionate about his heritage but then chose to use only English and Mandarin at home with his kids. He could easily have created a hokkien speaking environment at home because his wife also hokkien. Now he complained to me his children cannot speak the dialect ..... wtf

 

[streetsmart73]

hi there


1. if the train operator is so mindful of improving its services.
2. zero in on the most crucial matter.
3. train timing & breakdowns.
4. not some useless & noisy announcements in mandarin.
5. since the mrt was introduced in the late 80s.
6. sheep are so adjusted to its english announcement.
7. is there a big problem or what?

 

[RoyMcFarland]

1 trick pony?

I have been posting on the boxing match on manny, posted on numerous topics in singapore and contributed numerous threads on many different issues but of course a liar like you wouldn't admit it.

In fact what has your existence been in this forum. Like that whoami and psy83 your sole existence in this forum is to troll me and follow me around acting all butt hurt. You're not even a trick pony.

Don't make it seem like you're suffering under some great injustice by being a minority in singapore where your life isn't in danger, you don't get harrassed, you can live however you please here. Why not you try being a minority like a kurdish person in iraq? Or a chinese in indonesia or malaysia?

Defend sg as a conscripted soldier for 25 years. Oei you sure or not? 2.5 yrs you multiple it by 10? What a bloody liar you are and also here's something else. EVERYONE Every male sinkie has to serve ns. The way you put it it's like your service is somehow more valuable than another singaporean's. I and many others served for 2.5 years so we definitely have the right to speak our mind.

My sincere apologies...you got more than one trick up your sleeve.

"You're not even a trick pony." I certainly hope so. Nor would I wanna be one.

Thanks for letting me live here unharrassed. Thanks for not blowing up my house or raping my relatives. I really appreciate it.

As for NS, you are absolutely right. Everyone of us who got a rod between our legs do it, but I did'nt say my service is more valuable. I said it is just as valuable. Looks like competence in English is not one of your many tricks? In fact your Maths and Social Studies ain't that great either, isit? Everyone of us with a hanging rod does 2.5 years of NS followed by a longer period as reservists defending this country. 20 years in my case. I suppose in your case, the two balls that held the rod, fell off after 2.5 years and you couldnt continue? I hope at least your Science knowledge is OK. You do know what they do to ponies without anything between their legs, don't you?

I repeat. The vast majority of Chinese Singaporeans are fair and level headed. As a Singaporean of Indian descent, I really appreciate it. All of us Singaporeans should realise that this whole exercise by SMRT has got nothing to do with us Singaporeans. Elderly Singaporeans have been taking the trains since 1987 and still reached their destinations.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

My sincere apologies...you got more than one trick up your sleeve.

Seems like you got your balls stuck in your mouth you filthy lout. Trying to make up lies about me when in reality your entire existence in this forum is to try to accuse me of being a racist and complain of "racism" in singapore.

Thanks for letting me live here unharrassed. Thanks for not blowing up my house or raping my relatives. I really appreciate it.

Seems like you attempted to sound sarcastic but the problem is it's a fact. Singapore is one of the safest countries in the world for any race even though the majority race is chinese. Can a jewish person live in an arab country without some form of harrassment? Can a chinese live in say indonesia without harrassment or discrimination? That's why you better be more appreciative and not come in here and complain and act like the palestinans getting bombed in gaza.

As for NS, you are absolutely right. Everyone of us who got a rod between our legs do it, but I did'nt say my service is more valuable. I said it is just as valuable. Looks like competence in English is not one of your many tricks? In fact your Maths and Social Studies ain't that great either, isit? Everyone of us with a hanging rod does 2.5 years of NS followed by a longer period as reservists defending this country. 20 years in my case. I suppose in your case, the two balls that held the rod, fell off after 2.5 years and you couldnt continue? I hope at least your Science knowledge is OK. You do know what they do to ponies without anything between their legs, don't you?

Nice try there attempting to snake your way through things. Too bad you got caught out on it. Now every male needs to serve NS so what's the big deal of even bringing it up? Obviously the fact that you brought it out was to try to somehow tell everyone how you have sacrificed for sg thereby implying that others service to the nation is lesser. What's the point of you bringing up you served NS? We all have served NS you're not special and by that you need to actually study english and understand the meaning of implications and how it is used in context. I know it's a stereotype that you indians are good in english but just a few. The majority of you are just like any average singapore in terms of english competency. Anyway you don't have to explicitly state something out to try to get your point across. There's something called subtlety. I'm sure with your poor english competency and low intelligence it would take decades or forever for you to figure it out.

Also don't try to boast about your silly reservist duties. Some units require their men to serve a couple of years, others for longer periods. Key appointment holders serve longer periods and everyone knows it sucks having to go back for longer reservist duties. So you trying to imply(learn english to understand what i'm referring to here) that you're more manly simply because you needed to serve a longer reservist cycle makes you look pathetic amongst all the lao jiaos. How was it like being the old uncle coming back for his 20th-25th cycle and needing to serve with the NSFs? Btw it seems like you failed your maths too. You claimed that you served for 25 yrs. 2.5 as an NSF and then you told me you went for 20 yrs of reservist so that leaves out 2.5 yrs unaccounted for. Mind telling me how did you come to 25 yrs of service? Seems like you're acting like the usual snake and telling lies on your actual reservist service. Btw have you received the souvenir from saf yet? Some cheap plastic watch?

I repeat. The vast majority of Chinese Singaporeans are fair and level headed. As a Singaporean of Indian descent, I really appreciate it. All of us Singaporeans should realise that this whole exercise by SMRT has got nothing to do with us Singaporeans. Elderly Singaporeans have been taking the trains since 1987 and still reached their destinations.

You know something amazing is that you're actually the first minority here that actually admits that majority of chinese sinkies are fair and all of that. It's funny though so your posting in here was just simply to try and pick a quarrel with me.

 

[Kuailan]

I still remember down town alot of Hock Chia trishaw rider they speak funny kind of Hokkien
so when they see young lady who wants trishaw rider take them down town, the oldman trishaw
rider would asked the lady in Hock Chia! "lei ia ke tau pu are si seo pu, tau pu goh kat(50cts) seo pu sar kat(30cts)" !!

They take advantage of the lady by speak in this manner, vulgar yet is some factual statement!
Tau pu :Big Fcuk!
Seo pu :small Fcuk!

 

[RoyMcFarland]

Looks like I pressed a button, Mr Jah?

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Looks like I pressed a button, Mr Jah?

Oh look the poor snake has nothing left to retort but still tries to get in the last word. I would have at least expected you to twist and turn your words around like at least try to bullshit your way through from how you served 25 yrs in the army but only did 20 yrs of reservist and somehow make up some imaginary army service whereby you served the extra 2.5 yrs. Suffice to say all of that was just lies that you cooked up.

Among all the snakes you're the weakest don't even have the means to at least slither here and there.