Why do some local girls speak with a pseudo foreign accent?

[hughgrant]

know of someone who speaks with a slang as if she got a gwai lo dick in her mouth. after 20 mins, back to normal but towards the end of the night, back to the slang.

what i do is to tell them hey you got this funny ang mo accent, where you learn from and then they go back to speaking singlish

 

[tenggiri]

she trying to impress u bro!

On the contrary bro . Its so funny these young chicks. Let me tell you about one time i was at a island resort in a nearby country. Everyone was very friendly and then this famous Spore eye doctor arrived with a Spore chinese babe. Our groups instantly made friends and surprise surprise, she (lets call her Gwen) likes to speak with an obviously fake ang mo accent.

Anyway, dun go thinking any less of her just becos of the way she speaks and Gwen turned out to be a very friendly and personable gal. Very nice to chat with. But the funny thing i wanna point out is that her fake accent lasted for about an hour only, hahaha. After that, she couldn't be bothered to put up the act anymore probably becos got no ang-mos around. The resort was filled by us sporeans probably becos it was run by a sporean and his marketing is very low key.

(OT) If you r wondering; Gwen's babe factor: 8.5/10 hehe.

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Nope. I think people like LKY, Tommy Koh and Yong Pung How speak excellent english without a trace of an ang moh accent. There was an old PAPee by the name of Chua Sian Chin who also spoke excellent english in parliament. Ironically all these chaps come from earlier colonised generations.

Oh and between LHL and LHY I feel LHY's spoken english sounds more pleasant to the ear

If you want to hear pleasant sounding English spoken by a Singaporean, listen to Chee Soon Juan.

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Dr Chee at times tends to have a fake ang moh accent which I do not like. Of all your other egs. LKY and Francis Seow speak the most pleasant english to the ear. JBJ's Indian accent such as the 'goveermant' a tad too thick but then again not as bad as Shanmugam

I may not agree with C.S.J.'s political ideas, but this I have to agree and second. He speaks exemplary English with a Singaporean accent (as distinct from Singlish). One of the best today, if not the best. Other good examples are L.K.Y., J.B.J., Francis Seow, T.L.H., Sylvia Lim and not forgetting C.S.J.'s sister C.S.C.

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Yes, spot on. All about the 'atas' game. Also common in other Asian cultures. For eg. if you watch Malay, Indo or even Indian T.V./films, the so called upper classes invariably throw in abit of english while speaking their native tongue.

When I worked in HK, ironically I found I got the best service from the hongkie when I spoke english rather than cantonese.

Singapore is all about class. The local girls speak with a pseudo foreign accent to portray a certain class. ie. It is classy to speak with an accent as it is an indication that

• you are foreign educated
• you are born foreign
• you return from overseas
• you have a better command of english
• you are classier

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Good point.

Good spoken english and accents (real or copy) are 2 different things. A put on accent irks everybody, and merely covers up one's inadequacies. Even risking tripping over, to impress kwei lohs.:p

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Yes, yes, yes. Listen to say Colin Firth; Hugh Grant;Joanna Lumley;Anthony Andrews;Laurence Olivier etc speak, mellifluous tones

but hey i still feel english is best spoken by the english - they articulate their words well and do not rush through their speech. if there is any foreign accent worth imitating, it's those from the southern parts of england i suppose.

 

[JustLikeU]

SINGLISH - A Language Guide for Foreigners

 

[shining shin]

I may not agree with C.S.J.'s political ideas, but this I have to agree and second. He speaks exemplary English with a Singaporean accent (as distinct from Singlish). One of the best today, if not the best. Other good examples are L.K.Y., J.B.J., Francis Seow, T.L.H., Sylvia Lim and not forgetting C.S.J.'s sister C.S.C.

My granduncles who went to school during colonial days speak good English without all the big words we try to use today. They just make their point using simple but grammatically correct English. By the way, they can also speak dialect, Chinese and Malay.

I find 2 extreme kinds of English in Singapore. On one end, some try to sound like Ang Mo to either act cool or in attempt to communicate with them (Ang Mos). On the other end, some speak with 'lah', 'lor', 'hor' using very bad grammar.

These days, we have local sitcoms that champion the 'lah', lor' and 'hor' to the extreme. These sitcoms are polluting both proper Chinese and English usage.

I think some forumers here are correct to say that people like LKY, CSJ and the likes are speaking good English with Singaporean accent. I think that's the way to go.

I have worked with Europeans and Americans. There is no need to ape their accent to communicate with them.

 

[Theodore]

Haha, just having some light hearted fun at the expense of these local gals. Why do they wanna sound like an ang-mo when everyone can tell their accent is fake one?

I have observed two main types:

1. She speaks to me in the ang-mo accent (i cant tell whether american, aussie or what) when we just met. But after half-hour or so of chit chatting, slowly slowly the accent is gone and she's back to normal. Maybe the act was too much of an effort to put up for me! hahaha

2. Another type will be talking with her local friends in our typical singlish, but as soon as an ang-mo approaches them, that silly accent will come back.

Haha Girls! Speak normally la. The ang-mos will be even more attracted to you, if thats what you wanted. Keke

It's a total disgrace to speak with a singapore accent or a singlish accent.So girls please speak with a foreign accent.But that gotta be a fluent one.Practice makes perfect,perhaps the very foreign accent that you're trying to speak now gonna sound real corny and fake,do not give up by telling yourself 'I can't do this,i'm not an ang mo and my surrounding friends are mocking at me.Well let me tell you something,a real friend doesn't mock at you or discourage you.Oh by the way at least these girls tried,unlike people who do not have the courage to do a foreign accent.The americans did learn how to speak like a english man and a english man learns how to speak like a american.Why singapore can't learn to speak with a foreign accent?So don't post such bullshit tread.By the way their accent came back to singlish because you foolish singlish people don't understand a foreign accent.Therefore they gotta speak singlish with you.You may be thinking aiya who cares.Right who cares because you thick skin ma,won't paiseh one.Singlish so rabak and foreigner laugh at you,you also don't mind.Moreover singaporeans are laughing at PRC english,For christsake let me tell you noob,the PRC uni grads speaks better english than singapore grads.Singapore is very thick skin one and always think their number 1,better than other people.C'mon face the goddamn facts.Singapore is a carry balls country who dunno.Just like Lee Kuan yew nickname 'anglo dog'.I really feel goddamn sry for those who are blindly following his footsteps.By dwelling in singapore = you'll never be independent and you'll always rely on others.Don't believe,Look around you.

This comments is a combination or both proper english and singlish.
Thank you very much and goodbye