Behind the Scenes

I have decided to stop using Singlish for a while. Ever since I got to Singapore, I felt that my English has been constantly deteriorating. My usage of English words, phrases, and idioms has significantly weakened as can be seen in my writings. I have also been stuttering as I speak lines and lines of straight English and have been using the wrong words frequently. I know what they say, that when in Rome, do as the Romans do, but I don’t think I should continue doing it here. My English and my communication skills in general are suffering. I need to put a stop to this.

The first step to curbing my current Singlish addiction is to re-watch Audrey Hepburn’s My Fair Lady. In that movie, Audrey Hepburn plays the role of Eliza Doolittle, a lowly flower girl who is taught proper phonetics and is transformed to a dignified lady. Hopefully, after watching this, my pronunciation can be corrected and I can once again be influenced to start speaking proper English.

The second step is to use proper English in speaking to my Singaporean counterparts. In the past, I have always resolved to using Singlish when talking to them as I feel it helps us communicate better. Luckily, I am able to control what accent I use in speaking to different groups of people. However, I feel that I am slowly losing control, hence, I need to stop and go back to my original accent before it is too late.

Lastly, I need to read more books to brush up on my English writing. I used to be able to write good articles, worthy of being published in newsletters. With my current state of writing, I can’t get my writing anywhere other than my personal blog and diary.

Singlish, I shall bid you goodbye today.