...Singapore Singapore, a country with mixed nationalities and mixed cultures, attracts numerous culture experts and enthusiasts to study on it. Here in this article, the writers would like to discuss Singapore and introduce Singapore to you from the aspects of the general knowledge of Singapore, the factors that influence the Singaporean culture, Lewis’s theory about cultural categories, Hofstede’s theory about cultural dimensions and Edward’s theory about communication styles. Brief Introduction of Singapore Singapore, officially called the Republic of Singapore, the world's busiest port, though physically small, is an economic giant. It has been Southeast Asia's most modern city for over a century. The name of Singapore comes from Malay language, which can be directly translated into the lion city. Frist of all, Singapore is located in Southeastern Asia, islands between Malaysia and Indonesia. The main island is about 42kilometres from east to west and 23 kilometers from north to south. Singapore’s total land area, including that of the smaller islands, is 697.1 square kilometers. Singapore's strategic location at the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula has ensured its importance, which is greater than its size might seem to justify. Singapore consists of the island of Singapore and some 63 islets within its territorial waters. Like most of Southeast Asia, Singapore is generally hot and humid. It's warm and humid year round, with the temperature almost never dropping...
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...programmes. They are also allowed to choose their own students and set their own school fees. Their school fees are therefore usually higher than that of government-run schools, though such schools and the Ministry of Education offer some scholarships to offset the school fees. Program for Secondary Education Based on results of the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination), students are placed in different secondary education tracks or streams: "Special", "Express", "Normal (Academic)", or "Normal (Technical)". Singaporeans are forbidden to attend international schools on the island without Ministry of Education permission. "Special" and "Express" They are the four-year courses leading up to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE "O" Level examination. The difference between these two courses is that in the "Special" stream, students take 'Higher Mother Tongue' (available for Standard Mandarin, Malay and Tamil only) instead of 'Mother Tongue'. A pass in the Higher Mother Tongue 'O' Level Examination constitutes the...
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...MALAYSIAN ENGLISH AND MANGLISH Generally, the terms ‘Malaysian English’ is always misinterpreted by most Malaysians as ‘Manglish’, let alone by the foreigners or the outsiders. People seem to be unaware of the fact that ‘Malaysian English and Manglish are actually two different forms of English. As a matter of fact, Malaysian English is normally known as Malaysian Standard English; a form of English used and spoken in Malaysia as a second language. It should not be confused with Malaysian Colloquial English which is famously known as Manglish, a portmanteau of the word Malay and English, or Street English. Basically, Manglish is a Malaysian speaking style with many similarities with the Singaporean Singlish. It is a distorted usage of English that is mainly spoken between the locals. It is also the English spoken by Malayalees of Kerala state in India who have not got good English education. Due to the multi-language environment, the English language in Malaysia has evolved into a creole with its own phonology, lexicon and grammar. WHY AND HOW MALAYSIAN ENGLISH AND MANGLISH ARE SPECIAL? Malaysian English is generally non-rhotic, regardless of the fact that all /r/s are pronounced in native Malay. Malaysian English originates from British English as a result of British colonialism in present-day Malaysia. It has components of American English, Malay, Chinese, Indian, and other languages: vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. Malaysian English employs a broad A accent,...
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...Singapore's society is primarily made up of four different races: Chinese (74% of the population), Malays (13% of the population), Indians (9.2% of the population), and Eurasian (3.8% of the population)[2], and as acknowledged by Githu Muigai, UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance during his visit to Singapore from 21st to 28th April 2010[3], has always been thought to be in a unique social state of racial harmony, Ever since the 1964 Sino-Malay riots and the 1969 racial riots, Singapore has not seen any significant violence between the various ethnic groups. However, while it might look as though Singaporeans live in harmony, inherent differences exist and a certain degree of racial discrimination remains prevalent. Despite the efforts by the Singaporean government, the sub-dominant groups such as the Malays are still being marginalized by the Chinese in the society. In this paper, I will focus on the various interactions between the Chinese and the Malays, specifically, the political representations of these races, the prevalence of social discrimination and how language ultimately acts as a barrier between racial...
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...several jobs. At present, he works in a Sheng Siong Supermarket which located at 19 Serangoon North Avenue 5. Mr Yue's task is to handle raw fish before the fish product is delivered to the customers. 3. Cultural Shock In the process of the interview, I asked Mr Yue a question about culture shock. He told me what he experienced. As Mr Yue said, “When we take the bus we often speak loudly. By contrast, locals always keep quiet.” It is common to see that mainland Chinese often speak loudly in public place, such as MRT Station, bus etc.. Since the locals often keep quiet in public place, Mr Yue feels astonished. Singapore has been always regarded as one of the overseas employment destinations by mainland Chinese workers. They think they can get high wages and achieve career development in Singapore. However, most of them may confused when they enter...
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...DIGLOSSIA IN THE CLASSROOM: THE MIDDLE WAY David Deterding INTRODUCTION The concept of diglossia was developed by Ferguson (1959). It describes a situation where two languages or language varieties occur side by side in a community, and each has a clear range of functions. One of these varieties, the Hvariety (standing for 'High'), is adopted as the standard variety and is used in official situations, such as government broadcasts, religious services, and teaching; and the other, the L-variety (for 'Low'), is used in informal situations, such as local markets and conversations between friends. The focus of this article is to discuss how the concept of diglossia might be appropriate to describe the Singapore English-speaking community, and to consider what approaches can be adopted by teachers towards the use of the L-variety in schools. Examples of diglossia that have been widely quoted are: the Arabic community, where each region has its own colloquial variety, but classical Arabic is still taught in schools and is regarded by many as “more beautiful” and therefore more appropriate for written texts; the Swiss-German community, where all children learn Standard German in schools, and most books and newspapers are in Standard German, but the people continue to use the local Swiss-German dialect on an everyday basis; the Tamil community, where the language taught in classrooms and used in literature is sharply different from the colloquial variety. In all these societies...
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...Position of English as a Global Language: Political and Cultural Factors English has achieved a global significance that no other language has ever been able to do so, in such a scale. A language earns its global status when it culturally and politically dominant across the continents. Also, it is notable that the most salient feature of a global language is not how many people use it, rather how strongly the people who speak this language is socially and politically established. In fact, perhaps the most significant force that makes a language global is political power of its speakers. The spread of English beyond Europe and the British Isles is accredited to four centuries of colonialism and British imperialism, which led to English being spoken by over three hundred million people. (Crystal 14) The first significant stride in the advancement of English towards its pre-eminence as a world language occurred during the early trade in the Atlantic. Crystal also articulates that by the year 1600, England had gained trading contacts across three continents, which retrospectively provided a powerful platform on which the English language was to flourish and become the globally dominant medium of communication that it is at present (39). Trading companies such as the Newfoundland fur trade, the ivory and gold trade on the western coast of Africa and the East India Company brought speakers of English into economic contact throughout the world. English and the English-based pidgins...
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...CONTENTS Page(s) 1. Introduction 2. Company Background 3. Swot Analysis 4. Strengths 5. Weaknesses 6. Opportunities 7. Threats 8. Recommendation/ Conclusion APA Referencing 1 1 1–2 3-4 5-6 7 8-9 10 10 - 12 1.0 Introduction The purpose of this report is to identify the factors found in the internal and external environments that could affect Holland and Barrett, a franchise brought to Singapore by the Jay Gee Melwani Group. 2.0 Company Background Holland & Barrett is a leading European brand, selling vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements (Holland and Barrett, 2013). The Melwani Group is a family run business, which represents and markets leading brands like Aigner, Aldo, Levis, Celio, Adidas Kids and many distinctive household brands (Jay Gee Melwani Group, 2013). The company brought Holland & Barrett to the Singapore retail scene and to date, they have 22 outlets (Holland and Barrett, 2013). 3.0 SWOT Analysis We will be adopting the SWOT model of analysis, looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats this business franchise maybe facing, so as to evaluate what are the possible internal and external environments that could affect the business. SWOT is widely used by companies when it comes to strategies planning (Coman, Ronen, 2009, p.1). It is a tool used by management to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a company within the internal environment, as well as opportunities and threats in the external environment (Kotler, P., Keller...
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...Chapter I: Background The world population has grown rapidly over the past two thousand years. For the example in 1999, world population passed the six billion mark. By the year 2080, the world population estimated around 10,000,000,000 people around the world. Latest official estimates of the current global population by mid-2011, estimated at 6,928,198,253 people around the world (Rosenberg, World Population - The Current World Population, 2011). From the 7 billion populations in the world, they certainly have a different background, such as country, language, race, culture, religion, customs etc. People as a human being cannot live alone without others people. They must communicate with each other. Language is the way of communication. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show to the people how to communicate with each other in different background especially in Global Business Communication. The expectation is the readers will learn how to using and understand the way people communicate, base on every aspect of their background. Business definition itself is a commercial activity engaged in as a means of livelihood or profit, or an entity which engages in such activities (WebFinance, 2012). In this paper, there will be the research and analyzing personal behavior and attitudes in a country and the relationship with others country. The countries that will be research and analyze are: Indonesia-Malaysia, Indonesia-China, Indonesia Singapore. Chapter II: Research ...
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...colonialism and international economic/political power. The dominance of English and Spanish colonial powers attribute to the linguistic formation of most of the Western Hemisphere. Imagine a world where the Axis of Evil triumphed during World War II. German, Italian and Japanese would likely be more prominent tongues on a global scale. The United States and United Kingdom have been high on the economic leaderboards for centuries, thus English has become a language of opportunity for people worldwide. Language on a global scale is an unseen, but well heard, struggle for power. Language is more than a means of verbal communication. A language can serve as a cultural vehicle that displays the global influence of a territory. Even it is possible for a language to carry multiple identities especially in context where people have social and cultural values they themselves create and at the same time are exposed to those social and cultural values they have no choice to avoid and; consequently become part of their identity (Dastgoshadeh, A., & Jalilzadeh, K, 2011). To most, learning English as an international language for the purpose of fulfilling communicative needs is a big threat to national, cultural and even religious identities as learning an international language causes people to lose their own language which is the carrier of all their cultural values, in essence their identity. The spread of English as an international language all across the globe has raised issues that...
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...masa dan di tempat yang berlainan. Di bawah keadaan yang tertentu, suatu kumpulan etnik yang baru atau yang dikesan sebagai yang berbeza daripada kumpulan etnik yang ada mungkin muncul. Kumpulan etnik yang dimaksudkan adalah Peranakan Baba Nyonya. Ia terjadi pada abad ke 15 ketika orang Cina tiba di Melaka dan berkahwin campur dengan wanita tempatan. Kebudayaan peranakan adalah gabungan unik antara kebudayaan Cina dan Melayu dengan campuran daripada penyintesisan unsur kebudayaan Java, Batak, Thai dan British, melambangkan faham pelbagai budaya dan pelakuran lama sebelum terciptanya istilah-istilah itu..Kini, dunia peranakan sudah menghilang. Kata kunci: Peranakan, Baba, Nyonya, kebangkitan semula, keunikan ABSTRACT Hybridity of cultures can take many forms and permutations, including the borrowing of words and the adoption of social practices and beliefs, and the adaptation of dress and food. Patterns of migration and cultural flows in Southeast Asia have generated at different times and places all the above configurations and more. Under certain circumstances, what may emerge is a whole new ethnic group or at the very least, a very recognizably different subgroup of an existing ethnic category. One such group is the peranakan or the baba nyonya community (also known as the Straits Chinese). It evolved in the fifteenth century when the Chinese arrived in Malacca and...
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...Abstract “Language was developed out of the need to communicate and interact, and therefore, it is social by nature, and understanding some part of that allows us to more reflectively use the language”. This paper is an applied linguistic article focusing on exploring the relation between socio-linguistics and language teaching. Although there are too much to discuss, the work mainly concerns with a quick look at social theories of language, a definition of sociolinguistics and three aspects of sociolinguistics which is believed to illustrate how sociolinguistics is relevant to the teaching of language. Introduction From the perspectives of theoretical linguists, especially in the traditional approaches in English language teaching, the teaching focuses on language structure including some form of language such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, or spelling to name a few. However, things have changed with the arrival of a new approach known as the Communicative Language Teaching, where the features of sociolinguistics in its relation with language teaching and learning are best illustrated. The Communicative Language Teaching has been built on the assumption that being successful in communicating in a second language involves more than just the grammatical competence. In fact, communicative competence (Canale & Swain, 1980) involves the knowledge of discourse and socio-cultural rules of language. That is to say, in order to be successful in real communication...
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...Contents 1 THE ROAD TO BEING A TEACHER 2 The Visionary Ma. Elena Eleperia 6 Adapting to Students Felecitas Pado 9 Discipline and Perseverance Maria Utanes 12 Teacher Aurelia Ballitoc: This is My Story Aurelia Ballitoc 16 Living in the Crossroads: From a Chemical Engineer to a Teacher Mary Lyn Dominguez 2 An Impulsive Decision Nancy Pascual 18 COMMITMENT TO THE TEACHING PROFESSION 24 Transforming People’s Lives: Inside and Beyond the Classroom Mohana Ratnam-Eswaran 28 The Vision to Help the Philippines Rogelio Opulencia 3 A Teacher Until the End Allan Canonigo 36 RESEARCHING FOR THE BETTERMENT OF STUDENTS The Urge to Serve Aurora Zuñiga 42 Am I Really an Action Researcher? Saowanee Yuthtamanop 48 4 INITIATING CHANGE THROUGH INNOVATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY Knowing One’s Students Trixie Marie Sison Innovating for Development Maria Eljie Mabunga 59 Technology and Innovations: Tools for Better Understanding Ester Raagas 63 Introducing a Paradigm Shift through Innovations Glendale Lamiseria 66 Polishing Diamonds: How Datuk Yap Transformed Tawau Technical School Mary Yap Kain Ching 73 The New Chalk and Talk Norizan Ahmad 83 Haji Alias Abu Bakar Stewardship at MKJB: Leveraging on Partnerships for School Success Haji Alias Abu Bakar 5 54 87 THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION 104 Medium of Instruction in Teaching: A Critical Tool for Understanding Ma. Isabel Pefianco-Martin 6 Not the Typical 21st Century Teacher Schedar Jocson 110 BENCHMARKING...
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...SINGAPORE HOTEL INDUSTRY ANALYSIS Prepared by: Nazia Husain Marketing 558: Marketing Across Cultures TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 HISTORY 4 GOVERNMENT 6 CULTURE 6 Religion 6 Language 7 Economy of Singapore 8 Trade 9 Employment 10 ASEAN 10 MACRO-ECONOMIC REVIEW OF SINGAPORE 11 Economic Factors 11 Macro-environment factors and hotel industry 12 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS 14 Hotel Demand 15 Hotel Supply 16 COUNTRY CLUSTER ANALYSIS 17 Regional Analysis in the Hotel Industry 17 Singapore Industry Analysis 17 RevPAR 19 Singapore Hotel Association 20 Corporations Expanding Into the Region 22 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: 23 Working culture differences between the US and Singapore 23 Expansion into Singapore 24 APPENDIX 26 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this research paper is to provide insights into the Singapore Hotel Industry. Through an analysis of economic indicators and the hotel industry in the region, along with a look at how the cultural characteristics of Singapore help illustrate many reasons why hotels should look to expand in Singapore. One of the many reasons why the hotel industry is of such importance in Singapore is its continuous growth and expansion of the services industry in the region. Although there is a slow growth of visitors projected in 2012 due to an uncertain economy, it is to the countries best advantage to increase the number of hotels being planned to open in the next...
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...UNRAVELLING THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE DISCUSSION GROUP IV Content Page Content Page 1. Introduction.…………………………………………………………………………… 1 1.1 Methodology…………………………………………………………………. 3 2. North-South Divide 2.1 Language Binary..…………………………………………………………….. 2.1.1 Northern Indians, Sanskrit, Hindi and Influence of English.………..4 2.1.2 Northern Indians, Sanskrit, Punjabi and Influence of English………4 2.1.3 Southern Indians, Tamil and Influence of English….…………...…. 5 2.1.4 Southern Indians, Telugu and Influence of English…………………6 2.2 Religious Binary.………..………………….………………………………… 7 2.2.1 Hinduism ………….……………………………………………….. 7 2.2.2 Islam.………….……………………………………………………. 12 2.2.3 Inter-religious Interaction.…….…….……………………………… 13 2.2.4 Evaluation..…………………………………………………………. 13 2.3 Economic Binary.………………………………....…………………..……… 14 2.3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………… 14 2.3.2 Indians in Colonial Singapore……………………………………… 14 2.3.3 During Japanese Occupation……………………………………….. 17 2.3.4 Post War to Present Day Singapore………………………………… 17 2.4 Cultural Binary.………………………………………………………………. 18 2.4.1 Word “Raga”.………………………………………………………. 19 2.4.2 South Indian Music…………………………………………….…… 21 3. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………….…….. 23 4. Bibliography …………………………………………………………….……………... 26 5. Appendix A…………………………………………………………….……………….. 28 1. Introduction India, the second most populous country in the world, is home to a rich diversity...
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