病句

Was thoroughly drilled on this topic during the Chinese lessons (reckoned it was lower sec)..病句. Yeap, the scores of sentences for us to pick out the incorrect/ inappropriate usage of word or sentence structure. A prevalent error that occur in those who conjure their sentence in mind in English and did a word to word translation. Common eg; to enlisted into NS= is not "进兵", but should be "入伍" & ORD = is obviously not "出兵" (which sounds like 出殡 [translate: funeral possession) but should be "退伍"..

Trigger for this post was a recollection of a monologue (cuz I could catch one party's conversation)  I caught while I was in the train on my way to cg last evening.. A irritating mobile ring tone.. A lady, dorned in officewear, started talking.. Alright.. in a mixture of mandarin spiked with english. The cabin was jammed packed, hence conversations were usually very audible. From the flow of the conversation, I gathered that the lady's friend was asking for her location, cuz she kept repeating this phrase for 3-4 times from outram to tiong bahru (where I alighted) . "我刚刚上train .... 从 Outram..... 我现在在MRT上面!!...."

My initial reaction:Ohmigosh! She's on top of the train?? And the train was travelling underground in the tunnel!!

And she repeated "..我在MRT上面.." for another 2- 3 times (in a short span of 2-3 mintues? Perhaps, poor reception of the mobile line, but didn't she realise her mistake? Or it was perfectly alright and make perfect sense to her?? ) Ohmigosh!! I almost fainted and felt so embarassed for her. But she continue to converse with her friend in , yes, Mandarain (and not English).

Sad, can't even master one language well.. Oh well. if she's more of a "kantang", that horrendous sentence structure can be pardoned.. But then again, grammaritcally, it is incorrect to say she's ontop of the train. A loose translation to describe that you are still travelling in the train would be "我还在MRT里面" though, this would not be uttered by me.. cuz it's sounds broken.. "我还没到, 我还在地铁里哦!" So long winded, but it sounds better! 

Oh man, this reminds me of someone.. who complained that she found it difficult to read Chinese papers, yet she listens to mainly chinese pop, should be engaged more in the Chinese entertainment scene and speak more Mandarin than English. Casually asked if she thought of improving her Chinese... (Matter of fact, both her spoken tongues - mandarin and english - ain't fluent.. though mandarin is definitely the stronger tongue..), since she doesn't think her english needs improvement (doh!) Nope. never crossed her mind.. And mind you, this lass is not even 20! Gee.. our future generation??

残酷的事实: 一般新加坡华籍公民的语文程度就仅如此.  造句时, 中英语混淆, 但中英都不精. 病句连连.

I'm glad to say, at least, I am fluent in one language.. yup the tongue that most yellow-ed skin speices speak - Mandarin! And I am indeed more comfortable in the mothertongue than English.. But I can't pray in Mandarin though.. haha..  perhaps would explore on that - if I'm called to the northeast part of ASia (*given a choice.. i prefer downunder..*) Standard of the universal language (sorta) : I reckon it's not as bad as a typical "lee-lei-loh" s'porean if I make a conscious effort. The O level graded me a B -so not the angmo-kia but at least.. Oh well.. atas me place a perferential on  "English". Society has made it seems that speaking English is more "atas" than Mandarin.But I'm effectively billingual - thanks to the old-school Singapore Education System of SAP schools perhaps? :)

Gee, I thank God for having rather good foundation in mandarin, since Primary School. :) Perhaps, I did benefit from studying in Cheena schools? (I actually kinda like my sec sch song, oh yes, it's in chinese! haha) At least, we were drilled in the grammar/ sentence structure? Or haha.. I've a natural flair for Chinese (cuz that was like the only language- cantonses aside-  I know until K1) ? *faint* It took me ages to type in Chinese.. I can speak fluent Mandarin (and I can douse it with the Taiwanese/ Beijing accent - haha!), but other than that.. I should think I'm rather "kan-tang". Which is good, else think my english would be worse.. hehehe.. *Faint*

Perhaps, when I have kids, I might be like one of the kiasu parents who try their means to get their kids into the "elite" primary sch? (ie. if that long-drawn-multi-stages registration process still exist!)

After googling on " the primary 1 registration...

Yay!! .. I get priority to send my kids to my alma mater regardless where I stay!!! even higher priority to those staying within the 1km radius... cuz of Phase 2A2 .Faint... I'm going too far off.. haha.. :) Or perhaps, they won't be educated here wo.. haha.. Alright.. I'm day-dreaming...

*Faint*.. Perhaps, listening to one of my fave podcast - Grammar Girl - did made me rethink of how badly the grammartical errors can be for Mandarin as well.. Had been listening to it since day 1. Usually, the errors she pointed out are stuff that I do know and don't make.. Phew! :) At least, I passed the QC!