Benefit to those who travel NORTH but always wanted to know

[Thermodynamics]

I think this thread is useful for those who drive up North. Normally I will do my best to learn what the sign means. I will also print out on a small piece of paper what each sign means and paste it on the middle of my steering wheel. I think you got this info from some AAS website or Onemotoring website, right?

 

I agree with some bro who mentioned that we Singaporeans need to tone down our nationalistic sentiments when we travel overseas. To us everything over in Msia looks cheap. You go to their petrol station, supermarket, shopping centre etc, you hear Singaporeans say, "this cheap cheap, that cheap cheap, can buy!" Please be mindful of your behaviour because it may appear cheap to us but not to the locals. Be complacent and you risk getting yourself robbed. We need to learn to be humble when enter into other countries. There is a chinese saying, lu4 xiang1 sui2 su2. We need to adapt ourselves to their culture, way of life and language.

 

Knowing the road signs can sometimes save your lives and mitigate the risks you are exposed to when driving on unfamiliar roads.

[Karebu]

BTW, did any 1 ask why our road signs are in "English" when none of our "forefathers" are either ang moh or ???? else do not pass unreasonable comments abt others

 

maybe becoz singapure was found by raffle??

anyway anybody wonder why all our road sign is in enlish but our natioanl song and all uniform parade command is in malayu?

 

 

it's sang nila utama

 

erh. road signs are for everyone + tourists.

 

wherelse national ant and commands in melayu because.. it sounds more cool?

 

imagine commands in english instead. "attent--SHION!" "on left, TURN"

it would sound uber silly.

[Karebu]

well there's offense meant in every way but oh well..

 

 

problems with different culture and interpretation of words. haha.

[Gendut]

stupid citizen.

i think if they really want to build a world class nation and a 1st world nation. they need to make english the main lan. and stop all their malay advantage. i'm glad singapore stop all this despite malaysia wanting sg to give malays the advantage. that's why sg have all the success today

 

Typical stupid brainwash Sillypore citizens who thinks that this little island is a 'success'

 

Except in Singapore, the rest of the world feels that to be world class you don't have to borrow somebody else's language. More critically is is the 'software' that separates Singapore from the rest of the 'world class nations'.

 

Not shy kah? Not yet world class but want to snigger at others?

[Pisces69]

Wad i feel is that, if one doesnt understand or speaks Malay, he or she will have difficulties moving ard in MY.

 

That Petronas incident really made me look like a fool.

Maybe next time someone speaks u to in Malay, just tell that fella that "saya tak cakap bahasa Melayu. Saya orang Spore, cakap bahasa Inggrish."

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I had a German/Austrian fren who drives all over MY, sometimes even with his Cambodian wife. He doesnt speak malay at all but still manages to get by. I go MY with him often for fishing & he doesn't get flustered when he can't communicate easily. He just takes it in his stride & maybe tries sign language or something.

 

Oh & I just want to mention that actually English is one of the hardest languages to learn.

[Pisces69]

you still got picture to see...I went in to a french restaurant , all I can do is point and point and making sure the $$ is within my budget

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Lets hope u didn't end up ordering escargot & steak tartar.

[Pisces69]

stupid citizen.

i think if they really want to build a world class nation and a 1st world nation. they need to make english the main lan. and stop all their malay advantage. i'm glad singapore stop all this despite malaysia wanting sg to give malays the advantage. that's why sg have all the success today

 

Bro watch your phrase lah.I believe there are many M'sian bros in this forums too !!

Let's put it this way , you go to other non english speaking country(even in europe) you'll get to see road sign in their language.That's their mother tongue bro.

 

While I was in france sometimes back , most understand english BUT they choose to answer in french.I think it's about 'something' superiority .

 

hanor hanor.....I always maintained that Mysians are great. But their officials and mata are really goondu.

What they can do is like some countries put 2 languages lor, eg in Taiwan u can have chinese/english signs.

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Maybe they r really very smart but only act stupid & in the process get very rich.

[Scenic98]

some Dato that is reading this thread may have just thought of making English signs, go to Samy Vellu to have exclusive rights to put up the English signs, charge the Trasport Ministry atrocious prices like RM10,000 per sign and then 3 years later, say in debt and wait for gahment to bail them out.

[Pisces69]

Sounds like some H'way project they have in MY.

[Comfy]

well there's offense meant in every way but oh well..

 

 

problems with different culture and interpretation of words. haha.

 

nvm... i see open liaoz...

[Karoon]

the irony in this statement is hard to miss

 

quite true also.. the stupid cashier @ watsons told me the price in malay when i talk solely in english.. marchiam i understand like tat.. then i got to look at the machine display to know the total price..

[Comfy]

eat money la.. 10000 for a sign.. bo..

[Scenic98]

Malaysia Boleh mah. wait till u hear how much it cost for those huge 3 sided signs along the NS highway

[Urusan]

quite true also.. the stupid cashier @ watsons told me the price in malay when i talk solely in english.. marchiam i understand like tat.. then i got to look at the machine display to know the total price..

 

i was in hougang, english speaking world class singapore, trying to buy bean curd. There at the counter a foreign talent from china cant understand and converse in english. I had to point point and she spoke to me in chinese. i said wo pu kei chiang huai. i didn't have to experience this in china, my home land have already. Get it? foreign talent who cant speak english manning a bean curd stall in heartland mall. i bet she is really rich and really talented. pity you need to travel so far to experience the same thing.

[Moe95426]

Well said!

 

I knew lots of friends who travel often to places like china or thai on business purpose putting in efforts to learn the basic of those country regional language. Never heard them complaining saying those country are stupid for not putting up signs in english to make things easy for tourist. Afterall, dun think any country is that stupid to be more concern about making things easier for others rather than their own people.

 

As a true blue sillyporean, one should be able to converse in simple malay since this region is originally know as the 'malay' archipelago. The fore fathers of malaysia and singapore is none others than the malays. The early leaders which lead us to success is malay. Our national anthem is in malay, military drill command is in malay, most of the original streets name we roam today is in malay include the island name around us. Why nobody is complaining about that? Cos that is our tiny singapore heritage. Lets be realistic, if a primary school dropout able to realise this, why can't the supposedly highly educated individual do?

[Moe95426]

u r just making comments that sided u. singaporean speak english just because government here set it as an official primary language. that's y u all learning english since primary school and chinses as secondary language. u should use the same method to think about other countries. malaysian government set malay as their official language. so malay is the primary and english + chinese are secondary since their school time. this theory applies to indonesia, thai, china, japan or as far as italy, france, spain and germany. this is their culture. we can't change them.

 

once u r there in their territory, u better think of a way to communicate with them, rather than scolding them stupid for not able to understand your english. u should be the one to change to adapt their culture.

 

sadly to say that i found most singaporean are chinese but they just can't speak and write good mandarin or even know nuts abt it, yet still proud of themselves speaking english everywhere. they lost their ROOT. this is a very sad thing to mention.

 

hey, when i scold stupid, i aim only 1 person. i not aiming the whole of malaysia. get my point? u don't bring grandfather story in. the thing is all this while, i was talking to her in english while she cooly stands there and reply me in only one word malay which i couldn't understand.

 

U should chill out dud... I got the same thing many times when in Japan... They will assume that u know the language and will only try other modes of comms if the first attempt failed...

 

The service staff also in a dilemma... They must try with their language first right? Then if they see u unable to comprehend then they try something else... The sales staff probably thought u r a local Chinese (assuming that u r one ) and replied in their first language only mah... B more global leh... U should try to indicate your ignorance by looking perplexed or repeating in English... just a tip...

[Comfy]

oh well, i could understand jap alright.. tks to those days of jap dramas.. i try communicating with her in english from start. she didn't reply and ignore me thru.. knn.. then lastly, cooly look at me.. say malay.. knn.. wtf.. if i can speak malay i would speak in the first place... i chinese la.. but look bit korean..

[Urusan]

oh well, i could understand chinese alright.. tks to those days of being a singaporean with speak mandarin campaigns.. i tried communicating with her in english from start. she didn't reply and ignore me thru.. knn.. then lastly, cooly look at me.. spoke in chinese.. knn.. wtf.. if i can speak chinese i would speak in the first place... i malay la.. but look bit indonesian..