not surprising

I was surprised to see a familiar face on the front page of The Straits Times as I dropped by our local 7-11 store this morning. It was the bemused countenance of a man named Rony Tan, the baritone-voiced preacher who founded the independent Charismatic church in Tampines (and later Woodlands) called Lighthouse Evangelism.

A smirk lit up on my face.

The Internal Security Department (ISD) paid this modern-day shaman a visit in response to the “insensitive” comments he made in a video clip posted on his church’s website. It was actually a clip that featured Rony interviewing a Christian convert who was a former Taoist medium or monk. Apparently he made some comments about the Taoist or Buddhist religion that were uncalled for.

He made a public apology on the church’s website and removed the video clip as well.

It is nothing new though. The exclusive nature of Christian theology itself asserts the falsity of all other religions except the Christian faith. Personally it is not about being “sensitive”…the problem lies with Christianity itself. It is inherently a bigoted tradition that is homophobic and parochial. If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, you will spend eternity in hell. Full stop.

How “sensitive” or “tolerant” can this primitive theological assumption be??

Rony Tan was just being true to his faith. To be “sensitive” to other religions in Singapore is to be UNTRUE to the Christian faith. Most liberal Christians in the US or the UK are practically agnostics when it comes to the dogma of Christianity, perceiving Christianity more as an ethical code than a total worldview to subscribe to.

I reckon that if you send spies to churches all over Singapore, you will definitely hear some mention about other religions being false and “demonic” – the Christian psyche is just that bigoted.

It is nothing new. It is not Rony Tan’s fault. It is this ideology that has to be eradicated.

I applaud the ISD for coming to the rescue. They should have done this much earlier. The cherished values of individualism, human rights, liberty, tolerance and mutual respect are at risk when such religions that promote an exclusive faith is on the loose.

 

the old school

The guest preacher this morning was Dr. Peck Hock Cheng, an old friend of the church. He was an elder in a Brethren church and is now a busy grandfather.

He had preached a few times in the past and admittedly I slept through most of his homilies as I often found them boring. Perhaps it was his stately disposition that I couldn’t relate to. Perhaps it was his speaking style.

Anyhow, this morning wasn’t out of the ordinary. Dr. Peck was at his usual best – boring.

But I noticed his spoken English. It was actually quite good. His pronunciation of certain words gave his social status and age away. Being part of the pre-1965 generation of Singaporeans, his educated accent is closer to Lee Kuan Yew’s and his generation, so unlike the educated accent of today’s social landscape. He pronounced his “prayer” as “pr-air” instead of the irritating “pray-ear” and his “bed” as “bed” and not “bayd”.

At least he spoke well.

 

three’s a BIG crowd

This morning was the first time we commuted by public transport with all our three children – Samuel on foot, Sarah in my arms (and occasionally on the pram) and Solomon in my missus’ arms. I had to use an additional seat just for my bag and the pram.

The difficult child wasn’t baby Solomon though, who just slept in my missus’ arms quietly. It was Sarah.

She would bawl and kick up a fuss whenever I put her down. It was one big hassle.

Next Sunday would be the first day of the Lunar New Year and it is chinese tradition to pay visits to our relatives and exchange red packets. I am already worried about transport problems.

Oh bother!

 

“impotent”

Here are two more words commonly mispronounced by Asian speakers of English, including Singaporeans.

• Impotent
• Omnipotent

Most asians will read “impotent” as “im-po-tent” instead of the correct “IM-petent”, the vowel sound “o” rendered with a schwa sound. There should be a stress on the first syllable, instead of no stress at all.

Most asian Christian preachers would be guilty of mispronouncing the second word, especially in their sermons or prayers. The proper way to read “omnipotent” is “emNIpetent” or “omNIpetent” with the stress on the second syllable and the schwa sound on both vowel sounds.

 

religion is crazy

A Jewish rabbi by the name of Yehuda Levin, a spokesman for the Rabbinical Alliance of America, recently issued the following statement:

“When Americans are suffering economically and millions need jobs, it’s shocking that the Administration is focused on its ultra-liberal militantly homosexualist agenda forcing the highlighting of homosexuals and homosexuality on an unwilling military. This is the equivalent of the spiritual rape of our military to satisfy the most extreme and selfish cadre of President Obama’s kooky coalition.

“Thirteen months before 9/11, on the day New York City passed homosexual domestic partnership regulations, I joined a group of Rabbis at a City Hall prayer service, pleading with G-d not to visit disaster on the city of N.Y. We have seen the underground earthquake, tsunami, Katrina, and now Haiti. All this is in sync with a two thousand year old teaching in the Talmud that the practice of homosexuality is a spiritual cause of earthquakes. Once a disaster is unleashed, innocents are also victims just like in Chernobyl.

“We plead with saner heads in Congress and the Pentagon to stop sodomization of our military and our society. Enough is enough.”

There you have it. Another ridiculous assertion by a faith-inspired individual who claimed revelation from the divine. If Judaism has indeed taught that homosexuality causes earthquakes, then it is one of the SILLIEST things I’ve ever heard in my life. Utterly idiotic.

This is the 21st century. It is already the postmodern age and educated individuals are making such strange comments. Homosexuals are just like any other human beings and should be treated as such and be given equal opportunities.

Who are the ones who discriminate and cause hate in the world? It is definitely not the atheists and non-religious. Who are the ones who suppress women and try to keep them in the home? Who are the ones who refuse ordination of women? Who were the ones who believed and practised slavery? Who were the ones who burned thousands of innocent people at the stake just because they believed or practised differently? Who are the ones who still boss around and penalise their people for drinking alcohol?

Definitely NOT the evil atheists and agnostics. Definitely NOT the godless sinners.

 

“transports”

I recently noticed an advertisement for vaccination on a paper bag that belonged to Singapore General Hospital. I found it on a desk in a small room used for infant hearing tests on the fourth floor in Block 5.

The written advertisement used the word “transports” to mean the various modes of transport. That is incorrect. Unless one is using the word as a verb, the noun “transport” is always singular. Besides, you have to couple it with “mode(s) of” or “public” to make it a noun, such as “modes of transport” or “public transport”.

Anyway, users of American English would normally use the word “transportation” instead of “transport” as a noun.

gravelly voices

Switching between radio channels last night, I “dropped by” our local news radio channel, 93.8LIVE, just in time to listen to some news brief read by a local announcer during the late night slot. It was followed by an encore edition of “A Slice of Life”, read by award-winning presenter, Eugene Loh.

Eugene Loh’s voice has a very nice tone – a rich timbre that is not very common among Singaporean men. Besides, he has a bass/baritone pitch which most men would die for. The problem however, lies in its gravelly and grating quality. His intonation also tends to lower towards the end of sentences, almost giving the appearance that he is trying to “lower” his voice deliberately. That can be very irritating.

I used to speak like that too.

If you listen to most male broadcasters on the BBC, you will know what I mean. Most of the presenters have very clear voices – unlike Eugene’s which can be very muffled at times. It is akin to increasing the “bass” knob of the equaliser of your radio at the expense of the “treble”. I realise that most Singaporean men have this habit of lowering their voices so that they can sound “deeper” and perhaps more masculine.

It is a habit that can be detrimental to one’s voice.

It is important to have a rich and resonant voice, but also clear and crisp. Think of Simon Marks or Daniel Ryntjes. Think of Mark Thompson (Director General of BBC). They may not have very deep voices, but they have strong and clear voices – a quality that marks a good presenter or speaker of English.

 

“cover your cough…”

I recently saw a poster in Singapore General Hospital with a main caption that stated “Cover your cough…and clean your hands”. It was a poster that was intended to inform patients and passers-by about cleanliness and personal hygiene.

The problem with the caption is its grammar.

A cough cannot be covered. It can be prevented, exacerbated or caused by an external irritant. You can “cover your mouth” when you cough, NOT cover your cough!

 

“bouquet”

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and the word “bouquet” will be heard more often than usual. Many will be rushing to their florists to place advanced orders or perhaps even last minute purchases before the actual day.

It might surprise some to know that the word “bouquet” means “a bunch of flowers”, so it is superfluous to say “bouquet of flowers”. If one is using the generic word “flowers”, then by simply using the term “bouquet” is sufficient. E.g. James gave his wife a bouquet to show his sincerity in apologising to her.

Otherwise, it would be more appropriate to name what kind of flowers they are, such as “a bouquet of red-wine roses”, “a bouquet of tulips”, etc.

The incorrect phrase “bouquet of flowers” has been used so often that many has become ignorant of its misuse.

golden girl

Here is another excellent speaker of English from Singapore.

She is Pek Siok Lian, an award-winning journalist, news presenter, playwright and film maker who was the first Singaporean anchor to be hired by CNN. She anchored all of their flagship Asian-related programmes such as Asia Business Morning and Asia Tonight. She has also written a few plays for the stage as well as a few documentary films, one of which was the hilarious “Mad about English”.

I managed to find a short youtube clip that features her voice. You can check it out.

Al Jazeera English (Breaking News)

She speaks in a near modern RP accent, more commonly known as a slightly more “posh” version of the Standard Singaporean English (SSE) accent. The accent is almost “neutral” without sounding too British or too Singaporean. An excellent role model of good spoken English for Singaporeans.

 

“half-baked”

Some time ago, the Straits Times interviewed some people to comment about the Ris Low controversy and what it meant regarding the condition of the English language in Singapore. Singaporean journalist and film maker Pek Siok Lian commented about the rise of “half-baked Mandarin and half-baked English” in this country, a unique situation that can be attributed to having a “utilitarian, functional attitude towards language.”

I can’t agree more.

Many Singaporeans – especially those who speak poorly – often offer this pitiable excuse that English is just a language, a medium of communication. Hence as long as the listener understands what is being spoken, there is nothing wrong with speaking Singlish or even bad English.

Ms. Pek added that “language here is a chop-chop and mish mash. There is no appreciation for words and language.”

Another brownie point there.

Most men prefer their prose straightforward and to the point, anything that offers a hint of literary style would be scorned at. I used to be mocked at by one of my colleagues who often thought that my written English was too “pompous”, although most of my female friends would differ on that judgement. Most people today do not appreciate good literature too. It is understandable, considering this time-crunched world and society. You read for information, such as the stock exchange, the street directory, the dictionary, the DIY books, etc. You don’t read for literary art or appreciation. To many of my friends, it is just a waste of time.

Jennifer Yin, the head secretariat of the Speak Good English Movement (SGEM), also added that it is not a good thing to put the blame onto the schools as parents have to do their part too. Parents make the matter worse by speaking to their children in bad English. It would be more beneficial if they don’t speak at all and read to the children good books instead!

This also hit home the point of language being perceived in utilitarian terms. If you don’t have a respect and love for languages for their own sake, you wouldn’t find it wrong to butcher them in broken speech! So many parents, despite their inadequacies, chose to speak to their children in bad English. I would prefer them to speak in Mandarin, Malay or Tamil if those were what they were more competent in. Thus I try not to speak to my children in Mandarin as I would be butchering the language! I would leave it to my missus to do the honours.

I find it difficult to apply what Mr. Goh Eck Kheng said though. I am one of those who “code switch”, usually to Singlish when I speak to old friends (who speak Singlish), coffeeshop workers and taxi drivers and back to standard English when I speak to my children.

Singaporeans have this IRRITATING and SILLY attitude towards good spoken English. They either perceive you as very “unSingaporean” or trying to be snobbish. A lot of the young are still very ignorant about proper diction. They perceive people who speak properly as “putting on concocted accents” or trying to “fake it”. There are many silly comments in the forums these days that criticise our news presenters as having “fake accents”.

There are others who wouldn’t even understand what you’re talking about as they’re so accustomed to poor pronunciation. My name is “BENjamin”, not “ben-ja-min”, with a stress on the first syllable. Singaporeans usually pronounce it with equal stresses. So whenever I pronounce my name the correct way, there would be some who couldn’t get what I was trying to say. Oh jeez. This is elementary English, not rocket science.

I am not only a stickler for proper grammar, but also proper pronunciation. Many Singaporeans may speak using proper grammatical rules but still fail to pronounce words accurately. I still hear that even on news radio (93.8Live) once in a while.

Yes, really “half-baked”…

 

united square!

My missus and I made a trip down to Orchard Road this morning – Paragon building to be exact. This is the first time I’ve paid this ridiculously crowded shopping district a visit in about three years.

Baby Solomon was in my arms most of the time as he wasn’t used to being in the pram. My missus spent about half an hour at Pacific Health Care in Paragon, speaking to the radiologists over there. By the time she was done, Solomon was screaming for his milk feed. So we headed to the nursing room somewhere in the building and spent another half an hour.

We had our lunch at McDonald’s, of all places.

We proceeded to United Square shopping centre in Novena. My missus wanted to shop for some breastfeeding-friendly blouses. Apparently there were several baby and motherhood-related boutiques in the centre. We spent about two to three hours after which I was almost cabbaged to the bone. Anyway we also managed to buy a pair of Ben 10 sandals and shoes for Samuel.

We took a cab home with Solomon squirming in my arms.

Yawn.

evolving oratorical tastes

It surprises me sometimes, to realise how much I’ve changed over the years. Ideologically I’ve grown from childish theism to a young adult agnosticism, finally coming to the knowledge that we are indeed alone in this universe – without a fairy godmother or father, without intent, without purpose (in the philosophical sense).

I’ve also used to admire sensationalist preachers as well as public speakers who have the penchant for sensationalism and hyped up rubbish. I adored speakers like Anthony Robbins and Les Brown. I admired preachers like Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller and Billy Graham. I loved the African American oral traditions. I idolised local preachers like Kong Hee (for his urban style), Joseph Prince (for his conversational and rapid-fire ramblings) and Rony Tan (for his baritone voice).

Times have changed.

Empty rhetoric means nothing to me these days. Incessant shouting and jumping up and down on the podium seems odd and silly to me. Nothing puts me off so much as a well dressed clergyman – reminds me of used-car salesmen and decadent lawyers. Appealing to a holy book puts me off even more.

Intellectual speeches appeal to me more now – even homilies that appeal to my mind rather than my emotions. I prefer the factual speeches of PM Lee Hsien Loong to the rhetorical hotair of Barack Obama or his predecessors. The American public seems to love orators. Singaporeans prefer real competent men who can deliver on the ground. I prefer the measured cadence of a Nicky Gumbel or Archbishop Rowan Williams to a ranting Joe Prince anyday. Standing side by side, Prince is like a cerebral dwarf compared to the former two speakers. A dunce, perhaps.

Times have changed.

So have I.

knowing the characteristics

This is a very good article on English pronunciation by Keith Wright. Do check it out.

Knowing the Characteristics

poor English among law students?

I’ve always assumed that students who read law in the universities and who are getting ready for the bar would be highly competent in the English language.

But apparently this is not the case in the UK.

There are concerns over the lack of good linguistic ability among prospective barristers. Baroness Deech who chairs the Bar Standards Board, told the Financial Times that she wants lawyers to not only be good in English, but VERY good. The board has been worried over the recent in-house survey done in 2008 that revealed that some of the students were so poor in English that they would never succeed in the profession. Both native and non-native speakers were also highlighted and the several deficiencies included the inability to speak fluently and write clear, correct and well-structured English prose.

I don’t think this is a problem in Singapore as competency in English is a MUST for our barristers.

christian wedding

We attended a relative’s wedding yesterday which was held in a hotel situated in Clarke Quay. The signing of the papers was supposed to start at about 12pm but was delayed due to administrative reasons (as is usually the case for weddings anyway).

Being a Christian, the hubby got his church to organise the matrimony for him. Apparently he was from the very trendy and hip City Harvest Church. The ceremony begun with some singing and clapping, prayers and a sermon by a church pastor. This portly bloke cracked some jokes, shared some anecdotes and read from the bible. Although I laughed at his marriage jokes, I wasn’t amused at his references to the bible and all that rubbish.

At least his spoken English was relatively good.

We proceeded to the ballroom for the banquet lunch after the ceremony. That was when all hell broke loose.

My two children were relentlessly fidgety, making their presence felt by screaming, laughing and running around the ballroom. Sarah would attempt to climb onto the platform while the emcee was making his announcements. Samuel would crawl under our table and play with the other children.

We had a tough time getting them to eat.

The emcee was also getting on my nerves with his bad pronunciation and poor diction. He was obviously some cell group leader from City Harvest Church as the Bride thanked him in public later for his “bible studies”. Yawn.

Why was I invited at all to this odious wedding?

The bride is my missus’ cousin. It doesn’t help either that she was a very staunch buddhist before she got converted – maybe by her hubby.

americana rules

The only British spelling tradition most Americans I have met are familiar with is the addition of “u” to some words (such as “colour,” “glamour,” etc). Every other deviation from American spelling is mistaken as a spelling error.

The above excerpt is taken from an interesting post from a blog entitled Notes from Atlanta. In one particular post, the Nigerian author shared his “battles” with American English (AmE) as he embarked on an academic career in the States.

He soon relinquished the beauty and lustre of British English (BrE) from which Nigeria inherited to the bastardised version of AmE. It was pragmatics that eventually won out, living in a country peppered with strange spellings and quirky grammatical structures.

It interests me to note that most of the yankees whom he’ve met were ignorant of the pure form of the language – BrE – and its original spellings.

I agree that it is because of this yankee language that English has become global – but also slowly losing its beauty and integrity. Besides, much of its popular terms like “fall” (for the correct word ‘autumn’) and “garbage” (‘rubbish’) were linguistic debris of a past generation, perhaps the Victorian or the Elizabethan. Ignorant prats think they’re the “cooler” and “trendier” versions! Bah!

Singapore is also slowly capitulating to this yankee invasion, especially through the tertiary intitutions. Much of higher learning textbooks are written by American academics and hence sentence structures and spellings are American. Students unknowingly become influenced by such nonsense and pepper their writings with strange mixtures of British and American norms. Popular culture stems from an American root as well, and programmes on the telly are inundated with American culture, American values and American language.

God save the Queen!

faith-inspired crime

Born-again Christian Scott Roeder was recently charged in court for the cold-blooded murder of Dr. George Tiller in May 2009.

Dr. Tiller was an abortion doctor.

And Scott Roeder believed that by killing him, he was preventing a greater evil from happening – the murder of many more innocent foetuses through the hands of this doctor.

This is a crime that only someone of faith can commit. No atheist or freethinker would do such a ridiculous thing in the name of faith or religion.

And I wonder if religion is that good a thing after all.

encouraging post

I found this post extremely encouraging to the cause of atheism or agnosticism, coming from a former Christian apologising for all the rubbish she has learnt, believed and practised. Check this out!

Former Christian apologises for being such a huge shithead for all those years

your optimal pitch

Once your breathing habits have been corrected and maintained consistently, it is time to find your optimal pitch. Pitch refers to how high or how low your voice sounds. Pitch is inborne – you cannot lower or raise your pitch artificially without damaging your vocal cords. Pitch cannot be changed, but the quality of your pitch sound can be changed.

How do you enrich and empower your pitch sound?

Try this short exercise.

Hum for a few minutes and start placing your fingers on your nose, throat or chest to feel for the vibrations. Notice where the vibrations are most centred around. For most untrained people, the vibrations would centre around the throat area.

That is bad voicing.

Try visualising your voice emanating out of your body instead of your mouth or head. Lower your voice a bit (but not too much) and experiment with sounds for a while. You will soon feel the vibrations gathering around your chest instead of your throat. That pitch is your “deepest” speaking pitch as well as your “strongest”.

The secret is to speak with that pitch consistently. If you’re out of breath in so short a time, it means you’re not breathing correctly and hence does not have enough air support.

When you start to raise your voice to a higher pitch or when you’re singing a high note, you will notice that the vibrations will start to centre on your nose area – thus the term “head voice” or “head register”. Both head voices and chest voices produce vocal resonance better than the throat voice. So the aim is to speak using these both registers.

Some accents use a chest placement more than others. Some accents use a head placement more than others. Have you ever noticed why British accents always sound “higher” than their American counterparts? British men with the same pitch range will always sound “higher” than their American counterparts because of this voice placement. Jude Law has the same pitch range as Matt Damon – both are relatively high tenors. But notice how they sound when they speak – Jude Law sounds a lot higher than Damon. It is the accent!

The Japanese language is a tonal language and because of its very nature uses the throat more than the other parts of the body. Hence most Japanese men tend to have a very “throaty” and gravelly voice.

Whether it is sounding higher or lower, what makes the voice sound “richer” is the vocal resonance it has. There will be no resonance at all if you speak via the throat. So always try to place your voice from the head or the chest.