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＜Data Joke＞ What you can do by your second language?

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It's been almost 10 years since I came to Singapore. Surprisingly my English hasn't been improved that much (I guess). I even feel that I has dropped a bit… The last time I got English level qualification test is before going to Australia for my ELS & masters. I didn't speak English at all at the time, so the score should be better than that if I take it now (Hopefully). I was assigned to the second bottom class in ELS…

When I talk with friends in other countries in English, sometimes people tell me that my English has Singapore accent which makes me feel good that I'm not into Singapore culture more … although I don't have that many friend yet (Sad). What I still use Japanese service for example is the hospital, I'm not confident about explaining my medical condition in English especially when I'm suffering from pain. If you have lived in the country which you can not use your mother language, I think we can share some common experience like ordering sandwiches in SUBWAY is actually tough Lol

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Reference : Agency for Cultural Affairs(2001), https://www.bunka.go.jp/tokei_hakusho_shuppan/tokeichosa/nihongokyoiku_jittai/zaiju_gaikokujin.html

Above chart is from the report that Agency for Cultural Affairs published in 2001. It shows what foreigners live in Japan can do in Japanese. I know the data is too old but I assume this doesn't change that much (Maybe…). You will be a good Japanese speaker if you can do things on the bottom of the chart. Having look at it, it seems it is very difficult to get reading and writing skill in Japanese. Well it is not difficult to imagine since Japanese has 3 types of characters (Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana) in one sentence. The learning cost is too high…

As far as I remember, shopping & ordering in restaurants were not so difficult when I learn English since … I couldn't survive without those. What's surprising is maybe "making a call"? Considering of my friends, among those who are good at talking in English, there are quite many people who don't like to make a call.
By the way, to make your area comfortable for foreigners to live, you may solve issues from the bottom (maybe). Also I found that Singapore is excellent in terms of lowering the barrier for foreigners to live. You can make public office application in many languages for example. Ummm, we have a lot to learn from it!

*This story uses real data but whole story is fiction.

  • Intage Inc

    Author profile
    Jun Hasegawa

    I have been stationed in Singapore for many years, and am currently working in Tokyo
    I use data in my writing, but it is mainly jokes.
    Just want to use data not only for logical view but for some fun!

  • Intage Inc

    Editor profile
    Intage Inc.

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  • Jun 25, 2022
  • 291 Views

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