In this day and age, we live in a modern
and competitive society. English is utilized as the main language for
communication. To be able to compete in such a competitive environment, one
must be able to communicate effectively through speaking or writing.
English have always been very
challenging for me as I did not have the interest and seldom communicate
with it. Growing up in a family which frequently uses Mandarin and other
dialects to communicate, it is not a surprise that my command of English was
weak. However, I started to realize how powerful English can be after my
polytechnic studies.
Upon graduation, I started working as a
sales executive at a printing company. The job requires me to communicate with
my clients that hold various positions. I have to communicate effectively to
discuss printing specifications and understand the needs of the client. In
Singapore, we tend to use Singlish very often. Based on my past experiences, I
realized that people tend to be judgmental when one uses Singlish to
communicate. There was an incident whereby I accidentally spoke Singlish in
front of my clients because I was eager to get my message across. However, as I
tried to communicate with Singlish, the looks on their faces seems astonished.
My superior came to know about this incident and explained to me about the
usage of Singlish. The usage of Singlish often portrays a less professional
image and that explains the reactions of my client.
My command of English isn’t very good, therefore it often affects my confidence when communicating with someone
that has a better command of English. Fortunately, it is not too late to
realize the importance of English. Since that incident, I would try my best to
read a book occasionally. I hope that through this, I would be able to improve
on the language. The experiences that I have gained serves as a motivation for
me to improve. I hope that one day I will be able to communicate well in
English.
Edited on 17/9/2016
Commented on: Azrie, Clarabelle and Camille blog
Edited on 17/9/2016
Commented on: Azrie, Clarabelle and Camille blog
Hi Cherlyn
ReplyDeleteIt was pleasant to read how English is important to you. Your article is clear and coherent . Moreover, I feel that your points to deliver flows well. There was a good reflective passage on your past work experience in relevance to English.
Despite that, I felt that your article lean more toward speaking well and lacked part to the importance of writing as briefly mentioned in beginning paragraph.
All in all, I believe most of us have similar problems so lets work hard to improve and achieve our goals.
Regards
Khia Meng
Hi Cherlyn,
ReplyDeleteIt was a pleasure reading your article. Your article is concise and clear. Not only did you give a background in the usage of English in this modern age but you also went onto giving us an insight into your own background before getting to the main point of the article. Your points flow very smoothly throughout the article and this really eased the process of reading and understanding the point you were trying to send across.
However I do have a few minor points that I would like to point out.
1) 'the looks on their face seems astonished'
I believe it should be 'the looks on their faces seem astonished' as the word 'looks' is plural. Therefore, 'face' should be 'faces' instead to fit into the sentence.
2) I was quite confused in the midst of your story. You said you spoke Singlish in front of your client but in the subsequent sentence, you used the phrase 'looks on their face'. So was it a client or was there more than one at that specific moment?
It is nice to know you are constantly trying to improve your English by reading books and whatnot. Do share good book titles with us, your coursemates. I am sure we would appreciate that alot. All the best in achieving your goal to communicate well in English. See you around.
Regards,
Azrie
Hi Cherlyn,
ReplyDeleteThe blog-post is very clear and allows me to picture an image when I read through the whole story. Through this post, i do agree with you that sometimes we get so overwhelmed and excited we tend to forget about the way we speak and all the singlish comes out of our mouth.
I feel the post is very concrete as you are able to link your experiences, which showed what indeed has happened.
1)However, there are some words from the sentences which are repetitive such as :" English have always been very challenging for me as I did not have the interest in it and seldom communicate with it." You can probably type as: "...challenging for me as i did not have interest and seldom communicate with it."
2)Also, the repeated use of "command of English" in the whole blog post can be replaced with other phrases.
3) I feel that this sentence,:"My command of English isn’t very good and therefore it often affects my confidence when communicating with someone that has a better command of English. " is a run on sentence.
Best Regards,
Clarabelle
This is a very detailed self-critical reflection. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeletehere are a few language items to consider:
1) English have always been very challenging for me as I did not have the interest and seldom communicate with it. >>> (subject-verb disagreement)
2) Growing up in a family which frequently uses Mandarin and other dialects to communicate, it is not a surprise that my command of English was weak. >>> (dangling modifier)
3) Upon graduation, I started working as a sales executive at a printing company. The job requires me to communicate with my clients that hold various positions. I have to communicate effectively to discuss printing specifications and understand the needs of the client. >>> (verb tense inconsistency)
4) There was an incident whereby I accidentally spoke Singlish in front of my clients because I was eager to get my message across.
>>>
There was an incident WHEN I accidentally spoke Singlish in front of my clients because I was eager to get my message across.
5) However, as I tried to communicate with Singlish, the looks on their faces SEEMED astonished.
6) My command of English isn’t very good, therefore it often affects my confidence when communicating with someone that has a better command of English. >>> (run on sentence)
7) Since that incident, I would try my best to read a book occasionally. >>> (verb tense)
8) I hope that through this, I would be able to improve on the language.
9) The experiences that I have gained serves ... >>>> (subject-verb disagreement)