Commonly mispronounced English words in Singapore

One of my pet peeves is the way many common words are mispronounced in Singapore, even by teachers of the English language. By mispronunciation, I mean the way the Singaporean pronunciation of a particular word diverges from that as prescribed in dictionaries. While learned opinion may remain divided as to how a particular word is to be pronounced (e.g. 'schedule' or 'often'), it is fairly safe to say that the Singaporean pronunciation of a common stock word would often be at variance with any of the established standards.

The reason for this state of affair is that reading was and still is not emphasized in English lessons in Singapore schools. I don't recall ever having a class on phonetics or on reading in secondary or primary school and I suppose this is probably true for most Singaporeans of my generation. Many older English-educated Singaporeans do however speak the language with a pronunciation scheme that conforms closely to the prescriptions in dictionaries. Two such speakers who come to mind are Lee Kuan Yew and Eugene Wijeysingha, if any RI alumnus still remembers that old dodderer. Younger Singaporeans, even the English-educated ones, have a more colloqualized pronunciation scheme.

Of course, there will be those in Singapore who will lambaste me for insisting on a foreign pronunciation standard. Afterall, it is the Singaporean-accented English that distinguishes the true sons and daughters of Singapore from foreigners. The same people also say that pronunciation should be descriptive, not prescriptive, and we should stick to the vulgar standard, if one can ever call it a standard. Strangely, no one has ever suggested that we should teach the grammar of Singlish instead of proper grammar. The consensus is that we have a linguistic diglossia in Singapore for grammar. The grammar of educated language should conform to that as prescribed in (British) English textbooks but the grammar of colloquial Singaporean English retains its distinctive character. The same goes for spelling - few in Singapore believe that we should have a uniquely Singaporean orthography. So, why should we reject the pronunciation scheme as prescribed in the same dictionaries from which we learn our spelling?

I think that it is important for educated Singaporean English speech to be less divergent from more established varieties of English such as Received Pronunciation (RP) or General American (GA). Afterall, it is the prevalence of the usage of the language that has contributed to our competitiveness in the global economy. This prevalence has enabled Singapore to position itself as a financial centre. Because English is the language of education, government, commerce and law, Singapore is able to import large numbers of workers from Australia, Britain, India, the Phillipines, the US, etc as well as to export hordes of Singaporean workers to the aforementioned countries. Even if their governments wanted to, countries like Japan and South Korea can't do that, at least to the extent Singapore can, because English is not their official medium. There is simply no reservoir of Japanese-speaking or Korean-speaking labour for them to draw upon.

This is not to say that Singlish should be eradicated but we should recognize that there are established pronunciation norms the same way there are established grammatical norms. At a time when millions in China are trying to learn English, an established English variety without any idiosyncratic pronunciations, it is highly inadvisable for Singaporean schools not to arrest this divergence in Singaporean English speech lest Singapore loses the competitive edge the prevalence of English has given it.

Anyway, here's an incomplete list of commonly mispronounced words that I can think of. The pronunciation scheme follows that of dictionary.reference.com (with slight modifications since the former approximate GA as its idea). Stresses are highlighted in bold while the differences are underlined.

WORD	CORRECT PRONUNCIATION	SG PRONUNCIATION
Calendar	[kal-uhn-duh]	[kuh-len-duh]
Compete	[kuhm-peet]	[kom-peet]
Complete	[kuhm-pleet]	[kom-pleet]
Compare	[kuhm-pair]	[kom-pair]
Comparable	[kom-pruh-buhl]	[kom-pair-uh-buhl]
Committee	[kuh-mit-ee]	[kom-mit-tee]
Complication	[kom-pli-key-shuhn]	[kom-pli-key-shuhn]
Compliance	[kuhm-plahy-uhns]	[kom-plahy-uhns]
Condemn	[kuhn-dem]	[kon-dem]
Condemnation	[kon-dem-ney-shuhn, -duhm-]	[kon-dem-ney-shuhn]
Compose	[kuhm-pohz]	[kom-pohs]
Composition	[kom-puh-zish-uhn]	[kom-poh-zish-uhn]
Concept	[kon-sept]	[kon-sept]
Conceptual	[kuhn-sep-choo-uhl]	[kon-sep-choo-uhl]
Colleague	[kol-eeg]	[kuh-leeg]
Cylinder	[sil-in-der]	[sil-in-der]
Excuse	[v. ik-skyooz; n. ik-skyoos]	[ek-skyoos]
Exclude	[ik-sklood]	[ek-sklood]
Extra	[ek-struh]	[ek-stra]
Estate	[i-steyt]	[es-steyt]
Especially	[i-spesh-uh-lee]	[es-spesh-uh-lee]
Establish	[i-stab-lish]	[es-stab-lish]
Excite	[ik-sahyt]	[ek-sahyt]
Excitation	[ek-si-tey-shuhn]	[ek-sahy-tey-shuhn]
Excel	[ik-sel]	[ek-sel]
Excellent	[ek-suh-luhnt]	[ek-suh-luhnt]
Japan	[juh-pan]	[juh-pan]
Japanese	[jap-uh-neez, -nees]	[juh-pan-ees]
Privilege	[priv-uh-lij, priv-lij]	[priv-i-leyj]
Second	[sek-uhnd]	[sec-kend]
Pressure	[presh-uh]	[prezh-uh]
Rectangle	[rek-tang-guhl]	[rek-tang-guhl]
Rectangular	[rek-tang-gyuh-luh]	[rek-tang-gyuh-luh]
Ticket	[tik-it]	[ti-keyt]
Triangle	[trahy-ang-guhl]	[trahy-ang-guhl]
Triangular	[trahy-ang-gyuh-luh]	[trahy-ang-gyuh-luh]
Wednesday	[wenz-dey, -dee]	[wen-uhs-dey]
Monotone	[mon-uh-tohn]	[moh-noh-tohn]
Monotony	[muh-not-n-ee]	[moh-noh-tohny]
The	[before a consonant/vowel thuh/thee]	[thuh]
Vehicle	[vee-i-kuhl]	[vee-hee-kuhl]
Vehicular	[vee-hik-yuh-luh]	[vee-hee-kyuh-luh]
Position	[puh-zish-uhn]	[poh-zish-uhn]
Potent	[poht-nt]	[poh-tuhnt]
Potential	[puh-ten-shuhl]	[poh-ten-shuhl]

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all readers of this blog. More than 2000 years, the greatest story ever told began on this very night.



Oops. I meant the greatest action story ever told. ;)

Religion cannot be divorced from politics, society or culture

I find this letter to be rather amusing. The religious persuasion to which the write subscribes is self-evident. I never knew that the Chinese character for boat (chuan2) is related to the story of Noah's ark, which any sensible person knows is, at best, allegorical.

The religious nutjobs you find in Singapore...

Religion cannot be divorced from politics, society or culture

MR JANADAS Devan in his article, 'What place religion in a secular society?' (ST, Nov 9), rightly pointed out the relevance of Matteo Ricci in today's Singapore society.

Our Government, though a secular government, has Cabinet ministers who are Buddhists, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Hindus and freethinkers. Religion cannot be divorced from politics, society or culture though it may transcend ethnic groups.

CCTV has always referred to Hezbollah (literally Allah's Party) or Party of God as 'zhen1 zhu3 dang3' as this was a political party which emerged in Lebanon in the early 1980s and became the region's leading radical Islamic movement, determined to drive Israeli troops from Lebanon. Chinese Christians refer to God as 'shang4 di4' (literally the Supreme Being). The Chinese word for ship is 'chuan2' and as a pictorial language the word is composed of a boat and eight mouths. This is due to the fact that during Noah's time only eight souls were saved when he built the ark (Genesis 6:14).

The early English Christian missionary Hudson Taylor spent 51 years in China and established the China Inland Mission which sent 968 missionaries to China by 1911. One day, a man asked Taylor to explain why he had buttons on the back of his coat. Taylor realised that his Western-style dress was distracting his listeners from his message. He then decided to dress like a Mandarin, a Chinese teacher. He was amazed at how dressing Chinese allowed him to travel more freely and be accepted more readily by the people. Taylor's goal was not to have the Chinese become like English Christians, but to have them become Chinese Christians.

The Chinese refer to the Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) as 'Li4 Ma3 dou4'. Ricci could speak Chinese as well as read and write classical Chinese (wen2 yan2). He appreciated the indigenous culture of the Chinese. He found that Chinese culture was intertwined with Confucian values and therefore decided that Christianity had to be changed to fit Chinese culture in order to be attractive to the Chinese. He called himself a 'Western Confucian' and the credibility of Confucius helped to make Christianity take root in China.

Religion basically teaches peace, love, harmony and accommodation but the radicals and the extremists have turned it into a militant movement to serve their own ends.

Heng Cho Choon

ST: $6.3b solar plant to be set up in S'pore by 2010

I had earlier mentioned that Singapore would do well to prepare itself for the silicon solar panel industry since it shares a lot of basic technological similarities with the microelectronic industry. Turns out that Singapore has jumped on the bandwagon with a $6.3 billion solar power plant to be built in Tuas. With the price of crude hitting nearly 90USD per barrel, using alternative sources of power has become much more viable.

$6.3b solar plant to be set up in S'pore by 2010
The world's largest, it will make wafers and cells for clean energy, and create 3,000 jobs

A MASSIVE $6.3 billion plant for making solar energy products is to be built in Singapore. It is set to be the largest plant of its type in the world.

That means the future is looking bright for Singapore's ambition to become a shining light in the global market for solar and other clean energy.

The plant, which is expected to start production in 2010, will make wafers, cells and modules used to generate solar power.

Amid fast-rising oil prices and growing concerns about climate change, solar power is emerging as a serious option for future energy needs.

Singapore beat almost 200 other possible sites to clinch the plant which will be built on a green-field site in Tuas View with space set aside for supporting industries.

To be built by leading Norwegian solar energy firm Renewable Energy Corp (REC), the plant will be able to produce products that can generate up to 1.5 gigawatts (Gw) of energy every year.

That is enough to power several million households at any one time. Last year, the world as a whole produced products that could generate just 2 Gw in total.

In comparison, the current largest plant in the world, also run by REC in Norway, has a capacity of 650 megawatts (Mw), though plans are in place to double this to 1.3 Gw soon.

The Economic Development Board (EDB), which signed the deal with REC on Thursday night, said about 3,000 jobs, including 2,000 for skilled staff, will be created at the plant.

The latest mega-project to hit Singapore shores will catapult the Republic into the highest echelon of the global solar energy industry.

EDB managing director Ko Kheng Hwa said the global industry has enormous potential as the price of solar energy falls closer to that of conventional energy sources.

'The industry expects the price of solar energy to drop to the level of conventional energy in many markets sometime between 2010 and 2020. This will result in rapid adoption, strong demand and sustained high industry growth.'

He added that increasing awareness of environmental issues and climate change will also boost the popularity of renewable energy sources such as solar energy.

'The REC project will be a 'queen bee' to attract a hive of solar activities to Singapore - big companies and young start-ups engaged in research and development, manufacturing and innovation, as well as the supplier ecosystem,' he said.

REC president and chief executive officer Erik Thorsen said Singapore was chosen after nine months of screening involving 200 possible locations, due diligence of 20, and final negotiations with a handful of final contenders.

Speaking from Norway via video-conference yesterday, Mr Thorsen said Singapore was picked for a combination of factors.

'Singapore does not have the cheapest land, labour or electricity, but it offers the best combination of such factors, along with things like access to technology centres and research programmes, market access, stability and security.'

Mr Ko added that Singapore's experience and world-leading position in the semi-conductor sector held it in good stead, given similarities with the solar industry.

Asked if the new plant will prompt EDB to revise its earlier target of $1.7 billion contribution to GDP and 7,000 jobs created by 2015 from the clean energy industry, he said the target was still new.

'We set it six months ago and will revise it along the way if necessary. For now, we will just focus on implementing this latest exciting project with REC.'

Are you for or against keeping 377a?

Check out this facebook group - Keep s377a! - which was created by a certain Mr. Dharmendra Yadav. Mr Yadav also wrote this blog post where he claimed to support the repeal of section 377a of the penal code.

I'm confused. Can someone explain to me what's going on?