Special Report: Are Singaporeans really bilingual?

Note: Click on the picture for a larger view.

Advertisement number 1, right at the top:

“本公司拥有多种款式和多种颜色让您选择。”

评语：请问，你在卖你的公司吗？你有那么多公司可以卖啊？

"We Handles all your Aluminium Windows and Doors with a Personal Touch....Various design & colour for your choice. We also Provide Repair or Service"

Comments:

1. It should be "we handle". "We" is a plural term, so no "s" after a verb.

2. It should be "various designs and colours". Since you've said "various", then it means that there are many designs and colours available, so you need to add the "s".

3. "We also Provide Repair or Service"?? Awkward phrasing... Any good suggestion to correct this?

4. Apparently the author of this advertisement has difficulty not only in basic grammar, but also in differentiating the lower case from upper case. Words only begin with a captial letter only when they are the first word of a sentence, which means they only appear after a full stop, which marks the end of the previous sentence. Of course, there are exceptions, but in this case, the errors committed do not fall into this category.


Advertisement number 2, the middle one :

Passion: 激情

Comments: Erm, hello?!?! You are a music school, not some brothel from Holland's red light district! So, are you implying that you spent so much money to hire this professional teacher from China to provide sex to your customers? One of the most ridiculous translation I've ever seen! The correct term to use, by the way, is: 热诚。

"激情" means passion, but in a sexual way.


Advertisement number 3, the bottom one:

“顾客年龄必须满18岁以上并协带身份证。。。”

评语1：说“满18岁”就够了，加上“以上”一词，显得画蛇添足。

评语2：“携带”不可写成“协带”。

"Advertising -- TV .... 广告--电视机"

评语：你的广告的主题是有关于电视机吗？ 你不是房地产经纪吗？干吗打起电视机的广告？ 正确的写法应该是：“电视广告”。很多时候要翻译，不可以直接用英文的文法翻成中文，因为这样的翻译结果只会让人啼笑皆非！

"We are looking for a flat to be near parents.... 刚卖掉我们的屋子。。。”

Commnts: Awkward. For correct English phrasing, refer to the other advertisement below this one.

评语：传单里的"卖" 字写错了，要写繁体字也不是这样写， 请注意！

"正急着寻找单位靠近父母。。。”

评语：又是一起直接从英文翻译所造成的文句不通顺的例子。正确写法应该是：“正急着寻找靠近父母的（住家）单位。”






Comments: And we can't spell "mushroom"




Comments: I didn't know that beef has root. It's beetroot, my dear.


To top it off, these two spelling errors are committed by a supermarket near Lorong Ah Soo, Hougang.

Of course, to err is human. So being divine, I shall forgive all of them.

The conclusion of this report: We still cannot proclaim ourselves to be bilingual yet. We are still making errors and mistakes in our spelling and basic grammar that only primary school children would commit. It's embarassing that most of our citizens undergo an average of 10 years of bilingual education and yet we are proficient in neither languages.

Perhaps we ought to be less ambitious and focus and devote all our energy to learning only one language. It's always better to be a master of something than be the Jack of all trades.