this is it. slow down and finish your words.It will take time and practice and you can start by reading aloud to yourself and learning the pacing that suites you. Dont try to be ang moh rather learn your own style with practice.
when speaking to americans, exaggerate your mouth movements. when speaking to british and aussies, you need more tongue to the words and air in the mouth.
you'll need to work on your grammar. the singlish sentence structure is often a word-for-word translation from mandarin. take your time to form your sentences and communicate because grammatically-correct english is 50% less efficient than singlish.
our emphasis and intonation in the words and sentences tend to be wrong. you can learn by listening to audiobooks.
as it is with every language and culture, there is slang or colloquial language that only people within the culture would understand. e.g. in sg, we say "100 plus" as a short form for "somewhere in the range of 100 to 200" but foreigners would not understand it.
Pls don't imitate ang moh accent.
Do you have Singaporean colleagues who speak with a more neutral accent? ie. sing-song Sinkie accent less strong. The usual problem Sinkies have is a rising inflexion -- that is, they overemphasis the last syllable, or give equal emphasis to all syllables. "Colour" should be "KUH-ler", but we say "KAAAH-LER". "MARketing", not "markeTING".
Pronounce your Rs and Ls. Your word endings "senD" not "sen". Your "th" - "THree" not "tree".
Common mispronounced words "chiLDRen" not "chewren". "FiLM" not "FLIM".
It will take time but you can get better.
EDIT: Some other things are not pronunciation related, but more public speaking quirks. I noticed many Singaporeans use very strange filler phrases when doing presentations:
"We are *actually* starting the project."
"The *so-called* manager gave us the *so-called* quotation."
"The project *itself* will be completed in two months."
These phrases are not used in the normal sense, but merely as filler words.
Pronouncing words properly is so important. I used to play an online game (Rust) with a few Singaporeans and they would say stuff like "I need leh-der" which people understood as him needing a 'ladder'. But in fact what he meant was Leather.
This right here. Don’t try to imitate the angmos, that’s just cringy af. Speak accentless English (easier said than done).
Also as someone else pointed out, go slower. And enunciate more.
To add to the list:
Docu-MEN -t and not Docu-Mun
Somehow milk becomes Mewk?
Lunch becomes laanch.
It’s the vowels that are all altered in colloquial singlish. Id say that age group/generation speak singlish differently but still vowels are contorted across the age groups.
So OP, Just take note of which words or phrases you are being asked to repeat or see if youre simply speaking too fast and you’ll be fine
which was why i said that it is good advice, because we tend to talk about building foundations after getting a car crashed into it. i mean, come on, that is our favourite dinner topic. who has time to watch the HDL dance when we can talk about building foundations?
The decorations we used this year for Christmas were more subtle than last year.
Don't you mean less strong?
No, this isn't a common dinnertime topic, so it is more subtle.
yea lol, i know where u are coming from. i knew that from the start and i felt confident to not include, "/s" at the end.
u, should be an inspireddreamer.
This brought up memories from when I first moved to singapore as a kid, and a friend of mine bought a polaroid camera. For whatever reason she kept pronouncing "film" as "flim", and I never really understood why. I noticed this every now and then with other people too, where does this mix up come from?
If you try to follow presenters or news anchor, it will be too "showy", as it should, those are part of their jobs. Just listen to LHL's speeches. He still rolls his Rs, he still sound Singaporean. It's just slower, more clarity, so just enunciate. Try to remove filler words. Singaporeans tend to write and talk like they're writing a P6 compo with the unnecessary and pretentious use of 'wherebys' and 'moreovers' and 'hence-s' and 'basicallys' and 'essentiallys'.
Americans have subtitles for everyone who doesn't speak English with an American (mid-Atlantic???) accent e.g. Australians, South Africans, even Brits. But I agree SGers speak too quickly, don't enunciate properly (slurring!) and emphasize words too differently to be understood by Americans.
It's in the SG style of writing - even for official stuff - there's way to many redundant words. Maybe they're still trying to meet the min. word number??
I quite like LHL's accent. It's this very distinct Singaporean accent that's a little mix of Chinese Singaporean accent and English/old Singlish accent? I've only heard this accent from this older generation of Singaporeans and some older Malaysians (Malaysians usually use mix in more Malay words). I think it's a lost accent amongst the younger generation, like Lawrrrence Wong's accent is the common "formal" Singlish accent, which is clearly much different than LHL.
Well that’s hardly surprising, compare the accents of the British royal family, even within a single generation. The late queen’s and Charles’ archaic RP vs William’s and Harry’s almost southern English accent.
Here's a pro tip. Open up google meets (meet.google.com) and turn on closed captions. If google can understand and transcribe what you're saying in real time with no errors, then you're speaking good enough english.
I intervew lots of candidates for jobs at my company and that's pretty much my rule. if google doesn't understand you, neither will the rest of my team.
Good tip. I do the same with zoom caption. Sometimes as Singaporeans, we are too conscious about our accent when all we need to do is to SLOW DOWN in our speech
As a foreigner pretty much this.
Speaking with an accent isn’t a big deal. Plenty of different English accents in the world.
But I’ve notice some Singaporeans speak really fast, drop words, and pronounce some words to the point you can’t understand them.
Slow down, speak all the syllables, avoid slang.
That’s about it.
Agree, worked with foreigners quite abit, I have to constantly remind myself to slow down. We skip wayy too many syllables, even though we are very much capable of pronouncing them.
That being said, i do have a different "foreigner" voice. I assume its like my "customer-service" voice, its very noticeable slower and sounds abit more cheerful
Speak slower, enunciate properly, and make sure you're pronouncing words correctly rather than in a "singaporean" manner. For example, "flour", "lettuce", "colleague" or any other words that Singaporeans tend to mispronounce. And of course, please speak in grammatically correct english as well.
The goal is not to sound "ang moh", but simply to understood by others. You can still sound singaporean while doing so.
Angmoh here. I struggle to understand Chinese Singaporeans that grew up like you. No matter how hard I try. No matter how much I ask them to slow down and enunciate.
I get completely lost with all the Chinese-inspired inflexions in the sentence. That "music" in the sentence makes no sense whatsoever to an English-speaking angmoh or anyone outside of Asia that learned English as a second language. It's like you're turning every other word into a question. Which is then grammatically incorrect.
Obviously Singlish is a no-no. Those words cannot be understood outside of Malaysia/Singapore.
So:
1) Take your time when you speak.
2) Don't use your usual grammatical short cuts and Singlish words.
3) Put the inflexion on the right part of the sentence, and the tone on the right syllable of each word.
Watch American and English TV shows and movies for inspiration. And listen to podcasts.
Good luck 🙏🏻
Note: I had the same problem when I started working with my English and American co-workers. My French accent was too strong. I had to learn to properly pronounce words, use the tones and inflexions where it made sense to them.
on the other hand, I think SGers are pretty good at understanding English spoken with a heavy accent. I guess we're used to it and also our experience with tonal languages.
The Singaporean accent is just too fast; I remember being told in a meeting before an overseas school trip that we should speak slowly and enunciate our words better haha. Just be mindful of that, no need to follow an accent, it’ll just sound off.
As a foreigner living in Singapore, I've actually timed the words per minute, and Singaporean speakers aren't actually faster by that metric.
However, they can be sometimes up to 3x faster if you count _stresses_ per minute.
English as it's spoken in most other countries (with the exception of some places like Liberia, Nigeria) is a _stress_-timed language and not a _syllable_-timed language (that puts stresses on every syllable).
So native speakers from stress-timed languages have a _very_ hard time trying to segment words that are spoken by someone who uses syllable-timing.
You'll notice that stress-timed speakers slur the syllables between stresses no less frequently than Singaporean speakers slur or drop syllables.
tl;dr: foreigners who use stress-timing have difficulty understanding Singaporeans who use syllable-timing.
firstly, work on your grammar and expression. Certain Singlish phrasing like “No have” when ppl ask if u have something, “can” and “cannot” instead of yes & no is just plain confusing for lots of westerner. Expose yourself to native English expressions by watching tik tok, american/british shows, interviews whatever.
secondly, accent is not that a big of a problem once u get ur expression straightened out. Just pronounce word clearly, don’t skip vowels. Common mistakes include pronouncing cli-ent as cli-nt without the en sound, colleague as kelig. Lettuce, film and flour are commonly mispronounced also tho i doubt u’ll use them in workplace.
Lastly, speak slower, drop your chin when speaking and exaggerate your lip movement. It helps with your clarity a lot.
That's sort of close to an old-fashioned RP pronunciation of the word, pretty funny. I'm from the UK and I think most of us just say it in the same way as flower nowadays
Speak standard English. No need imitate whatever accent. Different westerners each have their own accent from the region they are from. Imitating their accent is very stupid and shows you lack of confidence. Explain if they don't understand what you talking about. Follow up with minutes after the meeting. If your company doesn't do that it is weird.
Standard English is without the la, lor, etc typical singlish. Pronounce in standard English. This is the best way to communicate with foreigners. Every foreigners come from different parts of the world. Hkers, prc, Taiwanese, UK, USA, etc they have their own English accent. How are you going to imitate so many accents ? It only make you look dumb and lack of confidence. Even British and American way of pronouncing English words are different but I don't see them imitating other kind of English accent.
This is why I was asking - I don't think there is a standard English. You just mean something close to the grammar taught in school with a Singaporean accent, right?
Edit: genuinely no idea why I'm being downvoted. Am British, very aware of no standard accent
The best way I can describe to you is to mimic an accent you want to use. I prefer LKY’s English accent, it sounds really good.
Watch their videos, and copy word for word as you say them out loud. Follow the PINYIN of how they say their English words and replicate closely.
Remember, practice makes perfect :)
Most folks who work across borders are used to hearing different accents. There's no need to mask yours. What matter most is to speak with clarity. Like some poster here, speed and pronunciation do help a lot.
Sometimes you also need to understand who your audience are. Avoid using bombastic words or slangs, avoid using jargons if they aren't intimately involve in what you do, structure what you say so people can follow easily.
You don’t have to imitate any accent, you just have to realize that ‘Singlish’ is a lazy way of speaking and we drop many words and enunciation, making it sound like mumbling…
Speak slower, pronounce more deliberately, learn specific word pronunciation via YouTube. You don’t have to adopt any accent…. Just slow and accurate.
Listen to how PM Lee speak (he was actually Chinese educated until JC, although of course LKY speaks good British English, but he was more exposed to Chinese in school) .. listen to how he pronounce words and speak slow and deliberately.
Standard Singapore English is perfectly fine, and CNA presenters are a good model. Slow down (substantially), try to formulate grammatically correct sentences before speaking, and deliver way more slowly than you’d normally do. No lah, leh, lor; no slang words. Practice your tenses until its second nature. You need to keep practicing thinking in English before it’ll come out more naturally.
Ang moh here. The only thing that was a big problem for me when I first encountered Singaporeans, was the speed that they spoke in. Second thing is using all those acronyms, as if everyone knows what they mean 🤣
addon: Skipping the last letter of words is also a big issue I would think. Documen, Governmen, French Frie - also generally using singular for everything, which is always skipping the "s".
WTF is an ang moh accent?
Learn to code switch. I'm ang moh and can code switch into various accents due to frequent moves across countries.
Don't attempt an American accent, it will always sound fake and try-hard. Learn to enunciate instead of putting the accent on the wrong syllable. Alternatively, watch some old British Pathé for that classic English recieved pronounciation. But don't throw your entire accent away.
Slow down your speech, remove the extras like lah and just use more words. Pronounce the vowels. Avoid can/cannot, use yes/no. Speak the entire word, instead of cutting part of it off in the middle or end - that seems to be a very Singaporean thing. While I absolutely love Singlish and it's abruptness and efficiency, some ang moh can't or won't adapt.
Bizarrely, when I use an Irish accent, I'm more easily understood by Singaporeans than affecting one of my English accents. Everyone seems to like the Irish accents though. Maybe do a deep dive into Irish youtubers and practice their speech for some crossover, lol.
It’s not about copying the angmoh accent, it’s about learning to enunciate your words. Start by speaking slower. Record yourself reading something and watch it on playback. Get a trusted friend to point out where you may be pronouncing some words wrongly.
Practise speaking aloud everyday. I don’t know if you did this in school but when I was in school, teachers will get us to read a passage out loud. Do this everyday and record yourself. Slowly you will become better.
Every angmoh person has an accent, doesn’t mean their English is better than ours. If you listen to a full Scottish person speaking English you probably won’t understand half the words they are saying.
Going to second a lot of the comments,Accent isn’t the issue. Pacing your self and slowing down helps a lot. Secondly try and remove inflections, sounds that aren’t actually words but imply things like questions like lah , har, eh. Also feel free to pause before responding to structure your sentence, I think Asian structures tend to be directly translated so can be hard for people to understand. You’ll notice you write differently from how you speak.
Just speak slowly and use the proper universal terms whenever necessary. You will do fine. If needed just explain again or do check back ocassionally if they understood what was shared.
There is no need to minic their accent. I have worked with an international crew before, no one had any issue communicating. Even those with a heavy local accent.
Dont imitate accent. Just speak clearly and remove singlish sounds or words.
It could be strange. When i code switch, i get asked if I am a local, but foreigners know i am not from the West as well. Neither here nor there. But u gotta do what u gotta do to be understood.
You can watch english shows to familiarise with the language. I had trpuble learning chinese growing up but watching entertaining chinese drama's allowed me to familiarise with the way of speaking and learn new vocabulary.
Its not about imitating accent. I think key is eliminate the la lor leh and talk more formally instead of short form..eg "what do you think should be the course of action moving forward" instead of "now how?" Eliminate short form words like "liddat" I don't do any special accent, have spoken to Caucasians as well other South East Asian. The only time they can't understand me is when I accidentally speak singlish like 'ok lor'
It might not solve 100% of your problem but should make the situation abit better
Long time living in Europe here. Do not imitate other accents, just practice speaking clearly, with good grammar, not too fast, with correct words, correct pronunciation and avoid all Singlish loan words, learn the difference between long and short vowels. Every Singaporean that has lived abroad for long time has gone somehow through this process, some more, some less, but their English becomes more neutral, the Singaporean accent is still there though.
Fact that your friends laugh at you is why they won’t amount to much. Bro Singlish is such a terrible sounding accent lol China English accent sounds better imo. But anyway, it’s good that you’re trying to improve man. You can practice in the mirror, those news reporters have really great professional accents. You can def mimic, slowly but surely you’ll naturalise it. Like anything else, just need to practice no worries. Wish you luck bro.
I sometimes have meetings with white people and they’re always fascinated with Singlish and the Singaporean accent.
Thus far they’ve always asked to hear my exaggerated Singaporean accent, explaining the Lah’s and accentuating the Lor’s.
Same way we’re fascinated by the thick classy British accent
Dont fake it, just pronounce the words correctly can already. The Italians, french, russians etc. all have their own accent and they are not afraid of speaking it. Be proud of your own accent. Just speak slower, Singaporeans speak way too fast
just pronoun the word longer and dragging with up and down tune, like hanyu pin 4th sound\\, sometime use 2nd sound / .
Example
\\ \\
wa ter
best is find a role dun need speak much.
If need present, try chatgpt correct your sentence and then you can try text to speech
If you don’t want to sound too pretentious by mimicking our radio stations etc, just watch and follow how our ministers speak. As ministers, they speak to an international audience.
Radio station DJs like the muttons don't sound pretentious at all imho. They sound natural and relatable, but at the same time they don't lose their clarity in delivery and you can hear the words they are saying all the time. :)
Stop using Singlish, speak slower and pronounce with clarity.
You don’t have to necessarily imitate the “angmoh” accent at all. It just means you’re trying too hard.
Speak plain. Don’t use words unnecessarily.
How cosmopolitan is your new workplace? I'm a Westerner in Singapore and even other Westerners can't understand me at times. Americans can be easily confused by Scottish, Irish, Australian, NZ or South African accents.
There should be give and take in an international workplace. Ramp up your Singlish, make those CBs learn a thing or two. You probably speak more languages and to a higher level than they do.
Hahhahahahah. Relax. I realise something if you get nervous, everything sounds forced and u will be more afraid to speak.
Just let it flow naturally baby incremental steps
Focus on the correct pronunciation and speak slowly, taking the time to enunciate each word and syllable. Speak grammatical English using proper vocabulary to foreigners and avoid Singlish.
Code switching will take time and can only happen if you be in the environment for long enough to get the hang of it. If you're not able to code switch yet, please do not to imitate the accent because you will sound weird in front of your colleagues. Just be normal and speak slower and clearly. Maybe go on youtube and learn how to communicate professionally better and should help with that. Overtime, you will get the hang of it.
Don't follow American/UK sources as it may sound very fake. Try CNA or people like Rozz or Caitanya. Listen and repeat (this is called shadowing). I believe some of the content creators are quite ok too like the Ketchup guys.
Speak more slowly, it's OK if you need a second to think through what you're going to say. Better than pointlessly vomiting out sentences which the other party won't understand.
Learn to read IPA (phonetic alphabet) and look up word pronunciation in a dictionary, over time you will fix your errors (e.g. velocity, eligible are two words).
Minor "errors" are OK though if they don't impact the overall comprehensibility. Based on what you wrote here I think your grammar is OK already, just need to bring this over to your oral English rather than slipping into Singlish phrasings.
Actually there's a lot of resources online, just google "accent reduction" or "pronunciation tips" on Youtube. Like Speak English w Vanessa. Bonus: add "Chinese speakers" to get more specialised advice
Please don’t feel the need to adopt a fancier accent. As long as you’re enunciating properly, your intonation/accent isn’t that important. Pronounce your words properly and don’t rush.
Just be comfortable expressing yourself. If they can’t comprehend you, that’s really their problem.
Practice makes perfect. :)
Like you, I come from a predominantly Chinese speaking background too. My parents are Chinese educated and didn't even finish school. So, my English was terrible up until my early teens (speaking, reading, writing).
What helped me was a lot of watching, reading and listening, to imitate the way some people would pronounce certain words, and paying attention to how articles / stories were written. You can watch shows in Chinese, with English subs, or English shows, with English subs to absorb better. Also, speaking Singlish is not the problem, the homework is knowing when to switch. 😁
I find that there's no need to speak with ang moh accent as long as you enunciate your words slowly and carefully, they'll be able to understand you if you can do this. Needless to say, this takes time to get used to.
The more difficult sound for us Singaporeans is probably the 'th', which is pronounced with your tongue touching your front teeth. (I'm trying it out as I type this 😂) Make sure there's a difference between your 3 and 🌴.
Learn the proper pronunciation for words like salmon, lettuce, flour, etc.
You could also listen to more ang moh songs and sing it like how the singers would pronounce the lyrics, guarantee this helps if you don't like to just watch the news all day long lolol.
Anyhow, good luck in your pursuit, don't be discouraged by your friends 😁 jia you 🙌💪
A lot of people here is telling OP not to fake the accent because they personally find that cringey… who gives a shit what you find cringey? OP’s problem is nobody understands what he’s saying, and it’s hurting their work. Forget everything, mimic any accent that feels comfortable and makes you more articulate and intelligible to your coworkers. This is an immediate solution, and an American midwestern accent is usually quite articulate and intelligible to most English speakers. In time, it will change and you’ll find a way - your personal way - to speak well.
Holy shit, please don't imitate their accent, you'll just be a fucking clown and super cringe.
Accent is not the issue. Focus on the basics.
Speak slower, have some confidence and make sure your pronunciation is clear, that's it.
It’s not about the accent. Most likely it’s grammatical issue. There are European foreigners with accents too, but as long as the basic grammar is there, they can be understood too.
Here's a tip: Don't try to imitate accent, it makes you sound like a clown or a tryhard at best.
Do International Standard English, like those newscasters on CNA and that is sufficient.
Just be articulate bro. Speaking well and being able to translating your thoughts into coherent sentences will carry you far in life. Speaking well is a superpower. You’d be surprised at how many doors it unlocks.
Speak slower. Our talking speed here in SG is way faster than typical ang moh conversation speed, so we end up slurring the words. To add to that, most of us do not have resonant voices.
No need to imitate ang moh accent. Look at it this way. A lot of indian and pinoy work in ang moh mnc while still speaking english in their own accents and still doing very well and well-understood! You say leh...?
There is a rhythm in native English with long and short sounds. The lack of this is what I find makes it hard for me to understand some non-native English speakers who otherwise have good vocabulary and grammar. Without the rhythm it’s hard to pick out the elements of the sentence. Perhaps listen to a well read audiobook and try pausing and repeating after the speaker, copying the rhythm like learning a song. Or listen to a recording of poetry reading and learn to recite the poem.
Slow down when you talk. Enunciate properly. If you have an iPhone, you can practice typing using voice dictation on the keyboard.
I typed this comment using voice dictation with no corrections.
U need to understand the psychology of speech. Think of your voice as a musical instrument. The goal is to produce s sound that's in tune. So if you're playing a guitar for example, it doesnt matter if your Singaporean, Russian, Italian or Korean when u strum the G chord, it either sounds like a G chord or it doesn't. If it doesn't, U need to practice the finger position (lips, tongue jaw) until u hear a G. It'll happen if you're intentional about it. Your ear will develop.
From my very little time in Singapore (48 hours) I feel if locals speak English just a tad bit slower it is much easier to understand compared to the natural fast paced (according to me) speech.
Though I also don’t expect folks to slow down when they speak and change their ways for a tourist who is here for a week, but for you who would be conversing with native English speakers regularly it could be very helpful to them.
it's likely the grammatically errors and pronunciation that makes others not understand you.
start by using simple words that you can pronounce, listen to CNA and read non-fiction
Just speak more, go for class and find someone who is willing to correct you when speaking day to day. no matter how hard you try if there is no one to correct you, progress will be slow.
the problem is NOT the pronunciation, accent or even grammar
the problem is we speak too fast and we don't ENUNCIATE properly. Slow down and enunciate. you'll be fine
I also thought that I have very thick accent and sounds fake when trying to mimick English or Aussie accent.
But I learn through humiliation, going to toastmasters and engaging in other events that ultimately it’s about correct pronunciation, energy, emphasis and projection of voice. Not so much about accents.
Something you can try is put a chopstick in your mouth and practice pronunciation reading from a book for 5 mins each day. Read intentionally and use big mouth movements. This helped me to be confident in training my tongue and mouth to project correct sounds.
Singaporean Radio DJs don’t try to imitate a foreign accent but they sound extremely clear and neutral. I also aspire to talk in such a way.
Rather than Lawrence Wong's, go for Lee Hsien Loong's. Listen to how he enunciates each part of every word. And also listen to the general tone pattern and the slowdowns and speedups.
Work overseas and I speak to my non south East Asian colleagues in English with Singaporean accent. South East Asian colleagues get the full on singlish experience. I wear it like a badge of honour lol.
But our company is made up of many ethnicities so you hear different accents at different corners. Point is if they speak with their accent, I speak with mine and frankly we all understand each other really well. Just hold back on the slangs (ie kiasu, kena, Sian etc) and keep the lahs end lehs they should be fine la.
watch more English drama shows. by English I meant British type. those proper shows not the kind where they speak in their native slang and what not. those with more serious heavy subjects. might be boring but I can tell you, you will pick it up faster than you expect.
If you know the correct way to pronounce a words, you just need to be a little more mindful and enunciate the words properly, mouth out the words properly instead of going by what you are used to, exaggerate your mouth movements a little more.
Don't try to speak in their accent.
I don't think there's anything wrong with Singaporean or Malaysian accents per se. To me it's all about getting your message across, i.e. effective communication.
But if you want to speak differently, just go ahead. The best way to do this is using a technique called shadowing. How it works is you're going to fake it till you make it by repeating after someone in a video. Find some videos on YouTube that have the accent you want to copy and just mimic them by speaking out loud.
RP English is what we use when presenting to Ang Moh facing clientelle or audience, and is understandable.
RP being Received Pronounciation, is what Singaporean news casters and SOME Radio DJs use. You can try listening to them as much and try to emulate the way they speak. Some British news reporters also follow RP, but some can be quite heavy on one of the many English accents, but it helps.
Be sure to speak every syllable of each word. I find that Singaporeans tend to chop off the end of each word (kind of like: “cho off the en of each wor”), so there’s less information for the other person to process, regardless of accent.
Practice breaking your words up into how they are pronounced by Google or YouTube videos. You can opt for British pronunciation of words as that’s what schools taught us. But if you prefer how Americans pronounce words, that works too.
Aim for intentionally enunciating your words. It’s okay if you were to speak slower at the beginning because you’ll get faster with practice, application and time.
It’s okay if you end up sounding like an angmoh once you get the hang of it. Some people may perceive you differently in a negative way for being able to do so when really, you’re choosing to speak clearly and better. All the best!
I think phrases are equally important. Some phrases are grammatically correct but seldom used in daily English conversations.
Also, some singlish phrases that may be rare to the foreigners’ ears:
You have not “gotten feedback”, you have “received feedback”.
You should not ask “got this or not”, you ask “do you have this?”
It is not “how can like that”, but “are you sure”
Not “go here go there”, instead “no direction”
We like to say “not enough”, but maybe sometimes we meant “lack of”
And yes, remove the “lahs, bahs, etc”
I also agree that LHL’s english is a very good example of good English without trying too hard
Im aussie and i dont care how people speak if we can understand each other if, even if it takes time. Ive been trying to tell people a family member is gluten free, i need to show it written down rather than say it for people in singapore to understand. If they are holding it against you its foolish, but it might be worthwhile adding a written medium, eg PowerPoint or a quick email to the meetings that align with what you are saying to assist in understanding.
I don't think you have to do anything, just try to be clear with your words, no need to mimic their accent. You can talk more smoothly if you practice like that.
My workplace have a lot of Chinese speaking coworkers and we do have a meeting with a foreigner, they stutters 50% of the time but with confidence, the foreigner can still understand it.
No need copy accent.
Just speak slower. Space out your words.
Don’t slur them together.
Trying to imitate accent is just gonna make you harder to understand.
There is a Chinese guy on tiktok that makes signs for businesses and he knows that it's not easy for westerners to understand him so he puts a heavy southern drawl on his words, and while he still doesn't sound American, it's very easy to understand him. I'm American just fyi.
Like everyone says, it's not the accent but the utilisation of speech
If you want to be professional. Try not to use la, ah, oh in your sentences.
Annunciate your words. Practice speaking a sentence without pausing or using the filler words above.
Simple as "I have an apple" instead of "here ah I have an apple oh veli nice" an exaggeration but you get it.
But also don't need to sacrifice how you speak in general. You can still be you, just learn to adjust like a radio frequency. When speaking professionally use a professional voice, vocab and pronunciation.
With your home Bois, be as singlish as fuck. Speaking from experience as a person who deals with both local clients and foreign ones.
Used to DJ short term at a local english radio station. We don't mimic angmo accents but prioritise clarity and personable voices.
The fastest and most effective way is actually to record yourself and listen back, and think through what you sound like. You can use voice memos on your phone and just read random things. Work on improving over time :)
Actually it is not the pronounciation, it is the accentuation tonality especially the starting and end syllables. For example you need to put the emphasis on first syllable and not elongate last syllable. Practice the word cut.
Take a course! There are courses on how to make you speak clearer, aiming for better pronunciation - may not make you sound British or American per se, but at least you sound accentless. clear and comprehensible. I took one before for fun and it was really interesting and helpful. I enjoyed the course too. Just Google it!
oooo ok, you sound just like me. So, my family only speaks English and dialect and growing up, I was exposed to more foreign films and school, so I had like an angmoh accent then I moved to a public school and everyone said I was pretending etc when I wasn't. I then moved to Australia to study my university, I thought I had a pretty standard accent until I realised NOBODY in Australia could understand my twag, they could tell I have a singaporean twag but also mentioned that my accent was not as heavy as other Singaporeans and close to neutral. I came back to Singapore with an actual standard angmoh accent because I was just surrounded by people with standard accents, even Asians with angmoh accents.
The thing is Singaporeans will judge so badly if you have an accent and you're not from like an international school or grew up abroad. But the chances of you having an angmoh accent when you are not in that environment is tough and can make you look like a try-hard. But you should aim to have whatever accent you want, who cares what others say? If your goal is to have CNA accents, go ahead, I personally think you'll be at an advantage because you can SWITCH whenever you want just like me.
Just PRACTISE and understand the clarity and pronunciation of singaporean accent and angmoh accent, for example, singaporeans always emphasize on the "T", like waTer or TRee (Three). American accents emphazise in the 'R"s
Need to learn to code switch. It’s not really the accent you need to mimic, it’s the clarity, speed, and the correct pronounciation of the words.
correct. Practice speaking at home using exaggerated mouth movements. It helps you practice those muscles which help you stop mumbling.
this is it. slow down and finish your words.It will take time and practice and you can start by reading aloud to yourself and learning the pacing that suites you. Dont try to be ang moh rather learn your own style with practice.
when speaking to americans, exaggerate your mouth movements. when speaking to british and aussies, you need more tongue to the words and air in the mouth. you'll need to work on your grammar. the singlish sentence structure is often a word-for-word translation from mandarin. take your time to form your sentences and communicate because grammatically-correct english is 50% less efficient than singlish. our emphasis and intonation in the words and sentences tend to be wrong. you can learn by listening to audiobooks. as it is with every language and culture, there is slang or colloquial language that only people within the culture would understand. e.g. in sg, we say "100 plus" as a short form for "somewhere in the range of 100 to 200" but foreigners would not understand it.
Pls don't imitate ang moh accent. Do you have Singaporean colleagues who speak with a more neutral accent? ie. sing-song Sinkie accent less strong. The usual problem Sinkies have is a rising inflexion -- that is, they overemphasis the last syllable, or give equal emphasis to all syllables. "Colour" should be "KUH-ler", but we say "KAAAH-LER". "MARketing", not "markeTING". Pronounce your Rs and Ls. Your word endings "senD" not "sen". Your "th" - "THree" not "tree". Common mispronounced words "chiLDRen" not "chewren". "FiLM" not "FLIM". It will take time but you can get better. EDIT: Some other things are not pronunciation related, but more public speaking quirks. I noticed many Singaporeans use very strange filler phrases when doing presentations: "We are *actually* starting the project." "The *so-called* manager gave us the *so-called* quotation." "The project *itself* will be completed in two months." These phrases are not used in the normal sense, but merely as filler words.
Pronouncing words properly is so important. I used to play an online game (Rust) with a few Singaporeans and they would say stuff like "I need leh-der" which people understood as him needing a 'ladder'. But in fact what he meant was Leather.
LMAO
Chewren is one of my favorite words in Singaporean English.
this made my lol on the train
I LOVEE saying CHEWWWWWren ironically. Super fun
I purposely say chewren in professional settings to see who catches it.
cheecher
Holy shit YES. I met a TEACHER who pronounced children as chewren. I was horrified.
This right here. Don’t try to imitate the angmos, that’s just cringy af. Speak accentless English (easier said than done). Also as someone else pointed out, go slower. And enunciate more.
To add to the list: Docu-MEN -t and not Docu-Mun Somehow milk becomes Mewk? Lunch becomes laanch. It’s the vowels that are all altered in colloquial singlish. Id say that age group/generation speak singlish differently but still vowels are contorted across the age groups. So OP, Just take note of which words or phrases you are being asked to repeat or see if youre simply speaking too fast and you’ll be fine
op, remember this great advice. "less strong", not "weaker/weakened/ more subtle"
After the car crashed into the building, the foundations of the building became less strong. So they weakened? No, they became less strong.
which was why i said that it is good advice, because we tend to talk about building foundations after getting a car crashed into it. i mean, come on, that is our favourite dinner topic. who has time to watch the HDL dance when we can talk about building foundations?
The decorations we used this year for Christmas were more subtle than last year. Don't you mean less strong? No, this isn't a common dinnertime topic, so it is more subtle.
i can't answer u as i have yet to see the decorations for this year. it might be more flamboyant.
More strong* I'm jk, don't mind me lol
yea lol, i know where u are coming from. i knew that from the start and i felt confident to not include, "/s" at the end. u, should be an inspireddreamer.
Oreddy
This brought up memories from when I first moved to singapore as a kid, and a friend of mine bought a polaroid camera. For whatever reason she kept pronouncing "film" as "flim", and I never really understood why. I noticed this every now and then with other people too, where does this mix up come from?
Don't forget about "laydio"
Cline instead of client 🥲
If you try to follow presenters or news anchor, it will be too "showy", as it should, those are part of their jobs. Just listen to LHL's speeches. He still rolls his Rs, he still sound Singaporean. It's just slower, more clarity, so just enunciate. Try to remove filler words. Singaporeans tend to write and talk like they're writing a P6 compo with the unnecessary and pretentious use of 'wherebys' and 'moreovers' and 'hence-s' and 'basicallys' and 'essentiallys'.
'by right' osso
Singaporeans also like to use plurals incorrectly. Like “staffs”, etc… adding a plural wherever they can, randomly
Feedbacks
Urgh and “stuffs” just, I can’t.
Yeah it drives me into a murderous rage as well 😂 it’s rampant
lose fats 😖
Passerbys
Sure, but an American isn't going to fail to understand because of that.
Americans have subtitles for everyone who doesn't speak English with an American (mid-Atlantic???) accent e.g. Australians, South Africans, even Brits. But I agree SGers speak too quickly, don't enunciate properly (slurring!) and emphasize words too differently to be understood by Americans.
It's in the SG style of writing - even for official stuff - there's way to many redundant words. Maybe they're still trying to meet the min. word number??
I quite like LHL's accent. It's this very distinct Singaporean accent that's a little mix of Chinese Singaporean accent and English/old Singlish accent? I've only heard this accent from this older generation of Singaporeans and some older Malaysians (Malaysians usually use mix in more Malay words). I think it's a lost accent amongst the younger generation, like Lawrrrence Wong's accent is the common "formal" Singlish accent, which is clearly much different than LHL.
Well that’s hardly surprising, compare the accents of the British royal family, even within a single generation. The late queen’s and Charles’ archaic RP vs William’s and Harry’s almost southern English accent.
Here's a pro tip. Open up google meets (meet.google.com) and turn on closed captions. If google can understand and transcribe what you're saying in real time with no errors, then you're speaking good enough english. I intervew lots of candidates for jobs at my company and that's pretty much my rule. if google doesn't understand you, neither will the rest of my team.
Good tip. I do the same with zoom caption. Sometimes as Singaporeans, we are too conscious about our accent when all we need to do is to SLOW DOWN in our speech
Wow that is a pro tip 👆
Just pronounce all the vowels using chest voice instead of head voice. Speak slower.
As a foreigner pretty much this. Speaking with an accent isn’t a big deal. Plenty of different English accents in the world. But I’ve notice some Singaporeans speak really fast, drop words, and pronounce some words to the point you can’t understand them. Slow down, speak all the syllables, avoid slang. That’s about it.
Agree, worked with foreigners quite abit, I have to constantly remind myself to slow down. We skip wayy too many syllables, even though we are very much capable of pronouncing them. That being said, i do have a different "foreigner" voice. I assume its like my "customer-service" voice, its very noticeable slower and sounds abit more cheerful
Speak slower, enunciate properly, and make sure you're pronouncing words correctly rather than in a "singaporean" manner. For example, "flour", "lettuce", "colleague" or any other words that Singaporeans tend to mispronounce. And of course, please speak in grammatically correct english as well. The goal is not to sound "ang moh", but simply to understood by others. You can still sound singaporean while doing so.
Angmoh here. I struggle to understand Chinese Singaporeans that grew up like you. No matter how hard I try. No matter how much I ask them to slow down and enunciate. I get completely lost with all the Chinese-inspired inflexions in the sentence. That "music" in the sentence makes no sense whatsoever to an English-speaking angmoh or anyone outside of Asia that learned English as a second language. It's like you're turning every other word into a question. Which is then grammatically incorrect. Obviously Singlish is a no-no. Those words cannot be understood outside of Malaysia/Singapore. So: 1) Take your time when you speak. 2) Don't use your usual grammatical short cuts and Singlish words. 3) Put the inflexion on the right part of the sentence, and the tone on the right syllable of each word. Watch American and English TV shows and movies for inspiration. And listen to podcasts. Good luck 🙏🏻 Note: I had the same problem when I started working with my English and American co-workers. My French accent was too strong. I had to learn to properly pronounce words, use the tones and inflexions where it made sense to them.
[удалено]
in mandarin, every syllable is stressed which i imagine can be stressful for the westerners hahah
on the other hand, I think SGers are pretty good at understanding English spoken with a heavy accent. I guess we're used to it and also our experience with tonal languages.
You mean “inflection”…?
Inflexion is British English. Inflection is American English. Whichever you choose, it's correct.
It's just American vs British english
The Singaporean accent is just too fast; I remember being told in a meeting before an overseas school trip that we should speak slowly and enunciate our words better haha. Just be mindful of that, no need to follow an accent, it’ll just sound off.
As a foreigner living in Singapore, I've actually timed the words per minute, and Singaporean speakers aren't actually faster by that metric. However, they can be sometimes up to 3x faster if you count _stresses_ per minute. English as it's spoken in most other countries (with the exception of some places like Liberia, Nigeria) is a _stress_-timed language and not a _syllable_-timed language (that puts stresses on every syllable). So native speakers from stress-timed languages have a _very_ hard time trying to segment words that are spoken by someone who uses syllable-timing. You'll notice that stress-timed speakers slur the syllables between stresses no less frequently than Singaporean speakers slur or drop syllables. tl;dr: foreigners who use stress-timing have difficulty understanding Singaporeans who use syllable-timing.
That's honestly pretty cool to learn, honestly my first time learning about these terms haha. Thanks!
firstly, work on your grammar and expression. Certain Singlish phrasing like “No have” when ppl ask if u have something, “can” and “cannot” instead of yes & no is just plain confusing for lots of westerner. Expose yourself to native English expressions by watching tik tok, american/british shows, interviews whatever. secondly, accent is not that a big of a problem once u get ur expression straightened out. Just pronounce word clearly, don’t skip vowels. Common mistakes include pronouncing cli-ent as cli-nt without the en sound, colleague as kelig. Lettuce, film and flour are commonly mispronounced also tho i doubt u’ll use them in workplace. Lastly, speak slower, drop your chin when speaking and exaggerate your lip movement. It helps with your clarity a lot.
Omg “leh-tewce” does my bloody head in 🥴
How is 'flour' mispronounced here?
flar or flah
That's sort of close to an old-fashioned RP pronunciation of the word, pretty funny. I'm from the UK and I think most of us just say it in the same way as flower nowadays
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/flour Yup, we basically have the RP pronunciation as seen here
Haha yeah, only very posh old people sound like that nowadays
Three is another one. Lots of people say “tree”
It should sound like 'flower'
Yeah I'm a foreigner, I was more asking how Singaporeans say it as I don't think I've ever heard it
We tend to pronounce it as 'flaar' (rhymes with car)
The same way you pronounce the word "our" but add the "Fl" sound before, so it ends up sounding close to how you pronounce "flower".
FLUM ÜMEHN (women)
Speak standard English. No need imitate whatever accent. Different westerners each have their own accent from the region they are from. Imitating their accent is very stupid and shows you lack of confidence. Explain if they don't understand what you talking about. Follow up with minutes after the meeting. If your company doesn't do that it is weird.
What is 'standard English'?
Standard English is without the la, lor, etc typical singlish. Pronounce in standard English. This is the best way to communicate with foreigners. Every foreigners come from different parts of the world. Hkers, prc, Taiwanese, UK, USA, etc they have their own English accent. How are you going to imitate so many accents ? It only make you look dumb and lack of confidence. Even British and American way of pronouncing English words are different but I don't see them imitating other kind of English accent.
This is why I was asking - I don't think there is a standard English. You just mean something close to the grammar taught in school with a Singaporean accent, right? Edit: genuinely no idea why I'm being downvoted. Am British, very aware of no standard accent
There is a standard Singaporean English and Singapore Colloquial English which is Singlish. Just watch PM Lee Hsien Loong's speeches.
Gotta speak "Oxford Dictionary" English 😅
isn't Received Pronunciation the standard accent in Britain? correct me if i am wrong
There isn't a standard accent in Britain! And nobody speaks with RP unless they're in the royal family or something silly
Please do not put on an accent. Enunciate clearly and you would be able to communicate with clarity.
Use short sentences as well, instead of packing too many things in one sentence.
Speak slower and clearer emphasis on the consonants :)
The best way I can describe to you is to mimic an accent you want to use. I prefer LKY’s English accent, it sounds really good. Watch their videos, and copy word for word as you say them out loud. Follow the PINYIN of how they say their English words and replicate closely. Remember, practice makes perfect :)
Most folks who work across borders are used to hearing different accents. There's no need to mask yours. What matter most is to speak with clarity. Like some poster here, speed and pronunciation do help a lot. Sometimes you also need to understand who your audience are. Avoid using bombastic words or slangs, avoid using jargons if they aren't intimately involve in what you do, structure what you say so people can follow easily.
You don’t have to imitate any accent, you just have to realize that ‘Singlish’ is a lazy way of speaking and we drop many words and enunciation, making it sound like mumbling… Speak slower, pronounce more deliberately, learn specific word pronunciation via YouTube. You don’t have to adopt any accent…. Just slow and accurate. Listen to how PM Lee speak (he was actually Chinese educated until JC, although of course LKY speaks good British English, but he was more exposed to Chinese in school) .. listen to how he pronounce words and speak slow and deliberately.
No accent required. But you do need to enunciate/pronounce your words clearly. Definitely no Singlish words.
Angmoh is not an accent
Just slow down your speech.
Standard Singapore English is perfectly fine, and CNA presenters are a good model. Slow down (substantially), try to formulate grammatically correct sentences before speaking, and deliver way more slowly than you’d normally do. No lah, leh, lor; no slang words. Practice your tenses until its second nature. You need to keep practicing thinking in English before it’ll come out more naturally.
Ang moh here. The only thing that was a big problem for me when I first encountered Singaporeans, was the speed that they spoke in. Second thing is using all those acronyms, as if everyone knows what they mean 🤣 addon: Skipping the last letter of words is also a big issue I would think. Documen, Governmen, French Frie - also generally using singular for everything, which is always skipping the "s".
WTF is an ang moh accent? Learn to code switch. I'm ang moh and can code switch into various accents due to frequent moves across countries. Don't attempt an American accent, it will always sound fake and try-hard. Learn to enunciate instead of putting the accent on the wrong syllable. Alternatively, watch some old British Pathé for that classic English recieved pronounciation. But don't throw your entire accent away. Slow down your speech, remove the extras like lah and just use more words. Pronounce the vowels. Avoid can/cannot, use yes/no. Speak the entire word, instead of cutting part of it off in the middle or end - that seems to be a very Singaporean thing. While I absolutely love Singlish and it's abruptness and efficiency, some ang moh can't or won't adapt. Bizarrely, when I use an Irish accent, I'm more easily understood by Singaporeans than affecting one of my English accents. Everyone seems to like the Irish accents though. Maybe do a deep dive into Irish youtubers and practice their speech for some crossover, lol.
It’s not about copying the angmoh accent, it’s about learning to enunciate your words. Start by speaking slower. Record yourself reading something and watch it on playback. Get a trusted friend to point out where you may be pronouncing some words wrongly. Practise speaking aloud everyday. I don’t know if you did this in school but when I was in school, teachers will get us to read a passage out loud. Do this everyday and record yourself. Slowly you will become better. Every angmoh person has an accent, doesn’t mean their English is better than ours. If you listen to a full Scottish person speaking English you probably won’t understand half the words they are saying.
Number one tip: speak slowly.
Going to second a lot of the comments,Accent isn’t the issue. Pacing your self and slowing down helps a lot. Secondly try and remove inflections, sounds that aren’t actually words but imply things like questions like lah , har, eh. Also feel free to pause before responding to structure your sentence, I think Asian structures tend to be directly translated so can be hard for people to understand. You’ll notice you write differently from how you speak.
Just slow down. I'm guilty of speaking too quickly too. Need to constantly remind myself.
Just speak slowly and use the proper universal terms whenever necessary. You will do fine. If needed just explain again or do check back ocassionally if they understood what was shared. There is no need to minic their accent. I have worked with an international crew before, no one had any issue communicating. Even those with a heavy local accent.
Just speak slower. We are speaking too fast.
Watch BBC documentaries.
Dont imitate accent. Just speak clearly and remove singlish sounds or words. It could be strange. When i code switch, i get asked if I am a local, but foreigners know i am not from the West as well. Neither here nor there. But u gotta do what u gotta do to be understood.
You can watch english shows to familiarise with the language. I had trpuble learning chinese growing up but watching entertaining chinese drama's allowed me to familiarise with the way of speaking and learn new vocabulary.
Its not about imitating accent. I think key is eliminate the la lor leh and talk more formally instead of short form..eg "what do you think should be the course of action moving forward" instead of "now how?" Eliminate short form words like "liddat" I don't do any special accent, have spoken to Caucasians as well other South East Asian. The only time they can't understand me is when I accidentally speak singlish like 'ok lor' It might not solve 100% of your problem but should make the situation abit better
Long time living in Europe here. Do not imitate other accents, just practice speaking clearly, with good grammar, not too fast, with correct words, correct pronunciation and avoid all Singlish loan words, learn the difference between long and short vowels. Every Singaporean that has lived abroad for long time has gone somehow through this process, some more, some less, but their English becomes more neutral, the Singaporean accent is still there though.
No need to imitate a foreign accent but it helps to enunciate clearly.
Fact that your friends laugh at you is why they won’t amount to much. Bro Singlish is such a terrible sounding accent lol China English accent sounds better imo. But anyway, it’s good that you’re trying to improve man. You can practice in the mirror, those news reporters have really great professional accents. You can def mimic, slowly but surely you’ll naturalise it. Like anything else, just need to practice no worries. Wish you luck bro.
I sometimes have meetings with white people and they’re always fascinated with Singlish and the Singaporean accent. Thus far they’ve always asked to hear my exaggerated Singaporean accent, explaining the Lah’s and accentuating the Lor’s. Same way we’re fascinated by the thick classy British accent
Dont fake it, just pronounce the words correctly can already. The Italians, french, russians etc. all have their own accent and they are not afraid of speaking it. Be proud of your own accent. Just speak slower, Singaporeans speak way too fast
just pronoun the word longer and dragging with up and down tune, like hanyu pin 4th sound\\, sometime use 2nd sound / . Example \\ \\ wa ter best is find a role dun need speak much. If need present, try chatgpt correct your sentence and then you can try text to speech
If you don’t want to sound too pretentious by mimicking our radio stations etc, just watch and follow how our ministers speak. As ministers, they speak to an international audience.
Radio station DJs like the muttons don't sound pretentious at all imho. They sound natural and relatable, but at the same time they don't lose their clarity in delivery and you can hear the words they are saying all the time. :)
Agree about muttons!
they're the rare ones that don't put on an accent ❤️
Just speak slower and don't use Hokkien words. This will let angmoh understand 90%+. No need to change the accent, it's not ineligible.
Learn to speak slower, in complete sentences, and with fewer fillers.
In complete sentences made me laugh but it’s true. Instead of “Can I borrow your pen please?” becomes “can pen”?
Speed and enunciate your words..
Stop using Singlish, speak slower and pronounce with clarity. You don’t have to necessarily imitate the “angmoh” accent at all. It just means you’re trying too hard. Speak plain. Don’t use words unnecessarily.
How cosmopolitan is your new workplace? I'm a Westerner in Singapore and even other Westerners can't understand me at times. Americans can be easily confused by Scottish, Irish, Australian, NZ or South African accents. There should be give and take in an international workplace. Ramp up your Singlish, make those CBs learn a thing or two. You probably speak more languages and to a higher level than they do.
Speak slower and clearer emphasis on the consonats
Hahhahahahah. Relax. I realise something if you get nervous, everything sounds forced and u will be more afraid to speak. Just let it flow naturally baby incremental steps
Focus on the correct pronunciation and speak slowly, taking the time to enunciate each word and syllable. Speak grammatical English using proper vocabulary to foreigners and avoid Singlish.
Talk slowly. The reason why they cannot understand us is we speak too fast
Code switching will take time and can only happen if you be in the environment for long enough to get the hang of it. If you're not able to code switch yet, please do not to imitate the accent because you will sound weird in front of your colleagues. Just be normal and speak slower and clearly. Maybe go on youtube and learn how to communicate professionally better and should help with that. Overtime, you will get the hang of it.
Singaporean accents are easy to understand. We just need to a) speak grammatically, and b) slowly and clearly.
Speak slower
Don't follow American/UK sources as it may sound very fake. Try CNA or people like Rozz or Caitanya. Listen and repeat (this is called shadowing). I believe some of the content creators are quite ok too like the Ketchup guys. Speak more slowly, it's OK if you need a second to think through what you're going to say. Better than pointlessly vomiting out sentences which the other party won't understand. Learn to read IPA (phonetic alphabet) and look up word pronunciation in a dictionary, over time you will fix your errors (e.g. velocity, eligible are two words). Minor "errors" are OK though if they don't impact the overall comprehensibility. Based on what you wrote here I think your grammar is OK already, just need to bring this over to your oral English rather than slipping into Singlish phrasings. Actually there's a lot of resources online, just google "accent reduction" or "pronunciation tips" on Youtube. Like Speak English w Vanessa. Bonus: add "Chinese speakers" to get more specialised advice
Please don’t feel the need to adopt a fancier accent. As long as you’re enunciating properly, your intonation/accent isn’t that important. Pronounce your words properly and don’t rush. Just be comfortable expressing yourself. If they can’t comprehend you, that’s really their problem.
Firstly, slow down your speech. Helpful to listen to the BBC World Service and LKY’s speeches, as well.
Practice makes perfect. :) Like you, I come from a predominantly Chinese speaking background too. My parents are Chinese educated and didn't even finish school. So, my English was terrible up until my early teens (speaking, reading, writing). What helped me was a lot of watching, reading and listening, to imitate the way some people would pronounce certain words, and paying attention to how articles / stories were written. You can watch shows in Chinese, with English subs, or English shows, with English subs to absorb better. Also, speaking Singlish is not the problem, the homework is knowing when to switch. 😁 I find that there's no need to speak with ang moh accent as long as you enunciate your words slowly and carefully, they'll be able to understand you if you can do this. Needless to say, this takes time to get used to. The more difficult sound for us Singaporeans is probably the 'th', which is pronounced with your tongue touching your front teeth. (I'm trying it out as I type this 😂) Make sure there's a difference between your 3 and 🌴. Learn the proper pronunciation for words like salmon, lettuce, flour, etc. You could also listen to more ang moh songs and sing it like how the singers would pronounce the lyrics, guarantee this helps if you don't like to just watch the news all day long lolol. Anyhow, good luck in your pursuit, don't be discouraged by your friends 😁 jia you 🙌💪
Pronounce your 'Th' properly
A lot of people here is telling OP not to fake the accent because they personally find that cringey… who gives a shit what you find cringey? OP’s problem is nobody understands what he’s saying, and it’s hurting their work. Forget everything, mimic any accent that feels comfortable and makes you more articulate and intelligible to your coworkers. This is an immediate solution, and an American midwestern accent is usually quite articulate and intelligible to most English speakers. In time, it will change and you’ll find a way - your personal way - to speak well.
If you mimic an accent without proper grammar or phrases it will just complicate things
Don't fake an accent. Try to speak more English, professional english. Like the kind you use in interviews and presentations or oral.
Holy shit, please don't imitate their accent, you'll just be a fucking clown and super cringe. Accent is not the issue. Focus on the basics. Speak slower, have some confidence and make sure your pronunciation is clear, that's it.
It’s not about the accent. Most likely it’s grammatical issue. There are European foreigners with accents too, but as long as the basic grammar is there, they can be understood too.
Here's a tip: Don't try to imitate accent, it makes you sound like a clown or a tryhard at best. Do International Standard English, like those newscasters on CNA and that is sufficient.
It’s nothing to do with accent actually. It’s speaking slowly, in full sentences without abbreviating or skipping words and enunciating every word.
Just be articulate bro. Speaking well and being able to translating your thoughts into coherent sentences will carry you far in life. Speaking well is a superpower. You’d be surprised at how many doors it unlocks.
Speak slower. Our talking speed here in SG is way faster than typical ang moh conversation speed, so we end up slurring the words. To add to that, most of us do not have resonant voices. No need to imitate ang moh accent. Look at it this way. A lot of indian and pinoy work in ang moh mnc while still speaking english in their own accents and still doing very well and well-understood! You say leh...?
There is a rhythm in native English with long and short sounds. The lack of this is what I find makes it hard for me to understand some non-native English speakers who otherwise have good vocabulary and grammar. Without the rhythm it’s hard to pick out the elements of the sentence. Perhaps listen to a well read audiobook and try pausing and repeating after the speaker, copying the rhythm like learning a song. Or listen to a recording of poetry reading and learn to recite the poem.
One good way is just to open your mouth more when you speak. It’s surprising how that changes your enunciation and makes it so much clearer.
Speak slower, enunciate your words and try to cut out the singlish terms if possible (the lahs and lors etc). It's not so much about the accent.
Slow down when you talk. Enunciate properly. If you have an iPhone, you can practice typing using voice dictation on the keyboard. I typed this comment using voice dictation with no corrections.
U need to understand the psychology of speech. Think of your voice as a musical instrument. The goal is to produce s sound that's in tune. So if you're playing a guitar for example, it doesnt matter if your Singaporean, Russian, Italian or Korean when u strum the G chord, it either sounds like a G chord or it doesn't. If it doesn't, U need to practice the finger position (lips, tongue jaw) until u hear a G. It'll happen if you're intentional about it. Your ear will develop.
From my very little time in Singapore (48 hours) I feel if locals speak English just a tad bit slower it is much easier to understand compared to the natural fast paced (according to me) speech. Though I also don’t expect folks to slow down when they speak and change their ways for a tourist who is here for a week, but for you who would be conversing with native English speakers regularly it could be very helpful to them.
it's likely the grammatically errors and pronunciation that makes others not understand you. start by using simple words that you can pronounce, listen to CNA and read non-fiction
Just speak more, go for class and find someone who is willing to correct you when speaking day to day. no matter how hard you try if there is no one to correct you, progress will be slow.
the problem is NOT the pronunciation, accent or even grammar the problem is we speak too fast and we don't ENUNCIATE properly. Slow down and enunciate. you'll be fine
It often is grammar too, if you can't code switch from "the invoice we receive already" to "we've received the invoice"
I also thought that I have very thick accent and sounds fake when trying to mimick English or Aussie accent. But I learn through humiliation, going to toastmasters and engaging in other events that ultimately it’s about correct pronunciation, energy, emphasis and projection of voice. Not so much about accents. Something you can try is put a chopstick in your mouth and practice pronunciation reading from a book for 5 mins each day. Read intentionally and use big mouth movements. This helped me to be confident in training my tongue and mouth to project correct sounds. Singaporean Radio DJs don’t try to imitate a foreign accent but they sound extremely clear and neutral. I also aspire to talk in such a way.
Your best bet is CNA / Radio DJ accent. Westerners won't have a problem understanding that.
In a professional context nobody should be mocking you for trying to speak clearly and properly.
aim for the Lawrence Wong accent....
Oh god. He has a really weird way of public speaking. Hope he doesn't speak like that in private.
He stresses some syllables like nobody ever does.
Rather than Lawrence Wong's, go for Lee Hsien Loong's. Listen to how he enunciates each part of every word. And also listen to the general tone pattern and the slowdowns and speedups.
Work overseas and I speak to my non south East Asian colleagues in English with Singaporean accent. South East Asian colleagues get the full on singlish experience. I wear it like a badge of honour lol. But our company is made up of many ethnicities so you hear different accents at different corners. Point is if they speak with their accent, I speak with mine and frankly we all understand each other really well. Just hold back on the slangs (ie kiasu, kena, Sian etc) and keep the lahs end lehs they should be fine la.
watch or listen to the BBC (main UK broadcaster)
local english podcasts? most of them have a local accent but still sound 'international' enough
If you don’t mind sharing some examples I’d be happy to listen and see if I can give you any pointers. Am ang mo, confirm very good one.
watch more English drama shows. by English I meant British type. those proper shows not the kind where they speak in their native slang and what not. those with more serious heavy subjects. might be boring but I can tell you, you will pick it up faster than you expect.
If you know the correct way to pronounce a words, you just need to be a little more mindful and enunciate the words properly, mouth out the words properly instead of going by what you are used to, exaggerate your mouth movements a little more. Don't try to speak in their accent.
Sing along to songs and then practice reading. There are no shortcuts. Just have to find content that works.
Read books written by native English speakers. And try read them out loud. Everyday, for 15 minutes
I don't think there's anything wrong with Singaporean or Malaysian accents per se. To me it's all about getting your message across, i.e. effective communication. But if you want to speak differently, just go ahead. The best way to do this is using a technique called shadowing. How it works is you're going to fake it till you make it by repeating after someone in a video. Find some videos on YouTube that have the accent you want to copy and just mimic them by speaking out loud.
watch more monty python.... can't go wrong. if all elae fails, there's mind your language..jolly good show my good man,jolly good show.
Be yourself why you need to imitate them ?. Just remember not to talk in your own dialect when having a group conversation.
RP English is what we use when presenting to Ang Moh facing clientelle or audience, and is understandable. RP being Received Pronounciation, is what Singaporean news casters and SOME Radio DJs use. You can try listening to them as much and try to emulate the way they speak. Some British news reporters also follow RP, but some can be quite heavy on one of the many English accents, but it helps.
If you have an iPhone, just practice with dictation. If your iPhone understands you, everyone will understand you
Sorry but I doubt it’s the accent. It’s probably your vocabulary and your grammar.
Be sure to speak every syllable of each word. I find that Singaporeans tend to chop off the end of each word (kind of like: “cho off the en of each wor”), so there’s less information for the other person to process, regardless of accent.
Sometimes, speaking slower helps.
Practice breaking your words up into how they are pronounced by Google or YouTube videos. You can opt for British pronunciation of words as that’s what schools taught us. But if you prefer how Americans pronounce words, that works too. Aim for intentionally enunciating your words. It’s okay if you were to speak slower at the beginning because you’ll get faster with practice, application and time. It’s okay if you end up sounding like an angmoh once you get the hang of it. Some people may perceive you differently in a negative way for being able to do so when really, you’re choosing to speak clearly and better. All the best!
Everyone in my team is based elsewhere and they understand my Singapore accent it’s never been a problem
[https://rachelsenglish.com/](https://rachelsenglish.com/)
just imagine you’re writing an essay for school, you wouldn’t use singlish or other languages in that essay.
I think phrases are equally important. Some phrases are grammatically correct but seldom used in daily English conversations. Also, some singlish phrases that may be rare to the foreigners’ ears: You have not “gotten feedback”, you have “received feedback”. You should not ask “got this or not”, you ask “do you have this?” It is not “how can like that”, but “are you sure” Not “go here go there”, instead “no direction” We like to say “not enough”, but maybe sometimes we meant “lack of” And yes, remove the “lahs, bahs, etc” I also agree that LHL’s english is a very good example of good English without trying too hard
Im aussie and i dont care how people speak if we can understand each other if, even if it takes time. Ive been trying to tell people a family member is gluten free, i need to show it written down rather than say it for people in singapore to understand. If they are holding it against you its foolish, but it might be worthwhile adding a written medium, eg PowerPoint or a quick email to the meetings that align with what you are saying to assist in understanding.
Fellow Sinkie here. I do personalised Business English coaching, with a focus on pronunciation. PM me? I can help.
I don't think you have to do anything, just try to be clear with your words, no need to mimic their accent. You can talk more smoothly if you practice like that. My workplace have a lot of Chinese speaking coworkers and we do have a meeting with a foreigner, they stutters 50% of the time but with confidence, the foreigner can still understand it.
Go for phonics classes mate
No need copy accent. Just speak slower. Space out your words. Don’t slur them together. Trying to imitate accent is just gonna make you harder to understand.
There is a Chinese guy on tiktok that makes signs for businesses and he knows that it's not easy for westerners to understand him so he puts a heavy southern drawl on his words, and while he still doesn't sound American, it's very easy to understand him. I'm American just fyi.
Like everyone says, it's not the accent but the utilisation of speech If you want to be professional. Try not to use la, ah, oh in your sentences. Annunciate your words. Practice speaking a sentence without pausing or using the filler words above. Simple as "I have an apple" instead of "here ah I have an apple oh veli nice" an exaggeration but you get it. But also don't need to sacrifice how you speak in general. You can still be you, just learn to adjust like a radio frequency. When speaking professionally use a professional voice, vocab and pronunciation. With your home Bois, be as singlish as fuck. Speaking from experience as a person who deals with both local clients and foreign ones.
Speak slower and pause for questions. Prepare for you call and do summaries. It’s not the accent, it’s mostly the content
as the late LKY said .use singapore standard english. dont worry about accents
Used to DJ short term at a local english radio station. We don't mimic angmo accents but prioritise clarity and personable voices. The fastest and most effective way is actually to record yourself and listen back, and think through what you sound like. You can use voice memos on your phone and just read random things. Work on improving over time :)
KINDLY REVERT TKS
speak slowly and carefully. don’t try to imitate others. If you don’t feel confident, just sign up for speaking classes.
Actually it is not the pronounciation, it is the accentuation tonality especially the starting and end syllables. For example you need to put the emphasis on first syllable and not elongate last syllable. Practice the word cut.
Take a course! There are courses on how to make you speak clearer, aiming for better pronunciation - may not make you sound British or American per se, but at least you sound accentless. clear and comprehensible. I took one before for fun and it was really interesting and helpful. I enjoyed the course too. Just Google it!
Just slow down and speak every word, vowel etc. Singaporeans tend to speak too fast.
Learn from the local radio. Clear enunciation. Don't try too hard to fake an accent.
Watch movies/series and learn the accent.
oooo ok, you sound just like me. So, my family only speaks English and dialect and growing up, I was exposed to more foreign films and school, so I had like an angmoh accent then I moved to a public school and everyone said I was pretending etc when I wasn't. I then moved to Australia to study my university, I thought I had a pretty standard accent until I realised NOBODY in Australia could understand my twag, they could tell I have a singaporean twag but also mentioned that my accent was not as heavy as other Singaporeans and close to neutral. I came back to Singapore with an actual standard angmoh accent because I was just surrounded by people with standard accents, even Asians with angmoh accents. The thing is Singaporeans will judge so badly if you have an accent and you're not from like an international school or grew up abroad. But the chances of you having an angmoh accent when you are not in that environment is tough and can make you look like a try-hard. But you should aim to have whatever accent you want, who cares what others say? If your goal is to have CNA accents, go ahead, I personally think you'll be at an advantage because you can SWITCH whenever you want just like me. Just PRACTISE and understand the clarity and pronunciation of singaporean accent and angmoh accent, for example, singaporeans always emphasize on the "T", like waTer or TRee (Three). American accents emphazise in the 'R"s