A netizen who came across a Facebook post of an expatriate seeking a native English speaker in Singapore was rather bothered by his post.
In a reddit post on Tuesday (Aug 23), user Familiar-Mouse4490 asked: “Are Singaporeans technically ‘Native English speakers’?”
They added that when they came across the expat’s Facebook post, they “chuckled because I thought ‘aren’t we all native English speakers'”.
“While I’m sure he probably meant no disrespect and probably want a proper English teacher so to speak.
But I really wonder if we as Singaporeans would be considered so? Our main language is English even tho the official language is malay, and unlike hongkongers, while they may be largely English educated, Cantonese is still their main and first language, so I think they wouldn’t be considered ‘native'”, the netizen wrote on reddit.
They added that they came across a tuition centre with mostly Caucasians that touted itself as having ‘native speakers’. However, the netizen then asked if race mattered when it came to being a native speaker of English.
It sparked an interesting debate on reddit. Here’s what others said:
Lim Tean calls out Chan Chun Sing’s “disgraceful glorification of Singlish”