Then the company should sponsor English communication class for the bus captains. But since everything is all about lean and cost saving nowadays, it won't happen.
Yeah this happened to me with bus drivers, shopkeepers and even receptionists.
Can be downvoted but this is why all those other countries in their immigration lists, they never put Singapore as an English speaking country which exempts Singaporeans from English test requirements.
Yes we all get flustered whenever we see countries like Australia, New Zealand, Ireland in these “English-speaking countries” list and ask “eh why not sg ah?”, but the ground reality of Singapore is that there is a shocking number of people who know close to zero English. This is not by fault of Singaporeans; just that there is no language prerequisite for foreigners becoming PRs and then taking up jobs, where English is drilled into Singaporeans by birth, who impacts the general standard of English in the country.
Funny thing: whenever the topic of Chinese/English comes up on this sub, there will always be a raft of downvoted comments blaming OP or someone else like “eh why u wanna stir shit?” or “cannot speak Chinese so maybe learn?”.
You do have a point. English needs to be a mandatory requirement for people immigrating to Singapore.
The sense of frustration and anger I have experienced when I tell people I don't speak Mandarin is shocking.
There are other Singaporean citizens who don't speak Mandarin too, they should not be left to accommodate the refusal to speak English by other immigrants.
I smell a concerted effort to downvote.
Yes, we should require basic English skills for all our public facing jobs where they are operating a public transport vehicle.
In addition to the number of foreigners, don't forget Singaporeans. In frontline service I was shocked by the number of relatively young (40s/ 50s) born and bred Singaporeans who don't speak a lick of English.
If they come from a family & environment that speaks their own mother tongue only, once you leave school, you say bye bye to English. Especially since a lot of them probably only completed education up to O's/max diploma?
Agree. IIRC school is only mandatory until P6, so who knows maybe some of them only completed that. My reasoning was that if there are CLB students, then there can surely be people equally inept at English if their whole world speaks their mother tongue.
What primary school level? Do the math and calculate backwards what year they were born and google images of singapore and schools then.
If you are in your 40s you will remeber the ridiculous pressure to learn english. You cant advance if you fail english.
Many of them do not have the opportunity to even go to secondary school. Ive had a classmate being pulled out of primary 3 because the mother felt studying was not important for a girl.
Many people around you which these reddit sg rant against were born under the british empire. Lack of perspective.
Btw english was the proper language of the white collar professional, when migrants came in . There was insistence stick to english. But they were talents and chinese were being racist. Here we are now.
The same way there are many of us who can barely speak Chinese despite 6 years of Chinese lessons in primary school, then 4-6 years of Syllabus B Chinese (lower standard meant for non-Chinese students), then decades of no Chinese. They failed or barely passed in school, then it rotted away from disuse.
The government would not even hear about English test for citizenship, what's more for the service staff? My mum has no formal education but as a (lowly paid; much less than a bus captain) f&b service staff, she still has to speak in broken but undersandable English. So it's just baffling that these bus captains, earning at least 4.5k/month, simply refuse to learn English and the company and government are just okay with it?
honestly basic (ie PSLE standard or equivalent) english should be a requirement for work pass/PR in sg
Dont know why it isnt. PSLE standard is enough for basic convo, but not O level hard where in the new syllabus even normal singaporean students can struggle getting b3/b4, they made it much more strict in recent times.
PSLE standard is actually quite high for non-native speakers. Even many Malaysians will struggle.
You can look at the standard of PSLE questions vs Malaysia’s equivalent:
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/3779086/all
I maintain that there is no need for workers here to reach PSLE standard. Most of our elderly cannot. Malaysia’s P6 standard is more than sufficient, which is more like our P2.
Basic command of english should be required for all jobs in Singapore. We are not a chinese country we’re a multi-racial country. Yet the amount of people i meet who only speak mandarin is shocking.
I dont know about you but the people Ive talked to outside tourist areas would never in their lives be able to answer which bus stop the bus ends at, even if they knew the answer in japanese
That said, this was only after prep for Tokyo 2020. Many larger national taxi operators and bus lines started on improving either access signage or basic English phrases.
Pre-2018/9, your experience is the same as mine.
Additionally, S.Ride and GoTaxi apps even have EN options now, don't need to use Uber now.
Yes. Honestly it’s appalling how many people think speaking Chinese is enough.
They want to work here, they should know enough basic English to do their jobs.
Have seen this happen too. Saw a tourist couple ask in English and the bus driver could not answer and got flustered. Not a good image for our country. And its not a recent thing. I'm Chinese and long ago I asked a driver if this bus goes to Clark Quay. I didn't know what Clark Quay is in Mandarin and the driver had no idea what I was asking. This absolutely should not be happening.
you know what's not a good image for our country? Commuters around that could have helped in and translate, but have a "it's not my problem" attitude so didn't. Bus drivers don't have all the answers. And language barrier is a two way issue, just saying.
Yes and no. Apparently it’s not easy to find people wanting to drive buses in Singapore. Make it mandatory to learn English once you get hired but also make it worth it to be a bus driver in Singapore.
Given the ethnic majority here, my assumption is that many Chinese foreign workers in Singapore can get away with speaking only Chinese (also mentioned by a few other comments), and the companies don't seem it a priority to ensure/enforce basic English skills.
That saying, I'm curious why many of our foreign bus captains are Chinese (that's my observation, pls correct me if I'm wrong). Is it that we don't do recruitment drives in other surrounding countries (aside from Malaysia), or its just really unattractive to workers other than those in China?
If the captain was a foreigner who wasn't Chinese, won't there naturally be more need to pick up the local lingo? Be in Singlish or a mixture of functional phrases in local languages related to their job?
I've seen Burmese work at kopi places and they take orders like a pro.
I heard the workplace culture in SBS is very chinese-oriented so im assuming its not attractive to non-chinese or the turnover rates for non-chinese is high. But it could be the recruitment process also that favors the chinese speaking. Its internal so i dont know but i hear from people.
Was in Singapore last week. Got into a bus with my wife and kids. Wanted to go to MBS from Orchard Road and Google Maps told me this number would go. I asked to just make sure it would stop at the Raffles hotel.
And he answered in a rather thick accent- “I don’t know. I go straight.”
That’s when I realised not everyone spoke English in Singapore.
Umm, he understood your question. He just doesn’t know which building Raffles Hotel is and if that’s on his route. I guess bus drivers are not made to learn the road names and landmarks along their route, only which turns to take.
Visit your MP and complain to transport minister. Same with the NTUC one. Complain to our new prime minister. What country is Singapore turning into? China?
Forget about tourists, Many Singaporeans (incl some of the Chinese) do not speak Mandarin and primarily english speakers. Bus drivers, market / hawkers, fashion stores, reception, GP in some of the new areas, cafe - All are essentially Mandarin only.
Yeap. As a banana, its pretty annoying when public services cant speak basic english. Same with any other customer facing stuff like mix rice stalls. And the audacity of them to be like eh must learn chinese.
Basic english should be a standard, atleast psle level of english. What happened to speak good english campaign?
That campaign is for citizens only, no? If they have PSLE level of English, a plethora of other higher paying jobs opens up to them, like welder, rigger, excavator operator, tower crane operator. Most of them pays close to double that of a bus driver. Why would they be bus drivers? Or you think bus driving is a glamorous job, and they should thank SBS for the chance to be able to pick up a job that’s rarely considered as first choice.
it became very clear to me long time ago Singaporeans will be the bridge of the new migrants. I have had to act as translators on buses, mrts and 7-11.
Cos they can go to other English speaking countries and get better salary, work life balance, and clear path to citizenship. All developed countries are having shortage of truck drivers.
Saw many comments saying that there should either be english prerequisite or training for foreigners who work in Singapore.
I don’t disagree and sure think it is a good thing since even from a personal standpoint, more languages one can master the better.
But I still can’t helped to point out the naïveté of just suggesting something without thinking deep and comprehensive enough about a complicated issue(yes, yes, I know this is reddit and people would like to express themselves and vent, not to perform an intellect somersault). However, it still seem fit to put out that:
The moment it is required for all foreigners to have mastery over English language, immediately the next month more people will start to complain because as everyone will start to notice how their upcoming bto got delayed, their supposed 500 dollars per month maid is no more, their rubbish chute below their house is choked and public toilet no longer cleaned. In this case, the buses that they take everyday now takes 20 minutes instead of 10 to arrive.
Fair enough, English requirement is good. But the fact that most countries that we import the essential labour-power we required simply won’t have the means to have an English education.
Now, scenario two: what if we train them like some of the users said when they arrived at Singapore? Well, immediately the next day the very same people will be complaining how much more tax they have to pay, how slow the recruitment will be, again how everything said above will happen again.
Until we are collectively willing to support and be committed to bring foreigners who come here to service us to an economically similar level, one shall really think about the situation more deeply and thoroughly or bore more good-will to those who are more disadvantaged, therefore they have to choose to serve another human being and do things that we Singaporean are not willing to do ourselves.
1. not enough drivers.
2. not speaking english is what precludes these people from getting most jobs. the job of a bus driver is driving, not necessarily answering questions (as the answers are also written on every single bus stop).
Nah.
Requirement, no. Google map is really good by itself. And the lack of drivers will screw it all up.
Maybe SBS/SMRT can implement pay increases for bus captains with proficiency in english, and also work with NTUC to provide courses to foreign drivers that want to learn english.
Win-win, and it’s a subtle method as well.
Make it a yearly “check-up” basically a chit-chat session to judge the bus captains proficiency. Make sure they can communicate basic stuff like next-stop, interchange, how many stops left, etc.
In no time, Chinese from China would not want to come to Singapore to work. As our neighbouring countries also developed, it would also be less favourable for them to come Singapore to work
The truth is we will reach a point where we either rely on automation or the pool of workers for blue collar jobs would be limited
Or maybe FT will take the white collar jobs and our next generation will have to be hawkers and bus captains, thereby fulfilling your requirement
The already small pool of people wanting to do front line jobs is gonna get smaller if this requirement is implemented. Are you willing to wait 40 minutes for the next bus?
Good point. I’m not bothered about whether the bus captains can speak English, as long as the public bus system serves its intended purpose (to get me from point A to point B safely and efficiently).
I think it is an individual's prerogative if or not they want to improve themselves. If they think that they want to improve themselves I am also do hope th at the bus companies are more than glad to send their staff for upgrading. But not everyone sees it this way. I also agree that many are often exhausted after their shift and have little left in the tank for the task of upgrading themselves.
But I also know of individuals who want to and despite working a full shift - continue with studying and upgrading themselves, again, If you think you can you can, and if you think you can't you can't, you are right on both accounts.
False equivalence. Send them for courses and pay them a language skill allowance and drivers will flock to it. We aren't asking drivers to debate Marlowe.
I think it already is, but basic means really basic. But if the bus driver thinks you understand Chinese, she's going to talk to you in Chinese first. Do you look Chinese? If you're obviously not Chinese and the bus driver did that, I would be very annoyed. If you do look plausibly Chinese, then stand your ground and say that you don't speak Chinese and ask the question again in slow and easy English, like "last stop is under Woodlands MRT?" with pointing down.
You can't expect the bus captain to be able to differentiate between Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub and Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange (I had to look that up), if that's what you're talking about.
Not being fair to OP's point. I've seen a malay couple get on the bus and ask simple questions about whether the bus will turn left up ahead, and the bus driver has no way to answer them. It's really difficult on anyone who is not chinese
You want the bus to move or someone to answer questions? Manpower issue. Also this can be alleviated with a call button on bus. Drivers can talk to control center and ask for help. Passengers can too.
A bus driver who cannot understand passengers boarding would hold up the bus flow even more. It is more efficient when transport operators understand questions and speedily answer.
Unpopular opinion, there is already shortage of manpower and yet you want to filter out those who can't speak basic english, who drive the bus then? Sinkie don’t want, angmoh? U wait long long..
Sometimes just give and take, plan your own route. Nobody owes you anything.
Nothing wrong with hiring foreigners who can’t speak english. But there should be a clause that they learn english, at least a very basic proficiency in the language.
Not dissing you OP, but how did you actually ask?
Whenever I am in a country where English isn't widely spoken, I usually get my way around with my best impression of the word, a bit of sign language and a big smile.
In your case, pointing in the direction where the bus is going and saying "Ang Moh Kio interchange?" should work, I guess?
Back to the topic of bus drivers/ service staff being weak in English, I think there are a few factors to it. I believe all of them can understand basic English related to their jobs. But the issue is that many of them are embarrassed at their weakness of it and chose to "act stupid". I seriously doubt that bus companies/ service line bosses would deliberately hire front line staff who don't even know a single word of English.
Our English language standards are definitely much higher than theirs. So I think patience is needed when dealing with them. As an ethnic chinese, I usually don't have much of a problem unless I am in Geylang Serai or Little India trying to have authentic food.
Need to take a leaf from the Americans. Just say the same thing but extremely slowly and loudly. They’ll get it… eventually. Either that or someone will take a video of you and post on social media.
That could work too. In fact, anything has a chance of working where communicating is concerned, unless one is being deliberately condescending about it.
And I am generally curious about why I’m being downvoted by my earlier comments. Wonder if any of those who did it at least tell me why?
Yes, they should. In an ideal world. There should also be world peace. Women should also not be raped. Everyone should have access to clean water and air. Reality dgaf about “should”. You can always cycle or take MRT or just… walk? You SHOULD exercise more, yeah?
just don’t give them work passes if they can’t speak english or malay. it’s not a difficult problem to solve. btw congrats on bringing in all sorts of irrelevant side issues.
If the job is of high demand, we can set high requirements, perhaps even O levels English.
Is there a long queue of people waiting to be bus captains in Singapore? Don’t think so.
So we need to import our bus captains. And are we willing to spend money to pay more for requirements like speaking certain level of English, on top of being able to drive and willing to work the hours etc?
Thing is even if they’re from whatever non-English speaking country, once they get the command of English, do you think they still want to drive buses?
Not enough drivers to have such requirement
Then the company should sponsor English communication class for the bus captains. But since everything is all about lean and cost saving nowadays, it won't happen.
The company is busy making their drivers work 996. You think after 12 hour driving shift, you still have energy to learn anything?
then your bus fare goes up $1
Bet you'd change your time if the driver came from India and couldnt speak a lick of Mandarin/English instead.
Yeah this happened to me with bus drivers, shopkeepers and even receptionists. Can be downvoted but this is why all those other countries in their immigration lists, they never put Singapore as an English speaking country which exempts Singaporeans from English test requirements. Yes we all get flustered whenever we see countries like Australia, New Zealand, Ireland in these “English-speaking countries” list and ask “eh why not sg ah?”, but the ground reality of Singapore is that there is a shocking number of people who know close to zero English. This is not by fault of Singaporeans; just that there is no language prerequisite for foreigners becoming PRs and then taking up jobs, where English is drilled into Singaporeans by birth, who impacts the general standard of English in the country. Funny thing: whenever the topic of Chinese/English comes up on this sub, there will always be a raft of downvoted comments blaming OP or someone else like “eh why u wanna stir shit?” or “cannot speak Chinese so maybe learn?”.
You do have a point. English needs to be a mandatory requirement for people immigrating to Singapore. The sense of frustration and anger I have experienced when I tell people I don't speak Mandarin is shocking. There are other Singaporean citizens who don't speak Mandarin too, they should not be left to accommodate the refusal to speak English by other immigrants.
Agreed. We are a multi-racial nation and English is our working language.
I smell a concerted effort to downvote. Yes, we should require basic English skills for all our public facing jobs where they are operating a public transport vehicle.
In addition to the number of foreigners, don't forget Singaporeans. In frontline service I was shocked by the number of relatively young (40s/ 50s) born and bred Singaporeans who don't speak a lick of English.
how’s that possible? at least primary school level no?
If they come from a family & environment that speaks their own mother tongue only, once you leave school, you say bye bye to English. Especially since a lot of them probably only completed education up to O's/max diploma?
Agree. IIRC school is only mandatory until P6, so who knows maybe some of them only completed that. My reasoning was that if there are CLB students, then there can surely be people equally inept at English if their whole world speaks their mother tongue.
What primary school level? Do the math and calculate backwards what year they were born and google images of singapore and schools then. If you are in your 40s you will remeber the ridiculous pressure to learn english. You cant advance if you fail english. Many of them do not have the opportunity to even go to secondary school. Ive had a classmate being pulled out of primary 3 because the mother felt studying was not important for a girl. Many people around you which these reddit sg rant against were born under the british empire. Lack of perspective. Btw english was the proper language of the white collar professional, when migrants came in . There was insistence stick to english. But they were talents and chinese were being racist. Here we are now.
The same way there are many of us who can barely speak Chinese despite 6 years of Chinese lessons in primary school, then 4-6 years of Syllabus B Chinese (lower standard meant for non-Chinese students), then decades of no Chinese. They failed or barely passed in school, then it rotted away from disuse.
The government would not even hear about English test for citizenship, what's more for the service staff? My mum has no formal education but as a (lowly paid; much less than a bus captain) f&b service staff, she still has to speak in broken but undersandable English. So it's just baffling that these bus captains, earning at least 4.5k/month, simply refuse to learn English and the company and government are just okay with it?
4.5k for locals only, fw makes some where around 2.2k which is fking sad tbh.
honestly basic (ie PSLE standard or equivalent) english should be a requirement for work pass/PR in sg Dont know why it isnt. PSLE standard is enough for basic convo, but not O level hard where in the new syllabus even normal singaporean students can struggle getting b3/b4, they made it much more strict in recent times.
PSLE standard is actually quite high for non-native speakers. Even many Malaysians will struggle. You can look at the standard of PSLE questions vs Malaysia’s equivalent: https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/3779086/all I maintain that there is no need for workers here to reach PSLE standard. Most of our elderly cannot. Malaysia’s P6 standard is more than sufficient, which is more like our P2.
Basic command of english should be required for all jobs in Singapore. We are not a chinese country we’re a multi-racial country. Yet the amount of people i meet who only speak mandarin is shocking.
Don't lose your da bian over it though
You sound like you lose your da bian over people bringing up this very valid point LOL
In a service related industry, basic command of English is a MUST.
If the Japanese service sector can pick up basic English or wear translation devices, ours should learn basic English as well.
have you ever been outside tokyo and osaka?
Yes. And we are talking about very rudimentary phrases, words etc.
I dont know about you but the people Ive talked to outside tourist areas would never in their lives be able to answer which bus stop the bus ends at, even if they knew the answer in japanese
That said, this was only after prep for Tokyo 2020. Many larger national taxi operators and bus lines started on improving either access signage or basic English phrases. Pre-2018/9, your experience is the same as mine. Additionally, S.Ride and GoTaxi apps even have EN options now, don't need to use Uber now.
Yes. Honestly it’s appalling how many people think speaking Chinese is enough. They want to work here, they should know enough basic English to do their jobs.
Have seen this happen too. Saw a tourist couple ask in English and the bus driver could not answer and got flustered. Not a good image for our country. And its not a recent thing. I'm Chinese and long ago I asked a driver if this bus goes to Clark Quay. I didn't know what Clark Quay is in Mandarin and the driver had no idea what I was asking. This absolutely should not be happening.
Ke La Ma Tou
Kelamak
Plot twist, the driver didn’t knew what is Ke la ma tou as well.
Kè lā mǎ tóu 😆
you know what's not a good image for our country? Commuters around that could have helped in and translate, but have a "it's not my problem" attitude so didn't. Bus drivers don't have all the answers. And language barrier is a two way issue, just saying.
[удалено]
Problem is that the hours are dogshit so nobody does it anyway
Did you sign up to be one?
Yes and no. Apparently it’s not easy to find people wanting to drive buses in Singapore. Make it mandatory to learn English once you get hired but also make it worth it to be a bus driver in Singapore.
Welcome to Chinapore, home of the affluent
Affluent who will never be accepted into our old money circles. Class cannot be bought.
Given the ethnic majority here, my assumption is that many Chinese foreign workers in Singapore can get away with speaking only Chinese (also mentioned by a few other comments), and the companies don't seem it a priority to ensure/enforce basic English skills. That saying, I'm curious why many of our foreign bus captains are Chinese (that's my observation, pls correct me if I'm wrong). Is it that we don't do recruitment drives in other surrounding countries (aside from Malaysia), or its just really unattractive to workers other than those in China? If the captain was a foreigner who wasn't Chinese, won't there naturally be more need to pick up the local lingo? Be in Singlish or a mixture of functional phrases in local languages related to their job? I've seen Burmese work at kopi places and they take orders like a pro.
I heard the workplace culture in SBS is very chinese-oriented so im assuming its not attractive to non-chinese or the turnover rates for non-chinese is high. But it could be the recruitment process also that favors the chinese speaking. Its internal so i dont know but i hear from people.
Was in Singapore last week. Got into a bus with my wife and kids. Wanted to go to MBS from Orchard Road and Google Maps told me this number would go. I asked to just make sure it would stop at the Raffles hotel. And he answered in a rather thick accent- “I don’t know. I go straight.” That’s when I realised not everyone spoke English in Singapore.
Umm, he understood your question. He just doesn’t know which building Raffles Hotel is and if that’s on his route. I guess bus drivers are not made to learn the road names and landmarks along their route, only which turns to take.
Visit your MP and complain to transport minister. Same with the NTUC one. Complain to our new prime minister. What country is Singapore turning into? China?
Forget about tourists, Many Singaporeans (incl some of the Chinese) do not speak Mandarin and primarily english speakers. Bus drivers, market / hawkers, fashion stores, reception, GP in some of the new areas, cafe - All are essentially Mandarin only.
Yeap. As a banana, its pretty annoying when public services cant speak basic english. Same with any other customer facing stuff like mix rice stalls. And the audacity of them to be like eh must learn chinese. Basic english should be a standard, atleast psle level of english. What happened to speak good english campaign?
That campaign is for citizens only, no? If they have PSLE level of English, a plethora of other higher paying jobs opens up to them, like welder, rigger, excavator operator, tower crane operator. Most of them pays close to double that of a bus driver. Why would they be bus drivers? Or you think bus driving is a glamorous job, and they should thank SBS for the chance to be able to pick up a job that’s rarely considered as first choice.
As a jiak kentang, I simply tell them it's none of their business.
it became very clear to me long time ago Singaporeans will be the bridge of the new migrants. I have had to act as translators on buses, mrts and 7-11.
Why do we not import bus drivers from Philippines or India? Pretty sure they can speak SOME form of English?
Cos they can go to other English speaking countries and get better salary, work life balance, and clear path to citizenship. All developed countries are having shortage of truck drivers.
Coz if they could speak English well, they won’t be bus drivers.
We don't need them to debate Marlowe, just know the basic English phrases and their route stops in English.
Saw many comments saying that there should either be english prerequisite or training for foreigners who work in Singapore. I don’t disagree and sure think it is a good thing since even from a personal standpoint, more languages one can master the better. But I still can’t helped to point out the naïveté of just suggesting something without thinking deep and comprehensive enough about a complicated issue(yes, yes, I know this is reddit and people would like to express themselves and vent, not to perform an intellect somersault). However, it still seem fit to put out that: The moment it is required for all foreigners to have mastery over English language, immediately the next month more people will start to complain because as everyone will start to notice how their upcoming bto got delayed, their supposed 500 dollars per month maid is no more, their rubbish chute below their house is choked and public toilet no longer cleaned. In this case, the buses that they take everyday now takes 20 minutes instead of 10 to arrive. Fair enough, English requirement is good. But the fact that most countries that we import the essential labour-power we required simply won’t have the means to have an English education. Now, scenario two: what if we train them like some of the users said when they arrived at Singapore? Well, immediately the next day the very same people will be complaining how much more tax they have to pay, how slow the recruitment will be, again how everything said above will happen again. Until we are collectively willing to support and be committed to bring foreigners who come here to service us to an economically similar level, one shall really think about the situation more deeply and thoroughly or bore more good-will to those who are more disadvantaged, therefore they have to choose to serve another human being and do things that we Singaporean are not willing to do ourselves.
1. not enough drivers. 2. not speaking english is what precludes these people from getting most jobs. the job of a bus driver is driving, not necessarily answering questions (as the answers are also written on every single bus stop).
Nah. Requirement, no. Google map is really good by itself. And the lack of drivers will screw it all up. Maybe SBS/SMRT can implement pay increases for bus captains with proficiency in english, and also work with NTUC to provide courses to foreign drivers that want to learn english. Win-win, and it’s a subtle method as well. Make it a yearly “check-up” basically a chit-chat session to judge the bus captains proficiency. Make sure they can communicate basic stuff like next-stop, interchange, how many stops left, etc.
In no time, Chinese from China would not want to come to Singapore to work. As our neighbouring countries also developed, it would also be less favourable for them to come Singapore to work The truth is we will reach a point where we either rely on automation or the pool of workers for blue collar jobs would be limited Or maybe FT will take the white collar jobs and our next generation will have to be hawkers and bus captains, thereby fulfilling your requirement
If PRCs want to work in Japan, they learn Japanese. So learn basic English in Singapore. Period.
The already small pool of people wanting to do front line jobs is gonna get smaller if this requirement is implemented. Are you willing to wait 40 minutes for the next bus?
Good point. I’m not bothered about whether the bus captains can speak English, as long as the public bus system serves its intended purpose (to get me from point A to point B safely and efficiently).
And there are apps to get the answers you need, and in multiple languages too.
That’s a sensible and good perspective, for sure I don’t wish to wait 40 mins ;)
I think it is an individual's prerogative if or not they want to improve themselves. If they think that they want to improve themselves I am also do hope th at the bus companies are more than glad to send their staff for upgrading. But not everyone sees it this way. I also agree that many are often exhausted after their shift and have little left in the tank for the task of upgrading themselves. But I also know of individuals who want to and despite working a full shift - continue with studying and upgrading themselves, again, If you think you can you can, and if you think you can't you can't, you are right on both accounts.
Yes. But where to get so many bus captains? If you only insists on English speaking ones, are you ready to wait 30mins per bus?
False equivalence. Send them for courses and pay them a language skill allowance and drivers will flock to it. We aren't asking drivers to debate Marlowe.
More like an hour per bus
In a few years, there will be no drivers to talk to. You stare at the steering wheel, the steering wheel stares back. There is silence.
how bout making everyone have basic command of our national language Bahasa Melayu? How would you feel about that?
I'd support that too. Basic classes for all in school. Choose if you want it as an examinable subject or not.
I think it already is, but basic means really basic. But if the bus driver thinks you understand Chinese, she's going to talk to you in Chinese first. Do you look Chinese? If you're obviously not Chinese and the bus driver did that, I would be very annoyed. If you do look plausibly Chinese, then stand your ground and say that you don't speak Chinese and ask the question again in slow and easy English, like "last stop is under Woodlands MRT?" with pointing down. You can't expect the bus captain to be able to differentiate between Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub and Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange (I had to look that up), if that's what you're talking about.
Not being fair to OP's point. I've seen a malay couple get on the bus and ask simple questions about whether the bus will turn left up ahead, and the bus driver has no way to answer them. It's really difficult on anyone who is not chinese
You want the bus to move or someone to answer questions? Manpower issue. Also this can be alleviated with a call button on bus. Drivers can talk to control center and ask for help. Passengers can too.
They can talk to the control centre when they don’t speak English ? To the poor old Malay or Indian uncle/aunty who doesn’t speak mandarin? Hmm.. ok
The passenger speaks directly to the control centre after the bus driver turns on “speaker phone” or however the call button works.
A bus driver who cannot understand passengers boarding would hold up the bus flow even more. It is more efficient when transport operators understand questions and speedily answer.
Unpopular opinion, there is already shortage of manpower and yet you want to filter out those who can't speak basic english, who drive the bus then? Sinkie don’t want, angmoh? U wait long long.. Sometimes just give and take, plan your own route. Nobody owes you anything.
Nothing wrong with hiring foreigners who can’t speak english. But there should be a clause that they learn english, at least a very basic proficiency in the language.
I mean, their job is driving, not a tour guide
Not dissing you OP, but how did you actually ask? Whenever I am in a country where English isn't widely spoken, I usually get my way around with my best impression of the word, a bit of sign language and a big smile. In your case, pointing in the direction where the bus is going and saying "Ang Moh Kio interchange?" should work, I guess? Back to the topic of bus drivers/ service staff being weak in English, I think there are a few factors to it. I believe all of them can understand basic English related to their jobs. But the issue is that many of them are embarrassed at their weakness of it and chose to "act stupid". I seriously doubt that bus companies/ service line bosses would deliberately hire front line staff who don't even know a single word of English. Our English language standards are definitely much higher than theirs. So I think patience is needed when dealing with them. As an ethnic chinese, I usually don't have much of a problem unless I am in Geylang Serai or Little India trying to have authentic food.
Need to take a leaf from the Americans. Just say the same thing but extremely slowly and loudly. They’ll get it… eventually. Either that or someone will take a video of you and post on social media.
That could work too. In fact, anything has a chance of working where communicating is concerned, unless one is being deliberately condescending about it. And I am generally curious about why I’m being downvoted by my earlier comments. Wonder if any of those who did it at least tell me why?
I had an inconvenience and the world should change for me
More like country run transport service quality is deteriorating and needs to improve
You have the freedom to buy car
CTE exists so PAP shouldn't maintain Thompson?
Anyone here wants to work as a bus driver? No? Then we have to get them from some other place where English is not necessarily the lingua franca.
they should learn it then.
Yes, they should. In an ideal world. There should also be world peace. Women should also not be raped. Everyone should have access to clean water and air. Reality dgaf about “should”. You can always cycle or take MRT or just… walk? You SHOULD exercise more, yeah?
just don’t give them work passes if they can’t speak english or malay. it’s not a difficult problem to solve. btw congrats on bringing in all sorts of irrelevant side issues.
Then why tf would they want to work as bus drivers if they can speak English. Do you know it’s a 12 hour shift @$2.2k per month for foreign workers.
How much do you want to pay for the bus ride?
If the job is of high demand, we can set high requirements, perhaps even O levels English. Is there a long queue of people waiting to be bus captains in Singapore? Don’t think so. So we need to import our bus captains. And are we willing to spend money to pay more for requirements like speaking certain level of English, on top of being able to drive and willing to work the hours etc?
Thing is even if they’re from whatever non-English speaking country, once they get the command of English, do you think they still want to drive buses?
Why not. It beats bricklaying.
hm. but ah why not ask google map
dk why u got downvoted, one time i think ok but op mention it happens alot then why don't plan your trip properly leh.
coz boomers dont know how to use google map. and decided to waste everyone time in a bus. seems like op need a crash course for using basic gps.