The controversy over a deejay being asked to leave due to her oral skills, causes me to recall the way I speak and the views of others on it. Over the course of my degree, I had been exposed to lecturers of different nationalities. They ranged from Irish, British and American, to Indian. As a result, I unconsciously lapse into a tinge of the Western accents when I speak. This is not a deliberate adoption of the accents, by the way.
Whenever I take cabs, the drivers seem to think I am not Singaporean as a result. I assume they encounter most who do not speak as good English? Yes, I am rather good at English, thanks to my passion for the language. When I speak Mandarin, they seem to think I am from China. I believe it is because I interact with students from China and use Mandarin to translate certain English terms, for their comprehension. In the process of teaching them, I learn new Chinese words from them.
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