You guys know that I have nothing against the youth of Singapore, right? I was once young myself, so I know that it is tough being young, especially here in Singapore where the parents are problematic and just plain lazy and stupid. And just imagine the amount of stress they have to face everyday in order to get good grades and stuff. However, the thing about Singaporean youth is that they cannot write proper English. Well, I will give you an example - I wrote an email asking a food catering company to send me some information regarding a Christmas Buffet we were planning to organize and since we have Muslim staff in the company, I also asked whether their food is Halal certified. And this is the reply I got:

Cute right? I have removed the name of the authour and the company to avoid embarrassing the company. Well, yes, this is a business email enquiry and this is the reply I got! Wuhahahaha, nowadays Singaporean youth must think that what they write through SMS on the mobile to their friends is exactly what they should write in an email to their customers! That’s not a good impression to their customers. My English isn’t that good, but this kind of English is just bad and unprofessional. Well, at least I understand what they are saying. I wonder if someone who is not a Singaporean or has not been in Singapore for long, would they understand all the short forms and the “wan”s? Na, those are Singaporean slang, I really doubt those who are not born in Singapore will understand.

Anyway, I think companies and businesses should also be responsible for what their staff write in their emails. It reflects on their business badly if their staff don’t write (or speak) proper English. Sure, most of their customers are Singaporeans but seriously, would you worry if someone replied to your business enquiries this way?