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By Jeremy Au Yong
THE Government is looking at ways to address the problem of foreign service staff here who cannot understand basic English.
Speaking to students at the Nanyang Technological University yesterday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the Manpower Ministry is studying how to get more employers - especially those running retail and food outlets - to send their staff for basic English lessons.
The aim would not be to make them fluent in just a few lessons, he stressed, but simply to equip them with enough English to get by.
The issue of foreign service staff who speak no English has turned up as a common bugbear of Singaporeans who have complained of difficulties getting served.
Acknowledging their frustration, Mr Lee quoted a letter in The Sunday Times two weeks ago, which he said 'put it quite nicely and reasonably'. The letter-writer said that Singaporeans did not demand the Queen's English from foreign workers; 'merely that they understand basic words such as 'chilli' or 'no chilli'.'
Expanding on this point, Mr Lee provided one of the highlights of the night, referring to a well-known mistake he made during his 2006 National Day Rally speech.
Making a point in dialect, he had meant to talk about laksa without cockles, but said 'mee siam mai hum' (mee siam, no cockles) instead of 'laksa mai hum' (laksa, no cockles).
That slip made the online rounds because unlike laksa, mee siam is never served with cockles.
Last night, speaking about the minimum level of English required of foreign service workers, he said: 'Have the words you need, the phrases you need, carry a little phrase book with you, so you have all the words whether it is 'laksa no hiam' (laksa non-spicy) and so on.'
He adding, to much laughter: 'No hum.'
In all seriousness, however, he did flag the issue as a problem needing attention.
He held up transport firm SBS Transit as a good example of a company doing its part.
It had to hire many bus drivers from China because not enough Singaporeans wanted to do the job. But before letting them start work, the company made sure the drivers had a basic grasp of English.
'They put them through an intensive five-day English course, including role-playing and a test. If they failed, they would be kept in school,' he explained.
Mr Lee also had some sympathy for the foreign workers.
'It is not easy for foreign workers, struggling in a different society, especially if they do not speak our language,' he said.
Asked to comment on PM Lee's remarks, Mr Zee Yoong Kang, chief executive of NTUC LearningHub, welcomed the move to teach workers English, saying the group would continue to support efforts to improve the productivity of foreign workers.
Earlier this year, NTUC LearningHub worked with the Migrant Workers Centre to offer basic English courses to foreign workers.
This article was first published in The Straits Times.
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