WHY IS it these days that whenever I step into a retail boutique, I am greeted by the sales assistants in Mandarin instead of English?

They then follow me around the shop, promoting their products to me in Mandarin.

I find this shocking in Singapore, a country where we are trying to emphasise world-class service standards.

This is not to say that speaking in Mandarin equals mediocre service.

But it seems to me that gone are the days when storekeepers would converse with customers in English in Singapore, a cosmopolitan country with many foreigners who live, work or visit.

Sales staff recruited from overseas should be given to understand that they must serve customers in English first for two reasons. Firstly, because it's more professional. Secondly, not all customers understand Mandarin and sales staff should not assume that Chinese customers are as eloquent in Mandarin as they are.

Retailers should look into this problem and ensure that their frontline staff master at least the rudiments of English.

Singapore is gearing to host top international events like the world's first Formula One night race and the first Youth Olympics.

Surely, we should not subject visitors to a mediocre level of service or allow them to think that our level of communication is so limited.

Ellouisa Chen (Miss)

两个字：心寒。

言论版：http://forums.asiaone.com/showthread.php?t=10827

四个字：非常心寒。

原来我们这群华语程度较好的人真的是次等下贱的。也许我是该劝劝高龄80的祖母要么永不踏入“高级”商店，要么也学学陈小姐一样讲一口流到不行、洋腔十足的英语来（当然，这是假设陈小姐会讲一口流到不行、洋腔十足的英语），免得我国举行国际活动时被外来的贵宾耻笑我国竟然还有人低级到连英语都不会讲。也许我也该放弃自己引以为豪的新加坡腔，专心地把英国腔练好，哦，就连华语也要说得有些洋葱味儿，方像个能为外来贵宾提供高级服务的半洋人。（那《茶馆》的沈处长大约会是个很能提供高级服务的人吧？）毕竟，就算只会说英语是不成问题的，但如果只会说华语，那沟通能力是明显的有限的，身为爱国之士，怎忍让外国人以为新加坡人不会讲英语，让祖国蒙羞呢？

And just to prove that my level of communication is not "mediocre", behold! An English version of what I've just written!

So it does appear that we who possess a higher standard of the Chinese Language are, indeed, lower in standards. Maybe it is time I urge my 80 year old grandmother to either forbid herself from stepping into "high class" boutiques and the like, or take a leaf out of Miss Chen's and speak with an English tongue so fluent she might be mistaken for a native (of course, this is based on the assumption that Miss Chen is capable of speaking as thus), so when the time does come for Singapore to host international events, our foreign guests will have no reason to scorn that a country as high-class as ours should still have people who are barbarious enough to not be able to communicate in English! Maybe it is time I should rid myself of the Singaporean accent I am so proud of and concentrate on being able to articulate myself with a distinct British accent, oh and if I may add, learn to speak Mandarin as a Caucasian would, thus allowing me the ability to provide world-class services to our foreign guests. After all, being only capable of English speech will hardly, if ever, impair my "level of communication", but if I can only converse in Mandarin, then that will alas, render my "level of communication... limited".