EffBL stands for … (In this bpost) Effectively Bilingual (people, skill) in -> English + Chinese, esp. Mandarin. This combo is relevant in my own community and in my countries.

Looko .. This post goes beyond my small world.

Q3: Beside Sgp and HK, which cities and which industries require a large number of effectively bilingual professionals in Chinese+English? Not the U.S. or China. In fact, over there I (like other EffBL) have a disadvantage compared to those “native speakers” posessing a richer vocab.

— yardsticks of EffBL ..
listening/reading, including vocab, is essential and a universal yardstick. Beyond that, there’s no universal yardstick. Some EffBL individuals as defined in one “system” may show a basic standard in compositions or public speaking.

Street vocab .. usage of colloquial phrases.

— 1GCA [first-generation Chinese Americans] vs Chinese in Sgp, HK etc

I feel oral standard (esp. accent) is no higher among the 1GCA than Singaporeans on average.

For second-generation, I think the Chinese Americans are as effective as native speakers, and higher than the average Singaporeans simply due to exposure.

— I consider myself EffBL. I won’t grade myself but my obvious weakness is oral English. I improve when I practice asking questions in public. (The unexpected strength is my writing….)

My EffBL is not a real advantage in U.S. and China…. See Q3. In Sgp, I feel more at home due to EffBL. the social support network is also bilingual. Some _important_ /resources/ are available in Chinese only, They are _important_ to my wife and my son.