— praises on my oral English proficiency .. Over the years, many people (who had not seen my writing yet) say “You speak very good English.” Almost never flattery. When I mention that I still struggle from time to time, some of them would add “Of course English is your second language, so you would be more comfortable in Chinese. It’s natural to struggle in a second language.” — This fact should NOT diminish my sense of achievement, self-esteem and pride.
Those praises together are a remarkable achievement even though the yardstick seems to be a lower yardstick — a yardstick for foreigners. The important thing is, I am able to use English effectively. Whether I’m more effective than a native speaker is insignificant. This is not a contest. Effective usage is the only yardstick, and accent is a small factor.
I could give the same sincere praise to my sister, some of my Indian colleagues and some European guys. They are very articulate.
— (historical zoom) Q: How critical was English during the early 2007 adaptation/adjustment [actually a struggle] to living in USA?
Luckily, in early 2007 my English proved adequate, thanks to the formal education in SG and on-the-job training in SG, and my years of self-practice in emails, in-depth discussions with non-Chinese friends.
From early 2007, I had no difficulty reading (any tough material) and .. listening [my traditional weakness]!
I was already a fairly fluent speaker in 2007. No one said I had a strong accent like half the subcontinent coworkers, whose /oral/ English was good enough for an offshore worksite. My Singapore/Malaysia/Hongkong accent was mild in contrast to millions of immigrants speaking English “dialects” of Eastern Europe, middle east, central Asia, S.E.Asia,,,,
In each ethnic group, some 5 to 20% [1] of the immigrants speak decent English, usually due to education, but conceivably due to everyday practice (without education) or untrained talent — consider my sister and my wife.
[1] Among the Mexican immigrants, that percentage is lower because proportionally many of them came in without a work visa or student visa.
Q: how did my wife cope with English?
A….
I have hitherto left out proficiency in writing. Not an “everyday” proficiency, more of an advanced skill. Challenging for most immigrants. Even native speakers (esp. the less educated) struggle with many non-trivial tasks. Writing is a trained skill like painting, piano, public speaking, …. Training takes years and generally, I learning English over the prior decades since 1991. Now in 2022, I consider myself “well-trained” as a writer, when benchmarked to the average native SPEAKER.
— One of my first milestones — After my farewell letter to Catcha colleagues, a short, young Indian girl colleague turned to me and and praised my writing. She was not technical but an editor of online content. She doesn’t know me well and I didn’t ask her opinion on my letter.
— Then I crossed a second milestone — Kyle said my English is better than a lot of Americans.
My discussions with Kyle was often conceptually complex … so vocab is important. I explained that I’m an intellectual type, like my dad.