Title of the article:Why DFS needs Mandarin speakers
URL:http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_483570.html
Author of the article:Keith Tam
Date of the article:Jan 29, 2010
Summary:
It is reported that Duty Free Shopping at Changi airport requires sales associates to be proficient in English and preferably Mandarin. Because in many shops, Chinese contribute a lot in the total revenue, and the growth of Chinese national is a global trend, it becomes a neccessity to learn both language. While, it contains no discrimination to require the salers to learn Mandarin.
Reflection:
I agree that China is growing into a strong economic power in the world and Chinese national contributes a lot to Singapore's total revenue, especially in the Duty Free Shopping at Changi airport. And i agree with Singapore's bilingual policy. English is the worldly used language for communication,education and business. For Singapore, a muticulture country, It is neccessary for the people to have a common language, which is English. but it's also important to let the people keep their own language. While, for Mandrain, because China plays an important role in southeast Asia, it will benefit a lot if the people can understand Mandrain. It is only a recommandation, not a discrimination. The government does not say that it forces people to learn Mandrain. It only offers some jobs that require the applicant to speak Mandrain. That is not a kind of discrimination, but a kind of competition. The world is the platform for those who can adapt the environment. So I think it's useless for the complainers to say that the society requires them to learn Mandrain, but it is the world that asks them to adapt the environment if you want to be a winner.
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fly
我的简介
ADM of NTU
ADM of NTU
I agree with Geoffrey. Because of the developing position of China, it is really a good chance for Singapore, a multi-language speaking country, to achieve the prosperity again.
回复删除in the past few years, Chinese consumers are more and more popular in the shopping field. where there are Chinese consumers, there are good sells. Is this a really good consuming idea? i have a doubt...
I agree with jeff.Singapore is a special country with 75 percent of Chinese and the official language is English. The new policy apt to the new trend that China play an important part in the development of the world. The government encourage people to learn mandarin, Just as Jeff said, this is only a recommandation, not a discrimination.People who speak good mandarin have more opportunity in the competition with others. In selling shops, it is necessary to know the need of the customs so to speak their language is the best choice. We need to understand the government but not to complain, especially the one who fails to get the position.
回复删除from Rainy
Airport is a place where people from different countries come and leave. It is very common for shops to require bilingual or even multilingual sales associates. Nowadays, the world is becoming more and more competitive. Therefore, it is natural and necessary for people to upgrade themselves to meet the demand of market. For Singapore, China is obvious a very important corporative partner and it will bring significant profits if people in Singapore can speak fluent mandarin. In this case, people should not complain about it because this criterion is based on more profits. In my opinion, the people who relate the requirement of speaking mandarin with discrimination are short-sighted and overly sensible. Nowadays, people learn English partially because those English-speaking countries are powerful. Similarly, Singapore wants people to learn mandarin because China is growing up rapidly and I think it’s a reflection of wisdom and farsightedness. People should clearly and calmly look at it instead of relating it to discrimination.--- Shawn
回复删除I think Jeff's idea is right and reasonable. When I first looked at Jeff's summary, I was a little bit confused because I could not find any discrimination that is linked to learning Mandarin among sellers. There is no doubt that Singapore and Chinese has a very close relationship, and they both contribute to each other's economic developmen, tax free shop is the epitome of that relationship. Every year millions of Chinese visitors land on Changi Airport, I have to say many of them cannot speak English at all. So how can those sellers gain profits if they refuse to use Chinese? That is a common phenonmenan caused by nowadays market demand.
回复删除by Tim
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