Lesson on Ris Low:

The interview is badly done. This is because most of the words she used were not articulated nor were they grammatically correct. She often puts emphasis on the wrong words and drags her vowels, resulting in words like ‘zebra’ and ‘still’ to sound funny as well as inappropriate. She also needs to project her voice and not mumble as there were certain parts that were inaudible. She also has the same facial expression throughout the whole interview and it made her look nervous. She should have shown better facial expression and vary her tone during the interview as the lack of such caused restlessness to those who listened to the interview.

I would have certainly failed Ris Low based on the interview shown. This is because she did not show any form of intelligence in her responses. She also did not elaborate much. She did not pronounce her words properly and this caused many of her replies to be muffled. She also relied quite heavily on the interviewer’s prompts and there quite a few awkward silences between her and the interviewer.

I would, agree though, that Ris Low is the general representation of 60% of Singapore’s population. Majority of Singaporeans use ‘Singlish’ as a means of communicating rather than proper English. This is due to the cultural influences in Singapore’s multi-racial society. Singlish is indeed unique to Singapore and it should be something that is preserved as it is one of the things that encourage Racial Harmony. However, I do strongly feel that when one becomes a representative of Singapore on the international stage, the proper standard of English should be used. This is because English did not originate from Singapore. We are using the national language of another country (interestingly, our national language is actually Malay) and therefore, as a sign of respect, we should use proper English that is a widely recognized as a medium of speech on the international platform.

Though it is such, her treatment is the media is not justified. She may be an ambassador and I do believe that it is important to speak properly but a line has to be drawn. It went too far when the media exposed her credit card fraud. I am not surprised that she actually withdrew her crown. The media pressured her to do so. Even if her credit card fraud was discovered, they should not have publicised it. Instead, they should have approached the company that sponsors the pageant so as to avoid scandals. Other than this, the interview and her offences have shot her to the peak of infamy. It would be difficult for her to get a proper job in the tourism and hospitality industry (which is what she is majoring in).

Nevertheless, Ris Low will definitely not be forgotten in the generations to come. She has also, in her own way, contributed to English students of the future by giving them someone to talk about and use as an example. However, I only have one wish for the infamous ‘catchphrase queen’ that made the list of ’25 Most Influential People in Asia 2009’ and that is she being given a second chance to be Singapore’s ambassador (a worker in the tourism industry?) with, hopefully next time, better English.

For the benefit of those who may not be Singaporean, Ris Low was Miss World Singapore 2009 until an interview of her using bad English was circulated online. Offences of hers were then publicised and she, of course, gave up her crown. This, again, was written for English class. I realised it was a good topic to work on so, yeah.

::iRAYUMi::

Labels: reflection