MINDEF's English Lessons

[Knoobie]

  On 11/6/2014 at 7:11 AM, Joseph22 said:

 

 

report also never say only PLA attending.

 

seriously, they don't have to tell us anything about cross country agreement especially when it come to defend related.

then if they don't want people speculate.. give people better answers in their report lor..

 

no one is interested in the details of their discussion or what not anyway..

[Joseph22]

  On 11/6/2014 at 7:17 AM, Knoobie said:

then if they don't want people speculate.. give people better answers in their report lor..

 

no one is interested in the details of their discussion or what not anyway..

 

their report is very clear mah..

 

it is according to the tender and the cheapest cost is been selected.

 

The End.

[Joseph22]

  On 11/6/2014 at 7:17 AM, Knoobie said:

then if they don't want people speculate.. give people better answers in their report lor..

 

no one is interested in the details of their discussion or what not anyway..

okay lah enough of arguing... no time liao.

 

I just trying to post another point of view since everyone go one side.

 

I waiting for the day where everyone is siding PAP then I can post against them

[Maxus-MIFA9]

OK Singapore help PLA officers in English and China helps SG 'peng kia' with one brigade of this .....

 

 

 

to boost our populations ......

 

 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2014 by Picnic06

[Vid]

  On 11/6/2014 at 2:33 PM, Picnic06 said:

OK Singapore help PLA officers in English and China helps SG 'peng kia' with one brigade of this .....

 

 

 

to boost our populations ......

 

 

 

 

 

Your post to diffuse the situation in the afternoon came a bit too late.

 

Still better late than never [laugh]

 

 

[Tianmo]

  On 11/6/2014 at 2:33 PM, Picnic06 said:

OK Singapore help PLA officers in English and China helps SG 'peng kia' with one brigade of this .....

 

 

 

to boost our populations ......

 

 

 

 

 

I will take 1 row of green..............1 row of white.............and 1 row of blue.............settle...............the rest you guys carry on............. [laugh]

 

[Camrysfa]

MINDEF got not much choice. Our military has no real war experience & relatively young compared to PLA.

So, it is very venerated that a big power wants to send someone over to learn. It is like Raffles Institution going to a neighbourhood school to study?

So it must take good care of this VIP student.

As many have said, it is an investment for future needs.

[Super7]

  On 11/6/2014 at 1:05 AM, GLZT said:

Its very common for the host country to pay for overseas gov bodies for education, at least in singapore. Singapore invited alot of foreigners usually those that worked in the embassy for education in social arts or some sort, and it often comes in form of a degree or masters. All paid by spore gov. I guess its for building friendly relationships.

 

Even when they call us tinydot, we still entertain them given half a chance to build so called goodwills. China never calls us tinydot, so we must treat them extra well!! Soon you will see NUS/NTU conferring doctorates to even known crook politicians/leaders in such countries.

[Super7]

  On 11/6/2014 at 2:51 PM, Vid said:

 

Your post to diffuse the situation in the afternoon came a bit too late.

 

Still better late than never [laugh]

 

 

 

when will they do drills in pt kit when weather is hot and they sweat till all wet wet?

 

[Maxus-MIFA9]

  On 11/7/2014 at 2:34 AM, Super7 said:

 

when will they do drills in pt kit when weather is hot and they sweat till all wet wet?

 

 

Hmmmm............. SAF exploring new training ground ...

 

"One stone, Two birds" ...

 

First make friends with China PLA & train their officer in English and later sign agreement to train together in China vast lands. NS & NSmen are sick of same old places (Brunei, Indon, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan ... etc.) for the past decades.

 

Imaging, if SAF want to train our men in hot weather, can make use of China Gobi desert, extreme coldness can train in Har Er Pin, want jungle training also have, cities training also have, river training also have..... etc.

 

Not bad for a huge training play ground ...

Edited November 7, 2014 by Picnic06

[Darryn]

  On 11/6/2014 at 6:37 AM, Knoobie said:

why not? very hard to find in our own country that knows mandarin and english meh? all born/breed chinese here are educated with both english and chinese. throw stone also can tio one...

 

who can guarantee that this officer will definitely rise and be beneficial to our country in future?

 

our forefathers also no bend their back unnecessary to dominant countries..

Sorry ah...flame bait here...

 

But my experience of the standard of Chinese is that it is "not so good" - everyday conversation, ordering at foodcourt can do, but when it comes to "technical / professional" conversations, then mostly CMI - and these are uni grads I talking about.

 

## Disclaimer here, I don't speak so I really shouldn't say anything, my experience is based on having uni grads working for me, and asking them to translate ZaoBao only to see them face problems.

 

On a different note, and addressing the thread topic..

 

Providing tuition at SAF expense so that a PRC can "get the most from" a course he was sent here to participate in doesn't quite seem right. It should be incumbent upon the PLA to send someone that is suitable for the course being offered - as the course provider, it shouldn't be SAF responsibilty to bring English up to scratch.

 

And notably, the answer provided in parliament totally misses the point - it addresses the procurement process, which no-one is doubting (the govt procurement process, past scandals notwithstanding) is actually pretty robust. The minister totally sidestepped the more relevant question - that of WHY are we providing english lessons in the first place. If it is not the responsibilty of SAF to do so, then even $500 is too much.

[Joseph22]

  On 11/7/2014 at 2:54 AM, Darryn said:

Sorry ah...flame bait here...

 

But my experience of the standard of Chinese is that it is "not so good" - everyday conversation, ordering at foodcourt can do, but when it comes to "technical / professional" conversations, then mostly CMI - and these are uni grads I talking about.

 

## Disclaimer here, I don't speak so I really shouldn't say anything, my experience is based on having uni grads working for me, and asking them to translate ZaoBao only to see them face problems.

 

On a different note, and addressing the thread topic..

 

Providing tuition at SAF expense so that a PRC can "get the most from" a course he was sent here to participate in doesn't quite seem right. It should be incumbent upon the PLA to send someone that is suitable for the course being offered - as the course provider, it shouldn't be SAF responsibilty to bring English up to scratch.

 

And notably, the answer provided in parliament totally misses the point - it addresses the procurement process, which no-one is doubting (the govt procurement process, past scandals notwithstanding) is actually pretty robust. The minister totally sidestepped the more relevant question - that of WHY are we providing english lessons in the first place. If it is not the responsibilty of SAF to do so, then even $500 is too much.

U are right. Nothing flaming about his.

 

Only kpkb ppl think that Singapore Chinese very good.

[Knoobie]

  On 11/7/2014 at 2:54 AM, Darryn said:

Sorry ah...flame bait here...

 

But my experience of the standard of Chinese is that it is "not so good" - everyday conversation, ordering at foodcourt can do, but when it comes to "technical / professional" conversations, then mostly CMI - and these are uni grads I talking about.

 

## Disclaimer here, I don't speak so I really shouldn't say anything, my experience is based on having uni grads working for me, and asking them to translate ZaoBao only to see them face problems.

 

On a different note, and addressing the thread topic..

 

Providing tuition at SAF expense so that a PRC can "get the most from" a course he was sent here to participate in doesn't quite seem right. It should be incumbent upon the PLA to send someone that is suitable for the course being offered - as the course provider, it shouldn't be SAF responsibilty to bring English up to scratch.

 

And notably, the answer provided in parliament totally misses the point - it addresses the procurement process, which no-one is doubting (the govt procurement process, past scandals notwithstanding) is actually pretty robust. The minister totally sidestepped the more relevant question - that of WHY are we providing english lessons in the first place. If it is not the responsibilty of SAF to do so, then even $500 is too much.

I never say the standard here can be translator standard lah ~

 

how much could the PLA officer take in in 12 weeks anyway? I doubt one can pickup engrish in 12 weeks to be able to communicate and understand on his own anyway.

 

so that kind of standard, our half-past six translation definitely > his 12 weeks kindergarden apple orange engrish.

 

thats the thing lor.. people have doubt in A.. they answer B..

[Super7]

  On 11/7/2014 at 2:49 AM, Picnic06 said:

 

Hmmmm............. SAF exploring new training ground ...

 

"One stone, Two birds" ...

 

First make friends with China PLA & train their officer in English and later sign agreement to train together in China vast lands. NS & NSmen are sick of same old places (Brunei, Indon, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan ... etc.) for the past decades.

 

Imaging, if SAF want to train our men in hot weather, can make use of China Gobi desert, extreme coldness can train in Har Er Pin, want jungle training also have, cities training also have, river training also have..... etc.

 

Not bad for a huge training play ground ...

 

SAF tankies can train side by side with PLA counterparts, learn how to run down enemies with their tanks, no need fire a single shoot, Tianmen style!!

 

PLA women contigents can come here to train FIBUA (urban street fighting), when they go R&R after the training, we can volunteer to show them around!!!

[Myxilplix]

I thought that our lack of language skills is pretty common knowledge.

 

To native Chinese speakers, our Chinese is half fark.

To native English speakers, our English is also half fark.

 

But we are very proud to have our own patois and cling to it tenaciously for a sense of identity.

[Boringchap]

This called military diplomacy.

 

The Minister did not specify which course this PLA officer was attending. I am only guessing, but my guess is that he is attending a very senior course (like the Command and Staff Course) for those who are being groomed to become top leaders in their respective Armed Forces.

 

My army friends tell me that when foreign countries send candidates for overseas courses like these, they will usually send their better officers, if not their best officers to attend. Can you imagine the pressure that is put on the single PLA officer in his entire class? He has to do well and get a good report otherwise he will let his entire country down. So in order not to 'lose face', I imagine the PLA will send some of their best young officers to attend such a course.

 

Which also means, this officer, whoever he is, is likely to become a very senior person in the PLA. I even guess that this person is very likely to become some important General in the future.

 

So this is all about military diplomacy. Build better relations.

 

The above is just my guess only. Please don't flame me.

 

Edit - btw, at the rate it is going, China will rule over Asia very soon, in 10 to 20 years.

Edited November 7, 2014 by Boringchap

[Maxus-MIFA9]

  On 11/7/2014 at 4:37 AM, Boringchap said:

 

Edit - btw, at the rate it is going, China will rule over Asia very soon, in 10 to 20 years.

 

Yes.... they can send only this brigade over to SG....

 

 

Edited November 7, 2014 by Picnic06

[Carnoob]

I think we have serious problem in reading...

 

"The course had cost S$25,900. The personalised, one-on-one, 360-hour course, was needed to get the officer to the level of proficiency conducted by a qualified English instructor, explained Dr Ng."

 

The report already said it is a one on one course which means NO OTHER NATIONS ARE INVOLVED except the one and only PLA officer. This will then lead to another question, IF THERE ARE other nations involved e.g. Brunei, INDIA, KOREA in the STAFF COLLEGE, then wth are we spending S$25,900 on HIM only? And I agree with Darryn that even $100 is too much for the course.

 

So by showing "favoritism" to PLA then next time Korea, Japan, India officers who are not proficient in English will they get the same? I hope they do else our FOREIGN AFFAIRS POLICY will definitely get an F... Not Failed but F**Ked UP... With the ever changing political environment in China, no one can guarantee the future. And by investing $25,900 on a PLA officer not knowing whether he would succeed in his career is like buying 4-D, strike ho say liao not strike then $25,900 down the drain but the result will only be known 10 years later