yeah....Things will only get better
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Interesting
Oct 1, 2005
Take your pick: Compassvale Drive or Zhi Nan Zhen (compass in Mandarin)
I refer to Mr Chia Yong Soong's letter about the difficulty in pronouncing some street names (ST Sept 27).
The letter seems to affirm the common belief in our country that government must make the first move.
In the colonial days, the education level was low and we had a British government over our heads. Most if not all the street names were named after the kings and queens of the British Empire.
So we got Queen Street, Victoria Street, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street.
What did we natives do? Write to the press and hope to get help from the colonial government? At that time, writing to the press in English was out of the question.
So we did the renaming ourselves. Victoria Street became Jee Beh Loh (second street in Hokkien), Queen Street became Sar Beh Loh (third street), Sepoy Line became See Bai Po (four rows of slope), Serangoon Garden became Ang Sa Li (red zinc roof) and Thomson Garden became Goh Bark Keng (500 units).
This is like Hong Kong's Admiralty, known locally as Kum Chong (in Cantonese Golden bell, probably the brass bell usually found on a ship).
So use our imagination and creativity. Start using locally acceptable names for those funny-sounding English street names.
If houses in Compassvale Drive are painted red, we can call it Hong Wu (red house in Mandarin) or Zhi Nan Zhen (compass in Mandarin).
But please don't go overboard and give the names a direct translation from their pronounciation, as in Duo Mei Ge (many beautiful songs) for Dobby Ghuat!
The street names have been legislated. I can bet my last dollar that they cannot and will not be changed.
Lee Chee Chee
Archives
08/01/2003 - 09/01/2003 09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003 10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003 11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003 12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008 04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008 05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008 08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008 12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009 01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]