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Statement
BORN: SINGAPORE

I think a lot of people don’t know about Singapore so when people meet me the first thing they ask is “Why is your English so good?” which offends me a little. When I meet Asian tourists, they ask me “Why is your Mandarin so good?” which offends me, too. You can’t win! People don’t seem to know about Singapore. Singapore, is a small island state; it only takes 40 minutes to drive from east to west! Our first language is English. And we have to take a second language in school based on our ethnicity. I’m Chinese so I took Mandarin.

I think what bonds me to Singapore is that we’re a rare breed of people that the world does not know much about. We were a British colony so we speak British English and it sounds British, but Asian at the same time. So, if I hang out with my Singaporean friends we speak Singlish—Singapore English!
I enjoy explaining Singapore to people, but sometimes it gets on my nerves. I should have more patience!

—Jody Doo

All images copyright Ellen Jacob

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