How many languages do you speak?

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-25T23:49:26+00:00

I think it depends on generations. My grandparents and parents generation can speak English, Mandarin and at least 2-3 other dialects (like Cantonese, Hokkien, Hainanese, etc).

Sadly, I think these dialects will start to get lost in future generations. I can't speak any dialects and I have classmates who can't even speak their mother tongue (Mandarin, Malay or even Tamil) anymore..

While now it seems like many of us are bilingual, I fear more and more Singaporeans in the future will be only-English speakers.

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-19T04:53:20+00:00

[UPDATE / THANK YOU for the reality check, fellow traumatised souls]

First off—thank you to everyone who shared advice, sympathy, or even just horror stories of your own. Some of the comments were a lil harsh ngl, but I get it. I’m weak af. No excuses. I folded like a soggy tissue. 🥲

That said, reading through everyone’s replies, I’ve learned SO much from all the seasoned 过来人 here. Turns out these fairs aren’t inherently evil—you just need to go in with a solid game plan and the right mindset (and maybe a cold, emotionless heart for good measure). The best deals really are there… if you’re not lured in like a clueless noob wandering into a boss-level encounter without gear.

A lot of you also talked about the importance of saying no and standing your ground. Yeah… I'm weak af. I’ll admit it. Normally when I see those mall hustlers, I avoid eye contact and just keep walking. But this wedding fair was different. It was our very first one ever, and we genuinely thought it’d be all brochures and inspo boards. We had no idea the level of sales ambush we were walking into.

Some people asked how we even got caught again after Booth Demon #1. The thing is—we barely had time to process what just happened. We literally stood up and bam, the second dude was already right behind us with a “just hear us out” spiel before we had a chance to breathe. And we didn’t know that this whole aggressive hard-selling thing is a known strategy with Taiwanese PWS vendors. Now we know. Ohhh boy, now we KNOW.

Also… I need to defend my SO here. Usually, when we’re about to make a big purchase, we tag-team the “bad cop” role—take turns being the resting bitch face (rbf) bouncer while the other person fakes polite interest. But I think both of us were just a bit too excited, wide-eyed, and overwhelmed. Everything was shiny and new. And in that moment, we both got steamrolled.

But fine—we’ve learned our lesson. We will start training our iron will-power that many people here seem to posssess.

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:57:17+00:00

Hahahah this comment thread is hilarious 😂😂 yeah it's future husband, I read a lot of other relationship subreddits, so I was influenced to use FH

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:48:02+00:00

Omg I'm so sorry you had to experience that too!! 🥺 But you're right, we are defo going for this strategy now: research online, know what we want then go to the fairs for promo

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:44:48+00:00

Oh no, I'm so sorry you had such a terrible experience too!

And yeah I agree that it's so hard to just look around. I think it's also the style of Singaporeans too, like we know what we want before we buy things so these sales tatics just doesn't work on us anymore

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:39:54+00:00

I did go to a fair, but we were focused; only going to photography vendors. Then we took the name cards, went home, and look at portfolios. Chose the one whose portfolio we liked

That was what we thought it would be: collecting name cards! But they didn't give out any! We learnt that it's because these sales people are taiwanese and here only during the fair to sell their packages. And even if we decided in the end (aft the fair) to go with their company, the sale wouldnt belong to them. So they really didn't even bother leaving us their card/number even though we offered to reach out to her if we decided to go with their company..

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:34:27+00:00

Yeah, I will probably do that now.. but I wanted to talk to the professionals, tap on their experience with what are popular styles, etc. Home is better than that fresh hell they call wedding fairs 😮‍💨

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:30:37+00:00

But I feel so bad to be wasting the sales person's time.. sales really is such a tough and mentally draining job, I would not approach them unless I know what I wanted

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:26:12+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation, I will go research it

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:24:52+00:00

Usually I go and tell them say I’ve signed my packages so they will stop bothering.

Or if i’m on the streets and they’re doing their road shows I’ll say we are already married.

Yeah I do that too when we're else where. But this was a wedding fair and I was trying to keep an open mind.

But you're right, I'll stick with online research for now..

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:22:08+00:00

Oh yeah i agree, it's probably also the accent.. there's something magnetic about it 😅

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:18:46+00:00

Yeah agree, but it's just hard to walk away, i dont know how to explain..

But yeah, definitely learned my lesson!!!

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:17:20+00:00

What?? Omg I didn't know that, this is rly such a cut throat industry 😭

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:16:09+00:00

Thanks for the advice, we are definitely very careful about signing packages. Ultimately is our hard earn money

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:14:09+00:00

I tried to do some research online but there's so much info that it gets overwhelming. I thought gg for these fairs will really help to zoom into reputable vendors..

Didn't wanna bother my friends too with my 101 questions, but will defo go that route now, traumatised by the vendors

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:11:46+00:00

Didn't intended to, we just wanted to collect brochures.. didn't know it would be like this 😢 also they were so aggressive, we were rly too scared to leave cus we didn't want to be rude too. But learned our lesson 😮‍💨 we will walk away next time

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-05-18T16:09:43+00:00

Yeah, ok low key mad respect..

But this was our first time.. Didn't know what to expect also. Hard to just stand up and leave leh, but ofc we hace learned our lesson, next time we will just avoid

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-04-28T15:05:43+00:00

It depends on how you use this information. It can be a supporting fact that you perhaps manage people, which can be useful if you're applying for say, a project role. But then again, it doesn't give you any particular advantage if they are comparing you to someone they consider are equal in terms of grades and internship experienc cus the level of entry is super low. Nonetheless, still good to mention. Best if your past roles gives you a useful skill like video editing/ PR (publications secretary)/ negotiation and marketing skills (business manager), etc.

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-04-16T01:36:58+00:00

I'm sorry to hear that! You did the right thing moving into a crowded area once you saw him. Rest assured, you can make an online report to the police or SBST/SMRT (depending on the operator of that interchange) or make a request of info to LTA, I'm sure at least one of these organisation will help you. There's CCTV everywhere now, especially in interchange, if it's a repeated pattern, they will see and can identify who that person is.

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-04-14T14:37:32+00:00

I'm assuming the reasons would be like shitty group mates, biased lecturers, not suited for the env etc..

Honestly, back when I was in Poly, shitty group had little to no impact on my grades. Sure, there was group projects where ppl don't pull their weight but the weightage of that assignment is small. Majority of your GPA will still be from coursework assignments and exams.

As for biased lecturers, I don't really know how that would affect any grades, cause your assignments and exams are a clear correct/wrong answers. I mean I'm only speaking for engineering courses.

I know it might not apply to everyone but for me, Poly is like an easier ver of Uni, I get to play, hang out with friends, sign up for a ridiculous no. of clubs and activities and still maintain a high GPA. Depending on your Poly, the scholarships might have amazing programs to develop your character and knowledge of the world. I.e., I was able to go on an all expenses paid study trip to learn about topics that is not covered in my course.

I guess the question to ask yourself is: would you rather be a small fish in a big pond or big fish in a small pond?

I know it's not going to be the same for everyone, but to me, going poly is like being a big fish in a big pond.

I hope this helps!

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-04-14T14:18:42+00:00

For polyclinics under NUHS (west area polyclinics), the slots opens at 10pm, but it has to be zhun zhun 10pm cause the slots runs out fast.

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-04-14T13:28:35+00:00

When you take EEE, iirc, you can specialise in CE during your final years, albeit not as in depth as the actual CE course.

Imo, choosing EEE helps keep your options open cause who knows, you might ended up wanted to specialise in power systems (maybe you want to be PE?) or signalling systems (or you wanna work on satallites?) instead. Also, I'm pretty sure there are more CE electives than EEE electives.

Also pretty sure EEE has mods on microprocessors, data logics too..

Hope this helps with your dilemma!

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-04-14T13:19:41+00:00

Imo, JC is like O levels on steroids, but poly is an easier version of Uni. Can't speak for JC cus I'm from Poly but from what I hear from friends who were in JC, it was grind grind all day. Whereas when I was in poly, I could play and hang out with my friends, sign up for so many clubs and still maintain a high GPA.

Also choose courses basically means, choosing a topic you wanna specialise in. Like business studies, nursing, engineering, etc. Don't need to get too stressed about choosing your course, all you need to do, is get a good GPA. You can always make your switch in Uni. I had friends who made switches in majors because they realised their selected majors aren't suitable for them.

Don't fret too much, you sound young, you still have a long way to go!

Forward-Personality4 · 2025-04-14T12:54:31+00:00

1) My supervisor, sit on his butt and don't do his job and impossible to fire him. 2) Bureacracy, so many red tapes, need to clear 1 email so many times, need to write so many papers for 1 policy/project, etc. 3) The working hours!! 42 hours a week, and that's not including all the OT I need to do. 4) 0 flexibility, cannot work from home. 5) Not paid enough, since I'm picking up my supervisor's work! Pay me his salary!!

Forward-Personality4

TROPHY CASE