English as a Foreign Language

I was on a conference call yesterday with people who hail from Singapore, India, Korea, England and the US and thought: in Asia, a skill you quickly develop is deciphering different types of English. English is not just English.

There's American English, which in and of itself has different accents and dialects, if you will. Californian English is very different from New England English, which are both different from Southern English. For example, in California we say you "stand in line," whereas in NY, they say "stand on line," which used to drive me batty.

There's British English, with its beautiful lilts and properness. There's Cockney, a slang form of British English which is utterly amusing in its nonsensical cleverness.

There's Australian English, which sounds like a bastardized form of British English to me, and is not very appealing. For example, instead of "how are you doing?," Australians ask you "How are you going?" Huh, what? Did you ask me how I'm doing or where I'm going?

There's New Zealand English, which I find a notch better than Australian English.

There's Singaporean English which sounds very clickety-clack to me, yet with a British twang. Also, in Singapore, as in Hong Kong, they say "ok-la" instead of "ok," and think that is proper English. For example, I might ask: excuse me, could I have a fork please? And someone will answer: ok-la!

There's Indian English. Filipino English. Korean English. Chinese English. Japanese English. French English.

When you work in Asia, your job often requires you to speak to people who speak a completely different English than you, and to comprehend what they are saying. Which is a skill that takes much concentration and practice to learn. Which is why I think it should be completely legitimate to put on my resume as part of my language skills: can understand English spoken by Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, French, Italians, Spanish, British, Australians, New Zealanders and Filipinos (I find this one the hardest, it's a work in progress).