Name:Alex Time:30/01/2010
MISS Abinaya Puspanathan ('No Mandarin? Sorry, no job'; last Saturday) wrote that she found the requirement by Duty Free Shopping at Changi Airport - for sales associates to be proficient in English and preferably Mandarin - bizarre, when the airport serves tourists who speak a variety of languages.
Indeed, Changi Airport serves tourists who speak a variety of languages. When we recruit, language proficiency depends on the type of shop and the terminal.
In some shops, revenue generated from Chinese nationals can be as high as 50 per cent. With such cases becoming increasingly common, being able to converse in Mandarin is critical to the sales associate's effectiveness on the job.
The dramatic growth of the spending power of Chinese nationals is a global trend that cannot be ignored.
DFS is in the front line of providing the best customer experience possible, and being able to communicate in our customer's language is important.
The intent of our advertisement was not discriminatory. We were stating a skill set, in this case Mandarin, which was preferable, given the circumstances.
Keith Tam
General Manager
DFS Changi Airport
Reflection: this is an article answering the question raised by a reader. It clearly explains why DFS needs Mandarin speakers. As a foreign student who needs to go home and come back several times per year, I think it is reasonable for the sales associates in DFS at Changi Airport to be mandarin preferably. Chinese tourists actually occupy a large percentage of the consumers of Duty Free Shopping at Changi Airport. This phenomenon can attribute to two main reasons. Firstly, more and more Chinese people have considered Singapore as a marvelous place for traveling, studying and working. In 2007, nearly 1.1 million Chinese tourists came to Singapore according to Singapore tourism board. Secondly, compare to DFS at Changi Airport, some goods are relatively rare and expensive in China. However, other languages are also important, like Malay and Tamils. We also need the sales associates who can master these languages. What I really want to talk about are the annoying comments of this article. In order to avoid misunderstandings, the author has clearly announced that the intent of their advertisement was not discriminatory. However, there are still some people cannot realize it. Some of them are just like crying babies keeping complaining about this issue and even using some ‘impolite’ words. It is quite ridiculous and unbelievable that they can easily shout out these things without using their eyes and brains to do some basic observation and consideration. Maybe this is their nature. I believe this decision is made by the managers of DFS at Changi Airport according to the market requirement. They are businessmen other than politicians. So I do not think this is a problem related to discrimination. Once I thought Singapore was an open-minded country when I heard Singaporeans laughing at the excessive conservation of Malay in Malaysia. Now I know it has nothing to do with open mind. These people just felt angry because it was inconvenient for them just like what they do today. As for some Indians, I do not want to talk about them in order to be polite. Just paste one ‘comment’ of them.
“When India becomes superpower, we shall open our gates wide to many Indians and become the majority race in Singapore. Then advertise for jobs asking for Tamil/Hindi-speaking preference for almost every job like what the Chinese are doing and tell them to go learn a whole new mother tongue if they want to be hired and see how they like it. We shall also dominate TV programmes and movies with Tamil/Hindi subtitles, signboards, telephone assistance, etc... Bilingual will no longer refer to English and Mandarin. We'll continue to call Singapore a multi-racial country but will totally marginalize the Chinese in every area like what they're doing now. But then again, Indians are not stupid people like the MONOLINGUAL Chinese. Indians have the foresight to have learned English besides their mother. They don't expect the rest of the world to speak their mother tongue like what some arrogant pigs are telling the rest to do.”
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I agree with the writer that requiring two languages English and Chinese when working at DFS is necessary. There is no doubt that English is necessary due to it is a global used language. However, the Chinese should be good at has the following reasons. Firstly, Singapore is a multi-racial country; in which over 76% of the population are Chinese. Mastering Chinese can be more immersed in this society. Secondly, as Chinese are richer and richer, they are willing to travel around and buy the souvenirs at DFS. The travelers who cannot speak English only depending on Chinese are more likely to communicate with sellers who can speak Chinese. As a result, the boss can make more profits. Last but not least, I do not think working at DFS needs bilingual people is a kind of discrimination, on the contrary, I think it is a must for modern applicants to master. This is a kind of ability that we should pick up in order to survive in the fierce competitive society.
ReplyDelete——Vicky
BY Vera
ReplyDeleteI applause for Alex about what he wrote concerning this issue. His point of view is quite insightful. The mandarin speaking requirement is clearly an employment preference, not a discrimination factor. As the demand of mandarin speaking talents is increasing, Singapore airport calls for more staff with mandarin proficiency. This is nothing more than a job qualification and it should not be viewed as something related to discrimination. We should treat this trend objectively. Prejudices cannot be eliminated, but we can choose a better way to deal with them.