I worked in the Philippines for a while . In the Philippines English is an official language used in schools and newspapers. It is not anybody’s first language though, so it takes on some of the flavor of the local languages. One thing that many Filipinos said was, “I’ll be the one.” This meant, “I will do it.” Many times it would be about who was going to turn on the lights when we got back to our house at night. Then they would say, “I’ll open the lights.” This is English. It is not my English, it’s not American English; but it is English. I could understand it perfectly well, and I enjoyed hearing the way Filipinos used the language. So I was very happy to see this sign at Penang, a local Malaysian restaurant.
I’m ok with the punctuation, though it wouldn’t hurt to have a colon after faucet. But there are two things I want to change.
I want to do this so that we can practice English usage. I’m telling you, I’m not telling the folks down at Penang; I like seeing different kinds of English. 🙂
What would you change?
What would you change if you made a new sign for the sink?
I would change....
I would change "Instruction" and "Open."
I would change "instruction" to "instructions." "Instruction" is the teaching. "Instructions" are specific things we need to do.
I need further instruction to improve my English. ( I need somebody to teach me more English.)
I need instructions on how to make a question. ( Do+Subject+Verb)
This sign is telling us how to operate the faucet, so these are instructions.
I would change "open" to "on."
In American English we turn faucets on and off.
I'm a pretty easy going guy, so I wont get started on using "the" with faucet,
but somebody should.
What do you think?
Do you agree with my changes?
Are you upset about "the"?
Share your ideas with us in our discussion forum.
