English, now the lingua franca, was brought over by the British during Singapore’s period of colonization, which lasted from 1819 to 1963. Singlish comes from the mixing of Singapore’s four official languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. If you haven’t heard it, the video below offers a humorous Singlish voiceover for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Singlish is not just one creole: it’s an amalgamation of many different Southeast Asian dialects and pidgins all rolled up into one. It actually requires lots of practice to sound authentic.” “There is a certain flair to the language/accent. “Singlish is easy to learn, but hard to execute,” says Sai Pogaru, who moved to Singapore in 2001 and is now a citizen. Its staccato, off-grammar patois is the subject of much bemusement for visitors to the country, and it’s almost impossible for outsiders to imitate. While this might sound like broken English, it is an example of Singlish, the highly complicated English creole spoken in Singapore. A local might reply, “Wah! So espensive one, cannot leh.” “Two dollar onny, dis one,” a street vendor might say to you in Singapore. “To merlion” in Singlish means to puke everywhere. We were both right where we wanted to be.The Merlion is a famous statue and symbol of Singapore. Not speaking a word but saying everything. Jade falls in love in Almost Impossible (Quinten is irresistible), but most importantly it’s about her finding her place in the world, figuring out what she truly wants. Due to the age of the characters there are no explicit scenes in the story, but I didn’t miss them at all. It’s a sweet story about a young girl who meets a boy her age. Of course, the young couple has some issues (otherwise it would be a bit boring), but everything works out in the end.Īlmost Impossible is different from the other books I’ve read by Nicole Williams, but I absolutely don’t regret picking it up. Like Jade he’s a responsible kid, who doesn’t walk away from his ‘mistakes’. Quinten is the cool, hot guy, but he’s much more then that. I love that while living with her aunt and uncle, Jade starts to act like a normal teenager, she even falls in love with one of her co-workers. She’s a smart, grown-up girl who has a strong bond with her mom, they basically grew up together. I love Jade, she’s a cool, sensible girl, who easily could have been a spoiled, over-the-top brat. A kiss was magical no matter who it was with-usually-but this was something else.” Like I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be kissed again. Jade enjoys it, but when she meets Quentin, everything gets a lot more interesting. Enter aunt and uncle who live in Suburbia, and all the rules that come with a ‘normal’ household. With one year of high school left, Jade wants one thing to live the life of a normal teenager during the summer, complete with a summer job and all. Her way of life might be unusual, but Jade has everything she needs, most importantly the love of her mom. Jade is not your typical 17-year-old, she’s living the Rockstar life with her mom who’s touring the world together with her band. This was going to be the summer-my summer.” I could feel it-from the nervous-excited swirl in my stomach to the buzz in the air around me. Not that I don’t trust the author with writing another great story, but would I personally like it? Almost Impossible tells the story of Jade, who’s going to spend the summer with family to live like a normal teenager for once. I know Nicole Williams mostly for her emotional stories, so when I learned she was working on a different kind of book, my inner book nerd was intrigued. And when rumors of a jilted ex-girlfriend come to light, Jade knows Quentin is hiding a secret-and she's determined to find out what it is. Sneaking out, staying up, and even a midnight swim, Quentin is determined to give Jade days-and nights-worth remembering.īut despite their storybook-perfect romance, every time Jade moves closer, Quentin pulls away. Jade hasn't been in suburbia long and even she knows her annoying (and annoyingly cute) next-door neighbor spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.Īnd when Quentin learns Jade plans to spend her first American summer hiding out reading books, he refuses to be ignored. But nothing could have prepared her for Quentin. When Jade decided to spend the summer with her aunt in California, she thought she knew what she was getting into. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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