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Dumb MySpace Doesn’t Seem To Know That Singapore Is Not In China
Posted in: Social Media by Kuzzuk on April 13, 2009
Not that I think of MySpace highly nowadays especially as a medium to market and make money but I visited the site today after a long time. I was stumped that it was mostly in Chinese and I just couldn’t find an easy way to change the language preference back to English (see screenshot below – click to enlarge). Since, I live in Singapore MySpace was probably trying to personalize my experience but instead ended up frustrating me.
Repeat After Me “Singapore Is Not In China”
If the knuckleheads at MySpace had done a little bit of research (like reading the Wikipedia entry), they would have known that English is the main language used in Singapore.
English is the main language of Singapore and has been heavily promoted as such since the country’s independence. The English used is primarily based on British English, with some American English influences. The use of English became widespread in Singapore after it was implemented as a first language medium in the education system, and English is the most common language in Singaporean literature. In school, children are required to learn English and one of the three other official languages. By law, all signs and official publications are required to be primarily in English, although they are occasionally translated versions into the other official languages.
Three Extremely Stupid Ways To Change The Language Back To English
In the screenshot above, did you see an easy way to change the language option to English? Neither did I. It turns out that there are three possible ways of changing MySpace back to English.
- I must be able to read Chinese. Duh!
- I need to have oodles of patience and mouse over links to potentially find one that leads me to MySpace in English
- I randomly click the Chinese links and hope to find MySpace in English
I went for the second option and moused over links to finally find the link to MySpace UK. So much pain just to change the language! Why can’t they have a big button that says “English” (in English)?
Comments
You could have just googled for the myspace UK or US site and skipped all that.
Comment by alex on April 13, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Actually that link means America in chinese.
Comment by K on April 14, 2009 at 5:09 am
alex > On hindsight, I sure could have Googled MySpace UK or US but I was so worked up that I was in a state where I couldn’t have even spelled the word ‘the’ let alone do any Googling
k > Does it mean America in Chinese? I’m pretty sure it took me to MySpace UK but I was in such a dumb worked up state so I can’t be too sure
Comment by Kuzzuk on April 14, 2009 at 5:22 am
to K
actually that link means UK in chinese!
?? means UK
?? means US
isn’t this obvious enough?!
Comment by pingping on April 14, 2009 at 6:32 am
ooopss!! chinese characters dont show up!! sorry!! but anyway, tat link is clearly UK in chinese
Comment by pingping on April 14, 2009 at 6:32 am
Agree with the owner of this blog, encounters like these make Singaporeans tired of living, ignorance knows no boundaries lah. Dumbass (in this context) USA.
Comment by Charmaine on April 15, 2009 at 12:29 pm
K & pingping > Well only you guys know because I can’t read Chinese to even save my life.
Charmaine > It’s greatly frustrating but I wouldn’t go to the extreme of being tired of living. I agree on dumbass (MySpace but not USA)!
Thanks guys for your comments!
Comment by Kuzzuk on April 16, 2009 at 2:10 am
yup! ying guo is UK. It isnt America.
It’s quite dumb to put ‘UK’ in chinese or the ‘change language settings’ in chinese, because if you could read chinese, then you wouldnt have to change language settings. poorly designed website.
Comment by Sam on April 22, 2009 at 12:08 pm
It will keep changing back to Chinese anyway if you liver in a supposedly Chinese speaking place, like Hong Kong. So dumb!
Comment by Jonathan on January 3, 2010 at 1:18 am