🇸🇬Culture shocks I've had in Singapore 

For those saying foreigners just complain about Singapore, I have a video about things I love about Singapore too!! I'm really happy here! Relak ah lol ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V0JcQkI8CfE.html

I love how you don't pretend to be ok with every situation all the time.

I really enjoyed this culture shock video! I appreciate that unlike other 'culture shock' videos where people have NEVER LIVED ABROAD EVER and are shocked by super commonplace things, you focus on very subtle, nuanced details that probably even Singaporeans don't realize they do. Super interesting!

Feel free to lie when you get personal questions from strangers.

Hi there, Singaporean native here. I've lived in Australia and San Francisco and yes they're all very different cities and cultures. The whole quiet office thing in Singapore: This depends on office, I used to work in an exhibitions company, a visual effects company and now I'm at a government office. The exhibitions company was noisy, there would be phones ringing, people talking to each other in various parts of the open concept office, it definitely wasn't quiet. The VFX company was super quiet because everyone is busy working on their stuff on the computer, everyone talks via instant message. So it just depends what kind of office environment you're in. No one saying good morning/ good bye in the Singapore office: Yup this is true. I honestly think it's just bad manners, but don't stop that from doing it yourself. I figured that if people in the US office say good morning/ good bye, and the Japanese find it extremely important to wish and greet people, it surely can't be a bad thing. So I do it even though no one in my office does it, and I don't care. The no chatting thing: Generally Singaporeans are very guarded at work because a lot of them have their own friends and family stuff in real life and feel work people are work people. They also have a tendency to get very cliquish, so it's up to you if you want to try insert yourself into a clique or not. People also treat work as work, because well, it's to earn money and feed the family. You're generally lucky if you're doing a job that you also like doing. Also hahha you've been 'spoilt' by JP greeting culture, yeah Singapore does not do that. It's not that they're unfriendly, they're usually either 1. tired. 2. had a bad day. 3. unmotivated at work. But it doesn't mean every SG person is unfriendly, they're just very reserved but if you ask them a question, they can be very helpful. We may not look friendly but we are helpful and nice when we want to. Western food: Yeah, western food is expensive. You will probably save money trying to cook some / prepare some yourself. Queuing: Yup, it's a classic herd mentality thing. So you have to beat the queue by anticipating when people queue for things, safest is generally 1 hour before a popular time slot. Dating questions: Uh that's more of because people are bored and randomly ask stuff like that cause they don't really know how to ask bout other stuff, so don't take that seriously. It's the kind of stuff relatives ask people on Thanksgiving/ Chinese New Year. Also, your agent is a jerk. Agents should not say stuff like that.

Thank you for being so so confident and upfront! I learned so much from what u share here. :)

Almost sold for a few camels in Dubai?!

really enjoyed this video, so thank you for making this!

Wow! This is such an interesting video! Although it was filled with things you didn’t particularly like, I’m glad you’re happy & thriving overall 💛

The last one 🤦‍♀️ Omg! that’s not a joke!

I wish the best for you Lindie! hope you'll be able to adapt to your new home❤

8:40 That is call "Kpoh" a typical privacy invasive trait more common than kiasu culture.

I hope everything is going well overall living in Singapore and that on a regular basis, the positive experiences outweigh the negative ones 💕 I love your videos Lindie and that you felt comfortable sharing this video! It’s not only informative but it helps me relate to you on that basic “we all have frustrations in life” level! :) 화이팅! 🙏🏻

Wow the last one, seriously. I'm Singaporean and I've never experienced that before. Be careful of that agent!

Hmm now it makes sense why the guests I had from Singapore were pretty much quiet the entire time. I thought I did something wrong or not up to their expectations.. so it's all good lol

Good to see another video hun! I'm curious though, culture shock for me was a mixture of both negative and positive. Have you had any stand out positive experiences in SG that you haven't had in Korea / Japan etc etc? Stay strong, you inspire alot of people here to stick with their passions, myself included!

Don’t feel the pressure to answer questions. Just don’t answer with a smile. Change the subject. Also know that singapore WANTS people to have relationships and to promote romance.

Haha I love the way you tell your stories. Very fun!

Hello Lindie! I really enjoyed watching your videos as they inspire me to study new languages. Hope to meet you here in Singapore. I am also working here now for almost 5 years.

Lindie, I just realized your channel, love love love your channel. I strongly nodded for every single points(except fish, haha being Japanese) Looking forward to your new posts!

Ok to be fair, I got a supervisor, in a MNC, who once said, "Can't you just turn on your charm to make the female client happy" so that .I could get better service rating. It is really annoying and unprofessional of him to even suggest, it was as if he treated his male staffs as gigolos. Anyway, most of the other places that I worked do not tolerate such sexist jokes, so you might be just unlucky to meet such people.

Excellent video. Thank you for sharing this! :) What are some places you love to explore in Singapore?

yaaaay new video (:

So they don't say hello but they ask about your dating life. That's super ironic.

Am I the only one who would love to see a video about Dubai and Pakistan and the other countries Lindie has lived in? I'm SO curious!!! Ps: this video is very interesting, thank you Lindie!

I'm so thankful for this video because I am German but have studied in England for two years, without any real culture shock or problems, and I assumed going on my year abroad in Spain would be easy-peasy because I already have experience with living abroad and it's still in Europe so it shouldn't be that different from home, but I am actually struggling a bit (and feeling bad for struggling because of aforementioned reasons)

Thank you for your work and video. I study abroad in UK full time, this year is my last year and I get sometimes so sad and schocked by many stuff even though I'm also from Europe. Next year i want to move to another country for master degree and I'm really stressed but it's good to see no matter where i would end up there is always good and bad side. I appreciate honesty because i don't like when people romantize one country and hate another. I look forward for more videos about tips to moving another country how to deal with stress loneliness ❤

Hello, fellow TCK! I knew there was a reason I liked you. Very interesting video. I hope things have gotten easier :) Dios te bendiga!

Greetings are usually done by those who are pretty good in office politics. The rest just want to go do the work and go home. Small talks in office are also part of unhealthy office politics

Singaporeans are quite reserved actually，especially with ppl they don’t know very well, they will not really greet or initiate a conversation with strangers. We a bunch of 慢热性kind of character due to our upbringing, but once you hit off with us , we can be very fun and crazy to be with. Good luck mate.

The new food queueing experience if you look closely is mainly carried out by young people in your age group. The older people are more practical and may queue for good bargains.

Interesting topic. I aways wondered how it would be to live in a place outside Brazil and how I would feel like. I believe I'd be very awkward about the 'not saying hello' and the 'personal questions' types of situations. You work on here is very spiring and got me excited to learn new languages. God bless you!

Yes I agree with you that it is expensive to eat healthy when you are outside.

This shows how much I know. I honestly thought Singapore was one of those supper happy places

Great video!! And the personal questions are probably in more Asian countries. When I was teaching English in Korea people asked me all the time if I have boyfriend and so on. When a female student asked me it was ok, but when my older male students started to ask me if I have a boyfriend, why I don't have a boyfriend and when I'm going to get married and that I should find a boyfriend soon, that was too much!! Though I really enjoyed people talking to me, like a lady who sat next to me on the train and we just started a nice conversation. That would never happend to me in Europe.

I am a foreigner in US and the fact that everyone is expected to loudly declare their entrance to the office by a greeting makes me very uncomfortable. Also I don't like it when my office mates talk with each other or with other people or on the phone, it distracts me.

If you live in China and say hi to everyone you meet,you will be totally exhausted after 5 hours. I live in this world but mentally I don’t belong to any particular culture nor society. other people’s behaviors or life styles don’t cause any problem for me, I either against or support them,I only create rules for me to live by.freedom is priceless!

Omg I can totally relate to these points as well--ESPECIALLY SEAFOOD omg

I need to know more about getting held at gun point story. What happened? How did it go? We thank God you're okay though.

In Japan I would sometimes get personal questions too. And they wouldn’t reciprocate either. It’s not everyone but some people just don’t treat foreigners the same way they normally treat people if their own culture. If it seems like people are being nosy or asking you anything you’re not comfortable discussing it’s best to act like you normally would.

Now that you've mentioned, I do separate fish from seafood too. Weird but never noticed it hahahah

저도 아시안인데도 불구하고 싱가폴에 4년정도 살면서 초기에 고생좀 했습니다. 님의견에 어느정도 공감이 가구요. 업로드 기간이 2년전이니 이젠 많이 익숙해지셨겠네요. 저도 음식궁합이 안맞아 고생했었는데 김치를 직접 만들어먹으시면 욕구불만이 사라지고 적응하기 시작됐습니다 ^^

It is painful to get plumbing services. I am fortunate that so far I could fix all my own plumbing issues.

I’ve lived in Singapore for over 10 years. Probably the biggest thing that annoys me is the tray thing... most people refuse to tidy up their own mess and return their trays when eating out. 😬😤 there are a lot of good points about Singapore but that one thing particularly annoys me.

Agree with most of the stuff here. i once went to ask a colleague something and she was like why can't you text on our work chat and I was like because you're sitting like 3m away? the not greeting people thing is so ingrained here, it seems. When I tell people that in other countries greeting anyone even strangers is a thing, they look at me kinda strange like "you mean they say hello to people on the street?"

Could you talk a little bit more about your life in Singapore, the pros and cons, the places you love and the ones you’ll recommend to visit, etc... ?

Hi, Lindie. I am glad you are talking about this kind of experience and I was wondering if, based on your point of view, is there in Singapore a lot of chauvinism? Because that could be the reason why they told you those things. At the same time, I find it very interesting, you know, the thing about not greeting at work but it is ok to talk about personal things hehe. A real contradiction eh?

Silent office situation.. Totally experienced that in Singapore.

I’m not sure if it’s my area or a common thing, but in my area we have a thing called ‘late night shopping’ where my local town stays open later on one day of the week. The rule of thumb is; ‘if a restaurant isn’t busy on late night shopping, don’t go in there’. So, I know the whole ‘people will queue if there’s a lot of people for a food place’ very well 😂

Asking how much you pay for rent is not a personal question. At least in Hungary is totally okay to ask. What is more personal is your wage, unfortunately, people don't speak openly about their earnings (it would be helpful to raise each others' wages).

I lived there for 11 years. It's a "spartan" society, brutally competitive country just due to how small the country is and the large population.

What you said here is so so true. You are well weighted in what you shared. No worries about those who are butt hurt k!

Im not in a new country or anything but I'm glad its not just me who finds it uncomfortable when people just start off a meeting by asking about your love life. Its just really strange to me.

Good for you for not taking the bs from that man that offended you like that!

It's a pity that you had those experiences but please continue to be who you are- saying hi to your colleagues and even the stall assistants. I'm a Singaporean and I do enjoy small talk with my colleagues in the morning. And I also greet and thank the workers when they serve me. By the way, when you are asked those personal questions, I suppose the people are just trying to create topics and be interested in you. Well, at least they tried. And lastly, it seems like you are taking this culture shock pretty positively and that can be helpful for you to assimilate into the culture here.

Not the point of the video. But I'm happy to know that seafood and fish are considered separated things in Singapore. I'm allergic to crustaceans and have this ongoing fear of dying over some shrimp when I visit.

To be honest I never considered fish and sea food to be the same category and only now I see how weird it is xD

3:50 ya Singaporean strangers are ur average quite kid, we don’t really like small talk and stuff but if u get to know them better they will start to open up,nice video by the way

Hi Lindie, I'm a year late to this video but I thought I'd comment anyway because you have just experienced most of what I experienced as a Singapore citizen born and raised (Eurasian/mixed) throughout my life there. I also don't eat seafood, and having had to explain that this includes fish every time, I deeply feel your pain hahaha. I'm half Dutch and have moved here to the Netherlands (which was a different kind of culture shock) and I think it's cool that you speak Afrikaans, it's just all pretty relatable to me hahaha. But thought it was so fun to see the parallels between our experiences, and I'm not sure if you still live in Singapore but if you do want to talk about that- I mean idk (can I just say this to a RU-vidr/random person on the internet?) You can message me lol I guess? Hahagahaha okay ending this now before my verbal diarrhea gets worse.

Regarding the greeting culture, personally i do find it very odd to have 1 person come in and greeting everyone excitedly every morning. Like once in a while its fine, but ill honestly find it annoying n useless.😅 we get in , do our work n then once the rush is over we gossip a bit here n there in our cliques. It's also frowned upon to talk during work in certain offices and the tone is usually set by the boss. So it really depends on your working place. As for the personal qns, i see it going both ways. For eg, when i take a grab or cab ride, irs v common for drivers to ask how long j moved to the estate/ how much i paid for my bto. Its like our versio of small talk. But because you're a foreigner, ppl might also just be damn kpo n nosy abt what u earn etc so just laugh it off and say " not much la" or just ignore n ask another qns. Hope u settle in soon, it must not have been easy and i know for sure j wouldnt be able to do it ❤. 1 week overseas and ill miss my chilli sauce 😅

I'm a Malaysian. Many of the things you have said about Singapore also apply to Malaysia. Concerning greeting people and saying "hi", The culture here is to bother people especially strangers as little as possible. For restaurants workers or convenient store cashiers and the like, we usually just start listing out what we want so that they can get our order quickly and move on to the next person. I would be like "one mcchicken set, drinks changed to iced Milo. Having here. Thank you". For social situation, it is weird or awkward for us to just say "Hi how are you" to someone you have never talked to. What you do is find something you share in the moment to ask the other person or to say something to them. For example in a church as you mentioned, ask the person beside you what time does the prayer start, who's the pastor, where's the toilet....(I'm not a Christian I hope you get my idea). In a classroom, I would ask someone beside me whom I have never talked to what the teacher was saying just now or when was the deadline or make comments about how difficult the class is. From that one question, you keep expanding on that topic whether it's church or class. Then, you can start talking about other things after awhile. That's how I go about it as someone who grew up in this kind of culture. On the topic of being asked or teased about dating, it is absolutely annoying and I hate it so much. I agree with you that it is incredibly childish and invasive. It's sometimes considered banter buy I just hate it. They won't stop as well. I have found my group of uni friends and thank God they don't do this. When I was interning at an organisation, I got asked by both fellow interns and the other workers there. I hated that aspect of the working atmosphere there.

Yes, usually Singaporeans are quite reserved, needs more time to warm up. As for personal questions, yes, some people are quite busybodies, but I have nothing to hide so just give them short and sharp reply (I don't think the locals are so blunt as to asking what is your salary)

Hey Lindie, just a note on the culture that Malaysia and Singapore share. There is a strong culture of wanting to intimately know someone deeply as soon as you meet them. In the first day of my current friend group, I knew their full names, hobbies, interests and pet peeves. Not saying hello is definitely a non-thing there at work, though it’s common outside of work.There is a culture of misogyny in both our countries, I’m sorry you went through that. There’s been a growing grassroots movement for equal rights and it’s slowly climbing up the ladder. If you need someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to message.

People seem to also think that “culture shock” is always negative. A lot of it can be just “huh, that’s different” types of realizations. People not saying “good morning” seems heavenly to me 😂 I’m NOT a morning person or the type of person who wants to be greeted when they come into a store or whatever...frankly I find it irritating. Maybe I need to move. However, if I’m at a cashier, it would be odd if they didn’t say “hi” at least 😂. I also love the cold so maybe I should stay put. Lol

Most of the things you say are true. I am Singaporean by the way. Yes small things get escalated n some women do use flirting to get their ways. Yes hard to get healthy salad here too.

It is so impressive to learn your experience in Singapore. I would say that it is quite normal starting work without greeting colleagues in China.:p In fact i am not sure about the root, either.

girl, i think the personal questions things it's like SEA's things

I've been considering working in Singapore someday but this makes me think twice... I also tend to be quiet so I really need that warmth and openness in an office environment. Are there any cultural factors that have pleasantly surprised you? What's kept you happy there?

omg the cell group at church is so relatable! i am from indonesia ppl are so warm and welcoming... i got shock in my life in sg i am like why no one say hi? Am I invicible lol lol lol

I'm currently finding myself in a state of perplexity... You don't eat seafood and YOU SPENT YEARS LIVING IN JAPAN??? How did u manage to get by?)

Hallo Lindie! Ek is ‘n Singaporean; jammer om te hoor van jy ervarings hier. Ek vra om verskoning vir my lande mense. Ek hoop dit gaan goed met jy na 'n jaar. Wees veilig en lekker 😎🤙🏻 P.S.: Ek het in 2015-2016 in Kaapstad gewoon en het ‘n bietjie Afrikaans geleer

About personal questions, I think that's Asian thing. We do that a lot here in Korea.

Very informative and in some cases shocking video! Thanks for sharing! And about bad thing: If a plumber or another person as he, asks kind of this question in some european countries, woman can sue a couple of thousands dollars from him! Disgusting...

Whoa… I have a disability, and I am on my own in Singapore quite a lot… I wish people would ask me about my dating life, instead of the other questions they ask… Like why is nobody helping me… Why is nobody accompanying me? But this doesn’t just go for Singapore… I think people forget that people with disabilities to get married and have children and go to work, and do everything else…

Do move to Malaysia too k!! The weather is the same, everything is cheaper, and you can practice both mandarin and bahasa!! And perhaps also takes up tamil.. 🙂😘❤️

The not greeting people at your office or anywhere is soooo sad. :(

Dear Lindie, I am Singaporean ... ! I normally watch video only & don't "give / contribute / participate" in comments ... ! I have "read & screened" through the whole list of comments ... & realised that "non of them" give you a good "reply or answers" as to WHY people in Singapore generally Don't Greet others when they first enter Office ... ! There could be various reasons for it ... Besides what the other people have said that Singaporeans are generally quite "Quiet & Reserved people"

在北上广深工作的年轻人，大多都是租房，所以讨论房租比较多，这样就知道市场大概是什么样子的，因为搬家可能比较频繁。PS，我喜欢吃鱼啊，嘻嘻。

Asking about rent and dating life is really normal in Ireland too, the former partially because of the housing crisis. I'm presuming the latter is new because of the time you spent in conservative countries?

Omg that last point😬😬

Your content is great, but perhaps it's about time to consider improving your audio since it's so dialog heavy.

I don’t think Singapore is a guarded reserve culture at all. Compared to Philippines maybe, but Northern Europe and East Asia not.

Being a Long time didn’t u yr new video

The do you have a bf one could be because they wanted to know the chances of you being pregnant and having to take a leave of absence for an extended period of time,,people here are really particular about high efficiency levels lmaoo

most offices in sg are not that quiet imo.. my office is especially noisy because of all the “aunties” chit chating, shouting across their tables, etc lmao. Same experience with Previous company as well. Both mncs 🤣perhaps the office environment is also highly dependent on the nature of work i guess~

Not all office are quiet,my office is like a fish market lol

Oh no, for the last part about agent, he/she shouldn't have said things beyond his/her professional realm. Wonder which property agency is it?

Te amo love from Colombia 🇨🇴

Hi 👋

i feel like i experienced all of this in South Korea.

sounds like Japan on steroids

I’ll say hi to u when I see u 😄😁

That is a very funny question coming from your employer.

Where did you read that Singapore is unhappy, even though we don't have much fun events and parties every night, I feel like we are okay despite our complaining which does not put us down too much, in which I find quite annoying as we are quite blessed in Singapore in my eyes. The World Happiness Report ranks us 34th most happy country out of 150+ so I wouldn't say we are unhappy at all, just unassuming and unimportant in the chart.

😁😁😁😘🥰😍

Once you adapt to Singapore way of f life ....now Singaporean is facing culture shock.

To include other types of audience for your pleasure on your RU-vid Channel. Could you incorporate the closed captioning in English, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Mandrian Chinese? Plus your languages

Since people are not that open there, how hard it is for you to make friends in Singapore? Cells are a good way to make friends but for a non Christian, there must be other ways right

That last one is mostly because you are a foreigner.

Some points sound like my home country Finland. We are very cold to people and we love queueing :Ddd🇫🇮🙈