Sounds familiar? Living in Singapore, we cannot be separated from SINGLISH! It has become a part of our life and it is hard not to use Singlish! The vocab of Singlish consists of words originating from English, Malay, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and Tamil. Singlish has been used since 1819 and till now it has been one of Singapore’s identity. However Mr Lee Hsien Long said that Singlish should NOT be one of Singapore’s identity as it doesn’t give a good impression to the rest of the world. To promote usage of proper English, in 2000 “Speak Good English Movement” has been launched by the government. They will write articles in
the papers to promote good English! They convey their messages through comic and cartoonto make it more interesting.
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However people still uses Singlish as it has already become a habit! There are even books to explain meanings of Singlish phrases. Some examples of Singlish
phrases explained in these books are
• Dis country weather very hot one. – In this country, the weather is very warm.
• Dat joker there cannot trust. – That person over there is not trustworthy.
• Tomorrow dun need bring camera. – You don't need to bring a camera tomorrow.
• He play soccer also very good one leh. – He's very good at playing soccer too.
• Walao, I want eat chicken rice – I am craving for chicken rice.
• I go bus-stop wait for you – I will be at the bus stop waiting for you
There are always comedy videos on Singlish! I personally love "Dr JiaJia" videos! They are 2 Singaporean boys then talk about current issues using Singlish! Watch their video talking about ministers it is one of their most popular videos:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72BMJ3NfHlE People love watching his videos as they are cute and the content is very funny!
Schools are doing their part to promote proper English to the students. One example is oral examinations. Students will be deducted marks for usage of Singlish while sitting for oral
exams so students will make an effort to speak proper English and use more high standard words.
I feel that Singaporeans should try their best to minimize the usage of Singlish. Singapore is a well known country and a lot of foreigners not only come here for tourism purposes but
also to settle in here for good. If we continue using Singlish they will have an impression
that Singaporeans are not educated and they speak weird English that doesn’t make sense!
So lets all do our parts and try to minimize usage of Singlish! It will not only give a good
impression of the country but also of yourself!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlish
How has Singlish impacted our society? Is it in a good way or bad way?
ReplyDelete-inez
Do you think Singlish makes a good impression on the foreigners about ourselves? Or is it just a weird language/accent? DOes business get affected by this impression that foreigners have of us due to Singlish?
ReplyDelete- Mani
Americans have an American accent, British men have a British accent. They are proud to be that way. Why do you think Singaporeans can't be proud of it and just make it an unique identity of theirs? Why do Singaporeans want to adapt the English from other countries? Why can't we have our own way of speaking Engish?
ReplyDelete~Sharmni
@inez: Everyone is using Singlish, regardless of age and social status. Children have a "Monkey-See, Monkey-Do" approach, so they will copy whatever Singlish they have heard. Some Singlish words are rather vulgar however children will use it anyways since they d not know the meaning of it. Teenagers and Young Adults want to be cool so when they hear Singlish being used in media or what so ever, they will use them too, thinking that it is trendy. These days, even educated businessmen are commonly seen using Singlish. I think this impact is not very good. As stated in the blog post, there are many foreigners coming to Singapore. If Singapore continues using Singlish, they will have an impression that Singaporeans doen not know how to speak proper English and they will look down on us. Everyone should make an effort to speak proper english :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@Sharmni: You are right! Having our own unique identity is important. Ofcause, we can use Singlish when we are informally talking to our friends and family. However we have to consider the fact that Singapore is full with foreigners and tourists. Some even come here to start businesses. If we use Singlish and appear as "unprofessional" they might not want to start business with us! Singapore is a small country and we NEED help from people from all over the world. They will come to Singapore to spend and invest thus making our economy grow. We have to speak proper English so that we will give a good impression. I keep going back to the point that we have a give a good impression but yes that is the main thing about speaking proper English haha. Your question made me think so long hahaha
ReplyDelete-LISA
@Mani: Hi mani! I think you can get your answer in my answer to Sharmni's question! To summarize, I feel that it will affect business negatively because the foreign businessmen might find Singaporeans unprofessional (because we use Singlish) and not want to do business with us.
ReplyDelete-LISA