"Singapore and perhaps Malaysia are the only countries in the world where
Buddhist/Taoist Chinese, Muslim Malays and Hindu Indians can live side by side
with one another in peace and harmony for so long with few social conflicts, a
remarkable feat not seen anywhere else.
This will not be possible without English as the lingua franca of Singapore
to enable the three major races to communicate and interact with one
another.
All Singaporeans, regardless of race and religion grow up learning English as
their first language and this lays down the foundation for their common
Singapore identity."
http://www.tremeritus.com/2010/03/26/what-exactly-is-the-singapore-identity-which-binds-us-together/
My Summary:
Singapore is known for being multi-reigious and multi-racial country. However, what brings these people together is the fact that we speak a common language which is English. English being the first language of Singapore has enabled the three major races to live in peace and harmony.
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"OUR national identity is our unique ability to mix languages in speech. It is
common to hear Singaporeans say: 'I'm hungry, I want to makan now,' (makan is
Malay for 'eat'), 'Toilet zai na li?' (Where is the toilet?), and so on. "
http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20070708/070806-1.htm
My summary:
Unlike other countries, we singaporeans mix English and whatever dialects we speak together. This makes us stand out. This may be because of our bilingual educational system and the dialects which were spoken by our forefathers.
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Real Singaporeans are:
-People who take pride in being a Singaporean and will stay by Singapore in good times and hardship.
-People who contribute to the community actively.
-People who call Singapore a HOME and not just a place to stay.
~Inez
Does learning English make us similar to other country who also have English as one of their main languages? If this is so, what makes us different (other than Singlish)? Those who don’t understand singlish, do they suffer in the society. For, eg I have a friend who does not understand Singlish though her family is Singaporean for about 3 generations or more.
ReplyDelete－ 吗你
sorry it was meant to be Mani
ReplyDeleteDo you think Singaporean's identity is that we have English to help us communicate or because we all have a background of moving into Singapore for a living so we all speak english in different ways and we stil understand one another? We are also able to interact with the world which has people who do not understand engligh. So, do you think our identity is our bi-lingualism?
ReplyDeleteSharmni
ReplyDeleteQustion regarding your 2nd point... If we mix chinese and english and speak, is that really Singpaorean's identity? that isnt Singpaore's "language" so isnt it just simply "using-two-languages" haha do u undersand my question? haha
ReplyDelete-LISA
(@ Mani)
ReplyDeleteyes, learning English does make us similar to other countries who also have english as one of their main languages. perhaps our dialects we speak makes us different from other countries, especially the western countries. i think that people who don't understand english would eventually learn english from their surroundings, however, it does take time to learn a new language.
-Inez
(@ Sharmni)
ReplyDeleteYes, i do. i think that SG is known for its bilingualism. We speak different dialects and languages which are all introduced by foreigners that have migrated from other countries into SG.
-Inez
(@ Lisa)
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is part of our language that makes up our identity. am i ans yur qn? :)