"The Education Ministry will set up an English Language Task Force to study ways of improving the standard of English in schools." This is an excerpt from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1005491/1/.html. What first came to your mind when you read this statement? Well, for me, the first thing that I could think of is Singlish. For non-Singaporeans out there, Singlish is basically the local informal context of the English language which is made up of the different languages locally such as the Chinese dialects like Hokkien and the Malay and Tamil languages. Why did I associate the statement with Singlish? Personally, I think that somehow, the underlying reason for the current standard of English amongst the younger generation is due to the influence of Singlish but I am not implying that Singlish is all bad.
Although most Singaporeans are synonymous with Singlish, I believe that there are those who are actually proficient in English but are sometimes more comfortable speaking in Singlish because it has become a custom here in Singapore. As for myself, sometimes it is easier and more straightforward to speak in a bit of Singlish. For instance, the typical "Where got?" in place of "Where is it?" depending on the context.
Singaporeans should be proud of their own unique brand of English. The existence of Singlish shows that Singaporeans have their own identity, that it reflects its users and the history behind Singlish. Singlish is learned through socialisation and experience. Based on my personal experience, I actually learned Singlish through interaction with the different ethnic groups of people mainly in school. How not to? I mean, every now and then, my friends would mention their "lah", "mah" and "lor". As a student myself, I believe other students would be familiar with the term "pon" too which is derived from the Malay word "ponteng" which means to absent oneself.
Singlish is not just a language, it is indeed also a culture that will and should continue to exist but used sparingly. We cannot totally stop people from speaking in Singlish. Instead, we should learn to appreciate the existence of Singlish and yet continue to upgrade ourselves with good standard English. Use (or appreciate) Singlish to identify amongst ourselves as Singaporeans but use English to communicate with others especially at the international level.
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i think this entry is really a job well done as this has a different perception of the whole idea of Singlish... When one discusses about this topic...most of the times it wud be negative comments and the negative impacts of this "language" on our youngsters...however, this entry was able to show that there are actually pros of that "language" which is identity...i personally felt that it is not a thing to be embarrass of and it is not as bad as everyone has perceived if onlie they knew how to use it wisely...it is uniquely singapore...:)
ReplyDeleteI have to admit myself that I do speak singlish among my peers.However, I am very conscious of the way I speak, particularly, my language, whenever I am around people who are not Singaporeans.I do make a conscious effort to speak proper english as I think that it reflects a bad image of us, Singaporeans, to them when Singlish is spoken. All i'm trying to say is...In my opinion, Singlish is ONLY acceptable when used among our fellow Singaporeans.
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