To get down, we need to set up the difference between English and Singlish. English in this essay refers to standard international English that is “ used by native talker ‘s of English and bilingual users of English for cross-cultural communicating. ” ( McKay 2002:132 ) It is the linguistic communication officially used in public disposal, jurisprudence and instruction in Singapore. On the other manus, Singlish refers to Singapore Colloquial English, which is used by many Singaporeans. It is fused with the footings and modulations with the native female parent linguas such as Bahasa Malayu, Chinese, Hokkien, Cantonese and Tamil. Singlish can be spoken both by people who do non hold a good appreciation of English, every bit good as those who have a strong bid of international standard English.
First, Singaporeans understand the demand for proper English for economical intents. In the progressively globalised and interconnected universe, the authorities realizes the demand to be able to pass on fluently with others non from Singapore. Singapore is an economically outstanding metropolis and does much of its trade with other states, America being the 2nd largest consumer of Singaporean exports after China. ( Statistics Singapore: Ministry of Trade and industry, 2008 ) The economic state of affairs of Singapore requires the people to be fluent in English so as to be able to pass on good with aliens who are making concern with them. As such, the authorities has put in topographic point steps to guarantee that Singaporeans are able to talk English fluently.
The first linguistic communication of the Singaporean instruction system is English and really late, in September 2009, the Education Minister Ng Eng Hen mentioned in his ministry ‘s work program seminar that raising the criterion of English of pupils will be a chief end for schools in the coming old ages. He indicated that they would recognize this by leting pupils to talk up more frequently in category. Another authorities step to raise aid Singaporeans speak proper English is the induction of the Speak Good English Movement that started in 2000 and is still in consequence. The so deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke at the launch of the Speak Good English Movement 2001, and voicing that there is a demand for Singapore to turn into an attractive economic hub for foreign companies and foreign endowment. Through out his address, DPM Lee Hsien Loong invariably draws the nexus between Singapore being an economic centre and the demand for Singaporeans to be fluent in English. From these illustrations, we can see that the authorities in Singapore recognizes the demand for English and thereby novices patterns in instruction and public runs to increase the usage of English in Singapore.
I personally feel that greater accent on standard English in the Singaporean instruction system is in the right way. I had antecedently tried alleviation learning at a neighborhood school for a few months. On many occasions, I had the chance to read the English essays of the pupils and was instead unsettled by the fact that the pupils could non show themselves clearly in proper English. Many times, it was evident that they used the sentence construction of Citrus reticulata and translated it to their written English. On many occasions, I find that the pupils are unable to exchange between the usage of standard English and Singlish, even when speech production. If they continue to utilize English and Singlish interchangeably, there is no uncertainty that people from other states would non be able to understand them. Due to this, I agree that there is a demand to raise the criterion of English in Singapore.
The authorities is non the lone party who is cognizant of the demand for proper English. Many Singaporeans are cognizant of this every bit good, particularly when it comes to stand foring Singapore to the planetary universe. This is clearly exemplified in the recent contention over Miss Singapore World beauty queen, Ris Low. A local intelligence channel, Razor TV, interviewed Low and it was revealed that her criterion of spoken English was non up to the criterions of many Singaporeans. Viewing audiences were appalled that she was chosen to stand for Singapore despite her low criterion of spoken English. Soon after, it was made known that she was charged for recognition card fraud. However, there were many petitions by the populace who wrote in to the Straits Times forum, every bit good as other online forums, to oppose her being chosen as Miss Singapore World even before her recognition card fraud instance was publicized. This shows that Singaporeans understand the demand to talk proper English when portraying Singapore to other states.
Together with their call for the use of proper English in Singapore, authorities figures have besides expressed concern over the usage if Singlish in Singapore. In the gap address at the launch of the Speak Good English Movement 2000 by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, he expressed concern over Singlish, alternatively of English, going Singapore ‘s common linguistic communication. He maintained that if Singaporeans continue to utilize Singlish, something he referred to as a “ corrupted signifier of English non understood by others ” , we would lose our fight in the economic system. He besides mentioned, “ if they ( immature Singaporeans ) speak Singlish when they can talk good English, they are making a ill service to Singapore. ” DPM Lee Hsien Loong highlighted a similar concern sing this issue in his address the undermentioned twelvemonth. DPM Lee stated that on top of holding more people talking English, it is “ every bit, if non more of import to acquire Singaporeans to talk good, standard English aˆ¦ instead than Singlish, a local idiom unique to Singapore. ” He added that if we want to reenforce our individuality as Singaporeans, we should take something other than Singlish. Through this, we can see that together with their call for proper English, DPM Lee and PM Goh were besides naming for a decreased use of Singlish.
Although I agree with the executions in educational policies and public runs for the use of proper English due to the demand for economic fight, I think that Singlish has a function to play in Singaporean Society. Singlish is alone to Singapore as it is a direct consequence of the interactions between people of different races and native linguas and is portion of the national individuality because people are connected to the linguistic communication and to each other when they use it.
Language is basically a tool for us to pass on with one another and Singlish enables Singaporeans to make this efficaciously among ourselves. In fact, Singlish came approximately exactly to execute this map. Singapore, before and during the colonial times, already had a broad assortment of people from different native linguas working here. Due to its state of affairs as a port along the naval Spice Route, there were many emigres from the part, such as southern Chinese and Indian labourers. Coupled with the autochthonal Malay talking population, this made Singapore a topographic point with diverse linguistic communication background. English was introduced when the British settlers used English as the medium for disposal. Soon after independency in 1965, the authorities made English that chief medium of instruction in Singapore. ( Low, Brown, 2005, 20 ) Gradually, English came to be localized with footings from the native linguas of the people in Singapore. Malay, Mandarin and its idioms, and Tamil words were incorporated into this local version of English. This is particularly so for words which seem to hold no direct English equivalent, such as “ kiasu ” , “ blanjah ” or “ shiok ” . Singlish besides frequently takes on the sentence structure of Chinese and Malay. ( Wee, 2009, 56-59 ) It is seen that the Singaporean version of English, or Singlish, has come about as a consequence of the interactions between the different civilizations and linguistic communications here and this mix is non observed anyplace else in the universe. Wee ( 2009, 63-66 ) states that the “ formation of Singlish was non from a commission who sat down and discussed the construction, grammar and vocabulary of Singlish. ” Rather, Singlish was a natural consequence of the people from different native linguas and civilizations in Singapore, pass oning and interacting with one another. It is exactly because of the fact that Singlish is a cultural merchandise that came approximately of course from Singaporeans that makes it relevant to Singaporean society.
While English can be used by everyone in Singapore and let them to pass on with one another efficaciously, Singlish has an added quality to it. It allows Singlish talkers to experience a sense of connexion to and through the linguistic communication because Singlish is localized and English does non possess this trait. From my personal experience as a pupil in Singapore, it is evident that my instructors try to utilize proper English during lessons where it is in a formal scene. As a pupil, I would reply and present inquiries to my instructors in standard English. However, I would utilize Singlish when discoursing with my friends because it is an informal scene. In fact, sometimes when we hear person speech production in proper English in an informal scene, my friends would notice that that individual was “ pretentious ” and that there was no demand to utilize proper English among friends. In another experience, where I went for an inter- secondary school leading cantonment, we were put in groups with pupils from other schools and backgrounds. During the first group treatment session, I had taken to talking in standard English because I had thought that it would be more appropriate. However, I realized that some of my group couples were non antiphonal so I decided to exchange to Singlish, trusting that they would open up and lend more. As I had hoped, they instantly started to talk up more during the treatment. In the undermentioned group treatment Sessionss, I realized that when the facilitator posed a inquiry in standard English, my group mates did non look forthcoming with their ideas, but one time person contributed to the treatment in Singlish, they would talk up more and subsequent parts were in Singlish. Possibly they ab initio did n’t lend because they had problem understand that inquiry or subject of treatment. However, I do non believe that they had any problem hold oning what was being asked or discussed. Rather, they started to open up because Singlish provided us the chance to set up a bond with each other. Although simple, these illustrations show us that Singlish connects Singaporeans together through a common conversational linguistic communication in which we are comfy in showing our ideas.
Singlish is besides used in the media in Singapore to give it an reliable sense of being Singaporean. Singaporean situation comedies like Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd, My Sassy Neighbor, Police and Thief, Under One Roof and Turning Up are seen as portraying the lives of Singaporeans and the characters in these shows speak in Singlish. Local movies like I Not Stupid, Money No Enough and Just Follow Law had histrions talking in Singlish throughout the movie. Even their rubrics are in Singlish. Musicals like Beauty World, Dim Sum Dollies and $ ing Dollar integrate Singlish as good. In fact, Beauty World was originally a drama and it is seen as one of the more successful originative literature locally and has been produced into a musical a few times. It is about a miss called Ivy from Malaysia who comes to Singapore to happen the true individuality of her male parent. Her fellow, Frankie, accompanies her to Singapore every bit good. As noted by Low and Brown, both Ivy and Frankie speak in standard English throughout the show while the other Singaporean characters speak in Singlish ( Low, Brown, 2005, p. 181 ) . This amplifies how the usage of English and Singlish by different characters help place their nationalities in the show. These shows target the local audience and as a consequence, include the Singlish linguistic communication to picture an reliable local portraiture.
The Singapore touristry Board portrays Singapore as “ Uniquely Singapore ” and a common inquiry asked is whether Singapore has anything to name their ain. Singlish is decidedly something that is uniquely Singaporean. A canvass by NUS Students Political Association done on 750 undergrads revealed that Singlish was considered most Singaporean with 75.3 % of the ballots ( Leo, 2005 ) . Similarly, in a recent Political Science forum, the subject of argument was whether Singapore had a national individuality. Singlish came up rather frequently because many forum participants recognized people who speak Singlish as being Singaporean. Whenever I visited Malaysia, my sister and I would even play a game where we would seek to separate if a individual was Malayan or Singaporean merely by the manner they spoke. Despite the fact that Manglish ( Malayan English ) and Singlish are slightly similar, we were still able to happen something typical and alone in the manner that Singaporeans speak. In this sense, Singlish can be said to be portion of Singapore ‘s national individuality because it differentiates us from people of other topographic points and states.
In decision, I do hold that there is a demand for Singaporeans to be fluent in standard English so as to be competitory in the planetary universe and raising the criterion of English is so the right class of action by the Singaporean authorities. However, I do non believe that Singlish should be excluded from being used in Singapore. Not merely does it exceed people of different racial individualities in Singapore, it allows people to experience a sense of connexion to the linguistic communication itself, which English does non offer. Singlish is portion of the state individuality because people are connected to the linguistic communication and to each other when they use it.
