on Feb 6th, 2008Singlish is funny? Yes, but so what?
I’m caught between not offending people and the freedom of speech. Heh.
I don’t think my English is in anyway superior, although I was brought up very heavily influenced by foreign media (TV and movies) and majority of my friends speak only English.
I have to say that, yes, I enjoy speaking Singlish in Singapore and to my Singaporean friends, however, when I am communicating with a foreigner or even a local Singaporean that speaks in proper English, I automatically switch from Singlish to English.
I’m not ashamed of Singlish nor Singapore’s culture in anyway, it’s just more convenient to be easily understood by the person you are communicating with. I’ve been told by some Americans that my weird “accent” sounded like some exotic European lady and told by the Europeans that my accent sounds American. One have to note also that when I speak to my mother or my relatives from HongKong in English, I often speak with a funny Cantonese accented English, like those the Singaporeans would often mock.
I’m not afraid of stereotyping, I believe language and accent have to be convenient and communications should not be hindered by the country or state you are from (I still can’t understand Texan accent).
When I was studying in Australia, I had to call back to Singapore regarding information for my driving license. I could not understand a word coming out of the Malay lady’s mouth while on the telephone. That was when I realized the big difference in language and accent.
Singlish is very quaint and very easy to learn, any foreigners that stay here for a year should be able to pick up the short sentences that we device and the accent that has been influenced by Chinese, Malay and Indians.
You can read more about Singlish from its Wikipedia entry that has an extensive explanation of theoretical and practical usage of Singlish
This is the video that got many Singaporeans upset when being mocked of their language (I about read it from another blog).
My official stand is – Yes, Singlish can be quite difficult to comprehend. But each country has it’s own accent and slang. nothing wrong with that.
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i do share your thoughts on this. there is nothing wrong with speaking singlish, though of course, i do correct my speaking when i am in more serious business, like during a meeting or conversing with non singaporeans. its the same everywhere, when american speak, i have to strain to understand, and similarly for them.
as for taiwanese, i am shocked. sometime back, they were criticizing our government saying that without XXX, we would be nothing and now this.
when I went taiwan last year, the way they pronounced their station names was downright hilarious. it went something like this:
guandu sta-thionnn
and when i was actually purchasing something, i could not comprehend their english and that i would rather they talked in chinese instead.
who are they to criticize our english then? probably they have never heard how we speak english on the whole.