If you feel ashame of speaking Singlish to your countryman, then you are not a proud Singaporean(if you are one). We have already lost our dialects because of English and it is a shame to our forefather. And Singlish is only common language which our many races can be bond together and understand each other.

And I don’t think foreigners laugh at Singlish. If you think so, you are just being sensitive. They just find Singlish amusing. And they find it useful when they to speak to an uncle or aunty in a hawker centre. They will get more helping if they did.

Like l said Singaporean speaking Singlish is fine. But when we speak to the world at large we should speak English to be understood. In school ,children should learn proper English. They must speak and write English. But that doesn’t mean when they speak Singlish they will forget English altogether and their English . You will be surprise our kids is capable of both. So don’t write off Singlish yet.

Possible disadvantages are:

(1) School children will lose their motivation to learn English properly leading to a vicious cycle of creating the next generation of poor communicators condoning successive generations of poorer and poorer language users.

(2) The linguists and foreigners who commented that Singlish is interesting and claim that they want to learn it, are actually laughing at us! Please wake up and realise this. They are glad that being such willing users of poor English, we are forever doomed to maintain our inferior and servile status vis-a-vis our former colonial masters. At this very moment, they are probably laughing out loud that we are so smug and foolish to be proud of our deficiencies.

(3) People who say that our citizens will never be capable of learning good English are guilty of looking down on Singaporeans. I think they should apologise. They are the same people who condemn others who would like to promote better spoken English here. I think their thinking is upside-down. Not acknowledging our poor language-IQ and pretending that poor English is uniquely Singaporean only accelerate our downward spiral towards cultural ignominy.

Despite being in the small minority, I’m not afraid to appeal to all to reconsider their stand and contribute towards an elevation of our language skills. Let’s aim to speak better English than the Westerners!

Awhile back, I have made some comments on Patrick Loh’s piece regarding this similar subject matter that:

“Singapore is unique in a sense that we have no real language identity other than our born ethnicity (our “dialect”). True, English is declared by the government as our business language. Bahasa Melayu is our national language and in our melting pot of citizenry, Tamil and Chinese plays a significant role as well as far as social cohesiveness is concerned.”

It is with this unique identity and that through the years of cultural and ethnicity melting pot mixing and exchanges where Singlish was developed. Socially, I think it should be embraced in the local context.

I believe, speaking and writing well in ANY language (NOT just the English language) plays a significant role in fostering a better future aspect for the growing up Singapore youngsters as they enter the globalization age. That is a fact in the professional field that one cannot deny and cannot be ignored. However, I think one should not neglect the social aspects and the implications of the use of language. The number one golden rule and importance of communication is to convey your message that can be clearly understood without the meaning being misconstrued or twisted. Simple structured sentence will suffice. Whether it is spoken in Singlish, Bengali or any local colloquialism becomes secondary. Kudos to you if you uses “proper and widely accepted standard” English or Mandarin or any other languages to converse and if you happen to use Singlish and the meaning is not distorted or misunderstood by the receiving party or parties, I think it is okay as well. It is a personal choice not a mandate.

For the older Singaporean generation, there is no fall back as our very unique environment has foster the way we interact with each other. From televised media local programs to street talk, Singlish will somehow find its place one way or the other. From time to time, we too will hear leaders use it as well. There is nothing wrong about it in the Singapore context. However, when conversing with foreign bodies (particularly in a business setting and making the assumption that the receiving parties has never heard or no clue of Singlish), if Singlish is widely and freely used then it might pose a challenge for the receiving party to grasp the message conveyed. I am sure it is more so in a diplomatic exchange session, Singlish will be tucked away.

Can this trend be change? Certainly, but it is a tall task and will take many generations more to make it happen, provided that the environment settings, local televised media programs, local business settings, social settings, political settings and last but not least, its willing native citizenry effort to make it work. For as long as one remain in Singapore and not being exposed to other environment where you are force to or will use less Singlish in your everyday conversation, Singlish is here to stay for a long while.

if singlish is such a national disgrace, it means that we singaporeans are all idiots, voting a bunch of whit loving jackasses into power

The term elitist should not be used alone. It must be used in conjunction with the term bas-tards. Let me correct your sentence: Those who mock the use of Singlish are rather removed from the reality of the average Singaporean life or should I say “elitist bas-tards”.

Those who mock the use of Singlish are rather removed from the reality of the average Singaporean life or should I say “elitist”. We should accept deficiencies in our society and not mock them by saying ” is vital to be aware that Singlish will undermine Singapore’s image as an education hub.” That statement is a complete exageration. It is unacceptable, nonsensical and above all, elitist.

If you want the kind of English spoken in the West, you will never have it. That is because as long as the ah soh, ah pek, pakciks, makciks, achis and so on are still alive, you can be sure that Singlish will still be alive. And how much can you expect from those ah bengs, ah lians, mats and minahs to speak standard English in everyday life?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlish

Singlish very jialat meh? Everything also think can ban, stop, etc. PAP’s identity is kay eh one. No wonder people don’t identify with Singapore…

In some enlightened circles, it will be considered as stating the obvious if one is to assert that Singlish is poor English, period. If we are honest, we would have acknowledged that Singlish came into being because the majority of Singaporeans are not smart enough to master even one decent language despite more than 10 years of schooling.

The way forward is not to continue to deny our language deficiencies, but to show some willingness to learn. If our Singaporean identity is defined by an ineptitude in language learning we will continue to be the laughing stock of the world.

when these speakers of singlish taught it to their children, singlish turned from pidgin to creole, as it had now speakers who were born using it.

>Thus ur opinion is tat it’s ok to actually speak Singlish right? Since it’s our native language.

yes, it is okay to speak singlish. it has a rich vocab and grammar and has its uses. (but please, do not compare singlish to english and conclude that singlish is broken english. singlish isn’t broken or bad english. singlish and english have different grammars and therefore, comparing them is like comparing mangosteens and durians!)

(i don’t okay singlish just because it’s our native language or not. frankly, i don’t even care if people want to speak spanish or french – if they want to learn, good for them! learning a new language opens another door.)

>But of coz by saying all this, i’m not asking anyone to abandon proper english. Be flexible, if the person do not understand, switch. No point “Playing Music to the Cow” right?

indeed. communication is more than just ‘speaking good english’ (or whatever language). there must also be the willingness to communicate (like a previous writer who complained about the post office staff who was unable to understand his english).

If you look at the Parliamentary debates, some of the English spoken in that sacred chamber is atrocious. “Pang sai” and all…

I like Singlish – just as I like the rhythmn of teochew and the dialects.

They are our backbone – but sadly they’re being destroyed. Even places with wonderful names are being replaced. Such as Tekka being replaced with “The Verge”.

The English name may appeal to tourists but I think it’s more important that Singaporeans have affinity to places which holds our memories and experiences.

Not everything should be made to bow to the tourist dollar.

The Verge is such a stupid name to replave Tekka.