English In Singapore

English has almost become a universal language. Whether we like it or not, more and more people are beginning to speak English. Pick any one person from Asia, Europe or the Americas, chances are they’d be able to speak some form of English. No other language has gained such status.

Therein lays the problem. Since the language is so widely used, its purity cannot be retained in every nook and cranny of the world. English will evolve. And in the case of Singapore, it has already evolved greatly and, despite numerous efforts by The Speak Good English Movement, it will continue to do so. Whether this is good or bad is highly debatable. Those who say that it is detrimental to the Singaporean society will utilize the argument that by making English uniquely ours, and establishing a whole new refreshing style that is generally known as Singlish, we become incomprehensible to the rest of the world. Furthermore they claim that by using this strange Singaporean English, we make fools out of ourselves.

Singapore’s Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, in a speech on the 13th of May 2005 said the following:

It is much easier to speak proper English all the time, than to speak sloppily most of the time, and then switch to proper English for formal occasions. Because to do the latter is almost like learning two languages. We will learn wrong grammar and language habits when we speak sloppy English, and when the occasion arises for us to speak proper English, we will make mistakes without realising it.

Learning two languages is always more difficult than learning one. Mr. Lee is correct on that count. And yet, he is wrong for he misinterprets Singlish as almost another language. Singlish is not even close to being a language on its own. It may be changing everyday but Singlish is merely a colloquial form of English. Every society speaks English differently. The Australians are hardly understandable to an East German who speaks English and vice-versa. But an Australian wouldn’t speak in his own slang to an East German, he would use Standard English. It is not difficult to switch from colloquial speech to formal speech. In fact it happens all the time. This practice is called diglossia and has been around since god-knows-when (meaning I don’t know but it has had to have been quite awhile). Most Singaporeans can switch from colloquial speech to a more formal variety. And even if we cannot, does it really matter so much as long as we are able to somehow communicate with the rest of the world and get our messages across? Come on, we haven’t completely mutilated English and created something completely new. We have merely added on to the language making it just as vibrant and dynamic as in any other society. Singlish is not a problem. It’s our identity and there is nothing wrong with that.

It is in my opinion that the whole issue has been blown out of proportion. Sure, some Singaporeans can do with a few lessons on grammar and they could add to their vocabulary but vast and drastic change is unnecessary. I, for one, haven’t been having sleepless nights thanks to the so-called English crisis. We don’t need to speak English the way people want us to. We ought to just speak the way we feel because as Frank Sinatra once sung, “What has a man? If not himself, then he has nought”.