It has been an awfully long while since I last blogged.
Basically this is what happened: lousy people at work (some in certain support teams, some in overseas locations and a particular person in a high management position) created so much unnecessary work that I have no time to really catch up on current events, much less think about them. So inevitably, I get writer’s block.
The writer’s block hasn’t really gone away but I have at least found a little on one of the current events to write about: Singlish & Proper English
First of all, I have always felt that the Speak Good English campaign is an over reaction to the complaints of a few tourists who couldn’t understand a sales staff who simply didn’t have the common sense to use proper English. I felt that the English language nazis would be primarily the ‘bourgeois bloatpigs’ (or DCMC aka decadent Chinese middle class as a friend called them) – the self-proclaimed artsy fartsy ‘elites’ – that is pushing for it because they can’t gel with the general populace. Especially the group of English-speaking Chinese who can’t identify with being Chinese and can’t speak Mandarin for nuts. They looked down on Singlish, and thus pushed for speaking proper English because that would make them feel better or more superior than the rest of us.
On the other hand, my friend of many years mentioned that it might not be entirely true. Parents who can’t speak proper English (Singlish users themselves) may be those who are more staunch in pushing for their children to be taught in proper English. As we often see our own flaws clearly, we then to over react when we become parents. As parents, most would hope (and expect) that the mistake they have made in life should be prevented for their own children. He has a good point because it reminds me of a scene in the movie ‘Singapore Dreaming’ where the character played by Yeo Yen Yen said, “I would not want mother to babysit my kids. I would hire a maid so he can learn English. Not Hokkien.”
Whatever the reasons are for pushing for the use of proper English, I have no objection. It wouldn’t do well for our national image if we can’t even answer queries in proper English sentences. However, I simply felt Singlish shouldn’t be use as a convenient whipping boy to drive the point even though Singlish provide many examples of bad English. Even so, it is still far better than the ‘shorthand’ use by the teens in forums, instant messaging or SMS. Very often these ‘shorthand’ is completely unintelligible to the uninitiated.
The reason I say that Singlish isn’t the worst example of bad English is that in a broader sense, Singlish permeates through even our spoken Mandarin and Chinese dialects. It is a Singaporean language where we took words and ideas from another race and use them. For e.g., we use terms like ‘tio sahman’, ‘bway tahan’ and ‘bo bahkay’ in Hokkien, ‘kum mi sin’ in Cantonese and ‘geh dor loey’ / ‘gu lui’ in Cantonese and Hokkien respectively and we can tell from the origins of these words that they were taken from English and Malay respectively.
So, if the language nazis really wants to root out Singlish, then they shouldn’t stop with English. River Valley Road should be renamed 河谷路 in Chinese, instead of calling it 里巴巴利路. That’s not mentioning that some roads like Temple Street (登婆街) should also be renamed. Singlish lingo has so permeated into our spoken Mandarin, that a Chinese speaker from a different part of the world has difficulty understanding us. In fact, even when I was in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the locals there at times have trouble understanding what I am saying in Hokkien or Cantonese. Should the ‘Hoey Kuans’ (Chinese dialect associations) should also conduct lessons and purge all traces of foreign influences in the dialects? While all of these can be done, the question is – is it necessary and is it even beneficial to us as Singaporeans?
Let’s not forget that the English language itself is a mix-match of languages. Over thousands of years, the languages of the original inhabitants of the British Isles, and foreign arrivals like the Germanic Anglo-Saxons, plus the various Norse tribes contributed to the English we know today. Look through the English dictionary and many will find traces of root words coming from French, German and Latin. If I recalled correctly, at the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition I was once told that modern English is basically the construct of William Tyndale when he translated the Bible into English. As such, I have always found the idea that Singlish being bad English is rather myopic. As people from different cultures mingle, they will inevitably be cultural exchanges where ideas, culture and words (along with some bodily fluids and genetic material) are absorb by one another. If Singapore is a cultural desert then Singlish is one of the cactus that grows in it. It is one of the things that we as a people have created together spontaneously without consciously realising it.
Anyway, it has always been my considered opinion we really need to be aware of the context and condition before we choose to speak in Singlish. When it is clear the person is new to Singapore (such a tourist), then we should make the effort to speak in standard English. When we are calling or writing to a foreigner in an overseas branch of the company, we should also make the effort to speak in proper English since someone in the foreign office may themselves be also struggling to speak proper English and it is made worse if our own English capabilities are also deplorable.
As for foreigners who wants to settle down here, those who actually dared complain about Singlish should not even consider settling down in Singapore! After all, if I go to Switzerland I am expected to learn one of the three main languages there – either German, Italian or French. Foreigners who wants to settle down here should thus learn our lingo and speak it like one of us – a true sign of their integration into our society! Frankly, I have enough of mainlanders or foreigners from the sub-continent settling here but made no effort at all to integrate. They keep to themselves and speak their own languages. It is most irritating when I stepped into the lift or the MRT, I felt like an alien in my own country!
Now for the uninitiated who wondered what are some of the ‘Singlish’ terms I mentioned earlier:
- ‘sahman’ (or ‘sum-man’, depending on how you pronounce it): a mutation of the English word ‘summon’. ‘Tio sahman’ simply refers to being issued a fine – most often a traffic fine or a parking ticekt.
- ‘tahan’: a Malay word and we have generally use it to mean block, hold and support – for e.g. you tahan here first while go for a break.
- ‘boh bahkay’: a mutation of the Malay words ‘tak pakai’, which generally means ‘not recognised’ or ‘not accepted’ – for e.g. This $50 note is a counterfeit. Boh bahkay one.
- ‘Loey’ or ‘lui’ (in Cantonese and Hokkien respectively): a mutation of the Malay word ‘duit’, which means money.
- ‘kam mi sin’: a local Cantonese mutation of the English word ‘commission’.