Throughout the world, and throughout history, whenever cultures or languages meet, hybrids or foreign language assimilation will occur, and it will evolve. Just look at the English language as we know it today, how many words have their origin in Latin, German and French. When these 'foreign' words were first used in English, it would sound similarly like a 'multilingual' Singaporean of today: multilingual, as in multilingual sentences. I don't believe this is uniquely to Singapore. But somehow, like Singlish, it is just deemed, wrong – and sadly, not acknowledged even amongst Singaporeans as a unique part of our culture. Yes, it is part of our culture. You want to call it wrong, go ahead. I call it being who we are – being Singaporean.
Somehow, in Singapore, when we do things differently, we feel we are not doing it right: not different. Whereas in other cultures, being different is – plainly – different, and often people feel unashamedly proud to be different. Is it because we are a small and insignificant culture, and therefore it doesn't make sense to speak of culture with such a minute population? Or is this mentality a legacy from our colonial past? You don't decide what's right or wrong for you, some superior being will do that for you!
For many of us, our work and daily lives revolves around Singaporeans mainly – so this multilingual switching is not a problem usually. For some though, whose work meant dealing with foreigners or traveling to foreign lands, admittedly, it can be ... curiously interesting on some occasions.
Yes, there is a need to be purely proficient when the language we inherited is widely used throughout the world. And we do need to respect the fact that international communication is a lot more pervasive these days, and we do need to be understood by other user who also use the language that we have inherited. But do we need to view our uniqueness as a defect that we urgently need to purge? I'm just not too sure about that.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Friday, December 04, 2009
Multi-lingual Proficiency - Honestly?
Most of us stay comfortable with one way of speaking and that may mean, but not necessarily, one language, not even Singlish. We simply do that, unless we have very special motivations to be a learned multi-lingual: like scoring A for both your English and 'mother' tongue in school, or your work requires that, or you just have a passion for languages.
Honestly, how many of us Singaporeans can really be good at both languages all at the same time? I've come across a few who can, but I think the answer is, really, not many. Our bilingual background (actually tri- or tetra-, if we count our dialect exposures) can be both a strength and a weakness depending on the situation.
Strength is in that, we are somewhat multi-lingual; that can become useful in some international situations. Weakness, in that, we are often not very proficient in each of them: you cannot out-English and Englishman, neither can you out-Chinese a China man. OK, OK, there a few gifted ones who might, but in general, we really cannot.
Honestly, as a Singaporean, which language is our native tongue or our mother tongue? Really. You can go ahead and give your 'right' answer, mine is more like 'I don't really know'.
In Singapore, our very informal mode – i.e. comfort zone – of speaking is to use more than one language; all in one sentence. In fact, few would complete explaining a thought (a paragraph perhaps) purely in just one language. I believe this arises from our indulging ourselves in picking what immediately comes to mind when we speak, whatever language or dialect it may be, it matters not. As long as the listener understands, there is no problem. And the truth of the matter is, we do understand each other very well, and what's interesting to note also is that we do feel rather comfortable speaking that way.
Why do we switch? Well, some words, in the carefully chosen language, just have the perfect nuances and the right ring that we look for in projecting exactly what we have in mind. Yes, put simply, it is our way of communicating.
We continue to stay in this comfort zone in our daily speech and the practice continues to strengthen our dependence on switching language in mid-sentence. Then it becomes our downside. The downside is, we become lazy in thinking out the correct term or phrase in any one language. The purist will say we corrupt the languages this way; and, they are probably right too.
But what the heck! We exist in a manifold cultural junction, both in the spatial and temporal sense. We are Singaporeans. What can we expect? We have all these bits and pieces from different parts of the world that don't really belong to us, but we use them. What do we do? Make a choice! Choose what? Don't know yet! We can't just dump one of these things, so, we use all of them! We are cultural hybrids!
Honestly, how many of us Singaporeans can really be good at both languages all at the same time? I've come across a few who can, but I think the answer is, really, not many. Our bilingual background (actually tri- or tetra-, if we count our dialect exposures) can be both a strength and a weakness depending on the situation.
Strength is in that, we are somewhat multi-lingual; that can become useful in some international situations. Weakness, in that, we are often not very proficient in each of them: you cannot out-English and Englishman, neither can you out-Chinese a China man. OK, OK, there a few gifted ones who might, but in general, we really cannot.
Honestly, as a Singaporean, which language is our native tongue or our mother tongue? Really. You can go ahead and give your 'right' answer, mine is more like 'I don't really know'.
In Singapore, our very informal mode – i.e. comfort zone – of speaking is to use more than one language; all in one sentence. In fact, few would complete explaining a thought (a paragraph perhaps) purely in just one language. I believe this arises from our indulging ourselves in picking what immediately comes to mind when we speak, whatever language or dialect it may be, it matters not. As long as the listener understands, there is no problem. And the truth of the matter is, we do understand each other very well, and what's interesting to note also is that we do feel rather comfortable speaking that way.
Why do we switch? Well, some words, in the carefully chosen language, just have the perfect nuances and the right ring that we look for in projecting exactly what we have in mind. Yes, put simply, it is our way of communicating.
We continue to stay in this comfort zone in our daily speech and the practice continues to strengthen our dependence on switching language in mid-sentence. Then it becomes our downside. The downside is, we become lazy in thinking out the correct term or phrase in any one language. The purist will say we corrupt the languages this way; and, they are probably right too.
But what the heck! We exist in a manifold cultural junction, both in the spatial and temporal sense. We are Singaporeans. What can we expect? We have all these bits and pieces from different parts of the world that don't really belong to us, but we use them. What do we do? Make a choice! Choose what? Don't know yet! We can't just dump one of these things, so, we use all of them! We are cultural hybrids!
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Friendspeak Singapore style
What is the most commonly spoken language in Singapore? Mandarin? English? Malay? Hokkien? How about, all!
Honestly, I do find this particular aspect of Singapore life truly unique. Actually, I also happen to find this whimsically amusing: Singaporean's bilingual, and sometimes, trilingual ability – in one sentence – is truly amazing.
As a Singaporean, you might not have noted, but if you try and recall or pay attention, I'm sure you would have heard such talk:
你昨天在 meeting 有没有看 HR 那个 woman 给的 presentation? Wah lao, so shy man. 她的 proposal 那样 koyak, still dare to talk so big - really buay-da-han 她. Si-peh malu man!
(Transliteration: Ni3 zuo2 tian4 zai4 meeting you3 mei2 you3 kan4 HR na4 ke4 woman gei3 de4 presentation? Wah lao, so shy man. Ta1 de4 proposal na4 yang4 koyak, still dare to talk so big - really buay-da-han ta1. Si peh malu man!)
(English interpretation: Did you see that woman from HR giving the presentation at the meeting yesterday? Goodness, it was so embarrassing! Her proposal was so lame and yet she still has the gall to rave about it! Can't stand her! Absolutely dreadful!)
Sounds familiar? Of course! Being a Singaporean, I'm sure you've heard this kind of linguistic agility.
Don't know about you folks, but this kind of skillful fluidity in mixing languages in our speech usually brings a smile to me; especially when I hear English, Chinese and Dialect(s) all skillfully weaved into one fluid coherent sentence after another. If you do want to catch them, the best place is hawker centers at lunch time; and try and sit next to a young group chattering away. It's amazing, don't you think so? It's so – uniquely Singapore!
But is it wrong? Weeellll, no, I wouldn't say so. Is it right then? Well, no, too. This is friendspeak, where we are at our most comfortable zone, and this is when we tend to break all language rules ever invented and we don't care about it; I believe this happens all over the world. Yes, even in the land that gave us English – England.
Those who have tried learning a foreign language can testify to that. You learn the phrases from your textbooks, and then when you are actually in that foreign land eagerly wanting to try out your new-found skill, you find that you hardly understand a word they say! Because? They are using friendspeak! It's even more informal than informal.
Honestly, I do find this particular aspect of Singapore life truly unique. Actually, I also happen to find this whimsically amusing: Singaporean's bilingual, and sometimes, trilingual ability – in one sentence – is truly amazing.
As a Singaporean, you might not have noted, but if you try and recall or pay attention, I'm sure you would have heard such talk:
你昨天在 meeting 有没有看 HR 那个 woman 给的 presentation? Wah lao, so shy man. 她的 proposal 那样 koyak, still dare to talk so big - really buay-da-han 她. Si-peh malu man!
(Transliteration: Ni3 zuo2 tian4 zai4 meeting you3 mei2 you3 kan4 HR na4 ke4 woman gei3 de4 presentation? Wah lao, so shy man. Ta1 de4 proposal na4 yang4 koyak, still dare to talk so big - really buay-da-han ta1. Si peh malu man!)
(English interpretation: Did you see that woman from HR giving the presentation at the meeting yesterday? Goodness, it was so embarrassing! Her proposal was so lame and yet she still has the gall to rave about it! Can't stand her! Absolutely dreadful!)
Sounds familiar? Of course! Being a Singaporean, I'm sure you've heard this kind of linguistic agility.
Don't know about you folks, but this kind of skillful fluidity in mixing languages in our speech usually brings a smile to me; especially when I hear English, Chinese and Dialect(s) all skillfully weaved into one fluid coherent sentence after another. If you do want to catch them, the best place is hawker centers at lunch time; and try and sit next to a young group chattering away. It's amazing, don't you think so? It's so – uniquely Singapore!
But is it wrong? Weeellll, no, I wouldn't say so. Is it right then? Well, no, too. This is friendspeak, where we are at our most comfortable zone, and this is when we tend to break all language rules ever invented and we don't care about it; I believe this happens all over the world. Yes, even in the land that gave us English – England.
Those who have tried learning a foreign language can testify to that. You learn the phrases from your textbooks, and then when you are actually in that foreign land eagerly wanting to try out your new-found skill, you find that you hardly understand a word they say! Because? They are using friendspeak! It's even more informal than informal.
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