Singlish - a uniquely Singaporean threat
No official recognition is given to Singlish as a marker of Singaporean identity or an indigenous patois. This is despite political leaders using Singlish during election campaigning to better connect to a local audience.
The government recognises that Singlish cannot be eradicated but it will not take kindly to attempts to promote it.
The concern is that any mixed signals on Singlish will undermine efforts to raise English language proficiency. A similarly tough and consistent stance is taken against Chinese dialects, in order to promote Mandarin Chinese proficiency.
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Do You Speak Singlish?
Is the government’s war on Singlish finally over? Our wacky, singsong creole may seem like the poor cousin to the island’s four official languages, but years of state efforts to quash it have only made it flourish. Now even politicians and officials are using it.
Trending at the moment is “ownself check ownself,” which was popularized by Pritam Singh, a member of Parliament from the opposition Workers’ Party. He was mocking the ruling People’s Action Party (P.A.P.) for saying that the government was clean and honest enough to act as its own guardian.
Singlish is a patchwork patois of Singapore’s state languages — English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil — as well as Hokkien, Cantonese, Bengali and a few other tongues. Its syntax is drawn partly from Chinese, partly from South Asian languages.
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The Reality Behind Singlish
Gwee Li Sui’s “Politics and the Singlish Language” (Opinion, May 13) makes light of the government’s efforts to promote the mastery of standard English by Singaporeans. But the government has a serious reason for this policy.
Standard English is vital for Singaporeans to earn a living and be understood not just by other Singaporeans but also English speakers everywhere. But English is not the mother tongue of most Singaporeans. For them, mastering the language requires extra effort. Using Singlish will make it harder for Singaporeans to learn and use standard English. Not everyone has a Ph.D. in English Literature like Mr. Gwee, who can code-switch effortlessly between Singlish and standard English, and extol the virtues of Singlish in an op-ed written in polished standard English.
The author is the press secretary to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore.
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Wah… need to have PhD to speak Singlish leh!
In Singapore, the official language for work is English. Why ah? Orh… Because hor… you see ah… last time Singapore was an ang moh colony mah. Then hor, because our gahmen think that if we stuck to using English, it would help us better communicate with the rest of the world. The gahmen think that would make it easier for us to do business. That’s why our official language is English lor.
But hor. You know lah. Singapore is multi-racial and multi-lingual society. And not everyone’s English is steady bom pi pi one. So when people from different cultures come together hor, they bo bian will add a bit of their own language, whether it is Malay, Tamil, Mandarin, Hokkien, or whatever. This helps us understand one another better. The result. Singlish lor.
Recently, even the ang mohs have seemed to accept Singlish. In March this year, 19 Singlish words were added to the Oxford English Dictionary. A consultant editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, Dr Danica Salazar, said that Singlish doesn’t destroy the English language, but enriches it. Buay pai leh! Steady la!
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Sharp sting from poet’s op-ed – PM Lee’s press secretary responds
Poet and literary critic Gwee Li Sui wrote an opinion piece which was published in the International New York Times on May 14-15 with the headline “Politics and the Singlish language“. In his piece, Gwee chronicled how years of state efforts to quash it have not only made it flourish but also state institutions and officials, like National Service from Singapore Tourism Board, have nourished it.
In the article, Gwee pointed out how in 1999 Mr Lee Kuan Yew had declared war on Singlish describing it as “a handicap we must not wish on Singaporeans”, and how his son Mr Lee Hsien Loong seemed to have eased-up on this war. He pointed out how during a naturalization ceremony in 2012, the younger Lee had encouraged new citizens to integrate saying, “and if you can understand Singlish, so much the better.”
Gwee’s article also pointed out Workers’ Party MP Pritam Singh had popularised “ownself check ownself,” by mocking the People’s Action Party (PAP) for saying that the government was clean and honest enough to act as its own guardian.
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Singlish/English: for peace and harmony
SO THE G has come out to whack Dr Gwee Li Sui for his column in the New York Times, “Do you speak Singlish?”
Cannot tahan. I don’t know why Dr Gwee kena tekan like this because he certainly didn’t ask that Singlish be taught in schools or anything so crazy.
Here is the letter the G sent to the NYT, which was published yesterday:
“Gwee Li Sui’s “Politics and the Singlish Language” (Opinion, May 13) makes light of the government’s efforts to promote the mastery of standard English by Singaporeans. But the government has a serious reason for this policy.
“Standard English is vital for Singaporeans to earn a living and be understood not just by other Singaporeans but also English speakers everywhere. But English is not the mother tongue of most Singaporeans. For them, mastering the language requires extra effort.
“Using Singlish will make it harder for Singaporeans to learn and use standard English. Not everyone has a Ph.D. in English Literature like Mr Gwee, who can code-switch effortlessly between Singlish and standard English, and extol the virtues of Singlish in an op-ed written in polished standard English.”
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PM's press secretary rebuts NYT op-ed on Singlish
The press secretary to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has responded to an opinion piece on Singlish in the New York Times (NYT) newspaper, saying it makes light of the Government's efforts to promote the mastery of standard English by Singaporeans.
In a letter published in the International NYT yesterday, Ms Chang Li Lin said: "The Government has a serious reason for this policy.
"Standard English is vital for Singaporeans to earn a living and be understood not just by other Singaporeans but also English speakers everywhere," she said.
related:
Singlish all abuzz
Can guess not?
'Chinese helicopter'? Latest entry in Oxford Dictionary has us scratching our heads
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To the government: Don’t tell Limpeh what to say
Singlish holds a special place in the hearts of most Singaporeans. The off-grammar creole is spoken almost exclusively by inhabitants of our small island-nation and very often prompts strong emotional responses from people when it is challenged or belittled. It is also a source of comfort, according to some, especially when stuck in a foreign land where the only thing you miss most is the sights and sounds of a far away home.
A personal anecdote should illustrate this: while travelling recently through the metropolitan Chinese city of Shanghai, a friend and I stepped into a famous restaurant, seating ourselves down next to a couple and their two young children. Perched on their seats were several shopping bags emblazoned with the names of luxury brands – it was apparent that they had just returned from a shopping trip at a nearby luxury chain street.
I gestured to my friend, “Looks like Singaporeans.”
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Gahmen, don’t like that leh
Wah lau. Just when I thought it was safe to speak Singlish, the gahmen came along to remind us that it is a literal threat to our survival.
Many will have seen Monday’s (23 May) letter to The New York Times by Chang Li Lin, press secretary to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Responding to academic Gwee Li Sui’s op-ed celebrating the role of Singlish in our society, Chang chastised him for “making light” of the government’s efforts to promote the mastery of standard English by Singaporeans.
Chang’s arguments are not new: Singlish undermines standard English, it makes it harder for Singaporeans to compete in the world economy, not everyone can code switch between Singlish and proper English. Curiously, Chang seemed to suggest that it requires a PhD to do the latter, which leaves millions of Singaporeans like me out in the cold.
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PA celebrated Singlish as part of national identity
“Using Singlish will make it harder for Singaporeans to learn and use standard English.” – Chang Li Lin, press secretary to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, New York Times 2016.
Do you all remember National Day Parade 2015? Singlish was glamourised on the national stage, in front of thousands, and the Prime Minister, in big bright neon signs. “Something that is truly Singaporean – Singlish”, said the commentator.
And guess who celebrated Singlish as part of our national identity? Why, it was the People’s Association!
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Singlish is recognized, but not by Singapore
The last two weeks created much buzz about Singlish after 19 Singlish words were added to the Oxford English Dictionary and Gwee Li Sui’s piece in the New York Times. This was not the first time Singlish gained international attention, but in a post-SG50 climate, the Singlish “problem” was dealt with a new sense of urgency, interest, and vitality.
Of course, the talk of the town—at least on social media—was the rebuttal by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s press secretary in the New York Times to Dr. Gwee’s Op-ed. Ironically, the rebuttal only proved Dr. Gwee right, that government condemnation of Singlish made it more cool. But as a fellow non-Ph.D. holder, the press secretary’s letter read as a somewhat surprising and perhaps misleading account of why Singapore needs English.
If learning English indeed requires “extra effort”, why would Singlish, and not bilingualism, diminish our ability to speak English?
related: Singapore Jetstar adopts Singlish as official customer-facing language
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New Singapore English words
The OED’s March 2016 update sees the inclusion of a number of words from Singapore English. There are new senses of common English words like blur meaning ‘slow in understanding; unaware, ignorant, confused’; loanwords from Chinese, like ang moh (‘a light-skinned person, esp. of Western origin or descent; a Caucasian’) and Malay, like shiok (‘cool, great; delicious, superb’); and formations in English that are only used in Singapore, like sabo (‘to harm, inconvenience, or make trouble for (a person); to trick, play a prank on’) and HDB (‘a public housing estate’).
The terms lepak (‘to loiter aimlessly or idly; to loaf, relax, hang out’) and teh tarik (‘sweet tea with milk’), are characteristic of both Singapore and Malaysian English, while wet market (‘a market for the sale of fresh meat, fish, and produce’) is used not just in these two countries, but all over Southeast Asia.
Here is a list of all new Singapore English items in the OED. You can also click here for a visual timeline of Southeast Asian words in the OED, including words from or about Singapore, dating from 1555 to the present.
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S’pore English part of language’s history, says Oxford editor
Dr Danica Salazar, World English Editor at the Oxford English Dictionary. Photo: Raj Nadarajan
For Dr Danica Salazar, world English editor at Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the Singaporean expression “blur like sotong” is like poetry to be proud of, and not something to be embarrassed about.
“I think the phrase is wonderfully evocative. When I hear it, I think of this squid lost in a cloud of its own ink. It’s so creative,” said Dr Salazar, who is Filipino. “It strikes me as strange when people think of (such words) as things that are ruining the language.”
Like creole in almost all countries, such “Singapore English” words and phrases reflect the speaker’s creativity and add to the richness of the English language, she said, noting that language is a convention where people agree to use words for specific meanings
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Singapore terms join Oxford English Dictionary
Gordon Ramsay, an ang moh, at a hawker centre
Several Singaporean and Hong Kong English terms, including "wah", "shiok" and "yum cha", are now officially recognised as acceptable English.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added 19 Singaporean terms and 13 Hong Kong terms in its latest update.
"Wah" is an expression of delight or surprise, "shiok" means cool, and "yum cha" is a type of Chinese brunch.
related: 'Chinese helicopter': Singlish OED entry baffles Singaporeans
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Oxford English Dictionary confirms: “That ang mo is blur like sotong,” is a perfect English sentence
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.
OED updates and revises existing entries, as well as add new words to its dictionary every three months. The March 2016 update to the Oxford English Dictionary sees the inclusion of more than 500 new words, phrases, and senses, and among the new words are items of Singapore English.
So with the new additions, the following words can be officially used in an English sentence:
ang moh
blur
char siu
chilli crab
Chinese helicopter
hawker centre
HDB
killer litter
lepak (as a noun)
lepak (verb)
lepaking
shiok
sabo (noun)
sabo (verb)
sabo king
sotong
teh tarik
wah
wet market
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Wah! Not bad-lah! Oxford shiok
A few days ago, Singapore slang terms officially made it into Oxford English Dictionary – it’s fantastic, lah!
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) announced it has added yet even more Singaporean English words and phrases (also very familiar to Malaysians) to its lexicon. Among the 19 latest entries that made it to the March 2016 update are: char siu, chilli crab, sotong, ang moh, teh tarik, blur and lepak.
This follows the earlier incorporation of suffix lah in the dictionary’s online version; and the inclusion of kiasu in February last year as the dictionary’s ‘Word of the Day’.
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The Chinese Helicopter has landed…
The term, ‘Chinese helicopter’, has not gone so insensitive and derogatory as much and as offensive as ‘nigger’ has. ‘Nigger’ was the keystone word in Chris Rock’s ‘most famous and most controversial stand-up comedy routines…(and) is widely considered to be the breakthrough routine that established his status as a comedy fixture after he left Saturday Night Live.‘ It must have helped bring in a few million bucks for Chris.
Nigger is hardly ever used anymore in America just as Chinese helicopter now strikes a strange, unfamiliar note with Singaporeans. So, what’s the problem?
Further, the misgiving that, ‘With it (Chinese helicopter) in the dictionary now, it will give the impression that it is an acceptable term, when actually it is insensitive and highly derogatory’ is completely misguided. An inclusion in a dictionary merely serves as a record of the etymology of the word.
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Chinese helicopter
Singapore English derogatory a Singaporean whose schooling was conducted in Mandarin Chinese and who has limited knowledge of English. For an unverified explanation of the term's origin, see quote 1985:
1981 Straits Times (Singapore) 15 July 15/6 A student I know..passed all his papers except the English proficiency paper... Chinese Helicopter.
[1985 M. Chiang Army Daze 43 The story goes that a recruit, when asked what school he came from, answered ‘Chinese helucated’, which went down in the army annals as Chinese helicopter.]
1997 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 20 July 18 It took him two years..to get rid of his ‘Chinese helicopter accent’.
2008 D. Leo Life's so like Dat (rev. ed.) 25 Lee will have you know that he came through an English medium school. He feels insulted by any suggestion that he is a ‘Chinese helicopter’.
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What's a 'Chinese helicopter'? Latest Singlish entry in Oxford Dictionary has us scratching our heads
Singaporeans often take pride in our ability to converse with others using 'Singlish' - an unique amalgamation of various languages from different races and dialect groups in the country.
When Oxford English Dictionary (OED) announced its latest update, many found it quite 'shiok' (cool) to see 19 of these commonly used terms and phrases appear in the esteemed tome's lexicon.
We can now 'lepak' (hang out) with family and friends after a long and busy week of work and school, while foodies can check out local fare at the 'hawker centre' which offers yummy dishes such as 'char siu' (roast pork) and 'chili crab'.
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‘Chinese helicopter’ degrading to Chinese-educated Singaporeans
Another Singlish term added to the OED also supposedly reeks of insensitivity and discrimination but so far nobody has filed a petition about it: Ang Moh (Caucasian) . Until the OED decided to make some Singlish words official, including the inexplicable ‘WAH’, ‘Chinese helicopter’ was an obscure, rarely-uttered term familiar only to Singlish scholars. Now that some people want it banned for good, they’ve unwittingly cemented it in our lingua franca.
The New Paper explains that ‘helicopter’ originated from the local book Army Daze, in which a Chinese-educated recruit mispronounced ‘educated’ as ‘helucated’, though I never heard it uttered once during my NS days. I knew what ‘bayi’ (derogatory term for Singhs) and ‘abnn’ (derogatory to Indians) were though, and those seemed more racist and insensitive than describing someone untrained in the English tongue as a flying military machine.
Without further elaboration I would have thought that ‘Chinese helicopter’ referred to a specific position in the Kama Sutra only for advanced practitioners. Or, literally, a description of the quality of an actual helicopter. Just like how people use ‘Malaysian’ to imply reckless drivers, or ‘German’ (gas) to describe farts.
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Hey, are you a Chinese helicopter?
MAYBE we shouldn’t use the phrase, not when there is an online petition to get the venerable Oxford English Dictionary to withdraw this new addition to its lexicon. Amid (some) celebration that Singlish – or 19 words and phrases – has gained traction internationally, there’s some hand-wringing over the term which describes the Chinese-educated.
The dictionary itself made no bones that it is a derogatory term for a Singaporean whose schooling was conducted in Mandarin Chinese and who has limited knowledge of English. ST reported the petition organiser Goh Beng Choo as saying:
” ‘Chinese helicopter’ is unequivocally a painful reminder of their long and difficult struggle to find their rightful place and dignity in the Singapore society. Fortunately, by the 1980s, this highly derisive term had mostly lapsed into disuse with the closure of Chinese schools. Not many younger generation Singaporeans have heard of ‘Chinese helicopter’, much less understand its meaning. My friends and I are therefore shocked and saddened that an almost forgotten Singlish term now resurfaces in the OED, rubbing salt into an old wound that never healed.”
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OED did not invent 'Chinese Helicopter'
Look! Up in the sky.
It's a bird!
It's a Chinese helicopter!
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Shiok! 19 Singlish items added to the Oxford English Dictionary
Who needs the Queen's English when you can use Singlish?
In its Mar quarterly update, the hallowed Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added 19 new "Singapore English" items in its lexicon.
There are new senses of common English words, loanwords from Chinese & Malay, and formations in English that are only used in Singapore," OED said on its website.
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LOOK: Is this the Singlish cover letter of the future?
Wah! The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has recognised 19 words from Singapore English (Singlish, to us) in its latest quarterly update – including blur, ang moh, hawker centre, shiok, and even the less-than-encouraging adjective, Chinese helicopter.
A total of 13 terms have also been added from Hong Kong English, including those widely-used in Singapore as well, such as char siu and wet market.
Clearly inspired by the range of new words introduced, Jonathan Dent, senior assistant editor of the OED, wrote: “Looking beyond the UK and US, there’s also an (almost complete) alphabet of newly added terms from World English to explore, from ang moh (a Singapore English term for a light-skinned person, especially one of European origin—literally in Hokkien Chinese ‘(a person with) red hair’) to yum cha (a Chinese meal, usually of dim sum and tea, eaten in the morning or early afternoon).”
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Some find new Singlish terms in Oxford dictionary 'ridiculous'
An ang moh and a Chinese helicopter have landed in Oxford. Well, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
Feeling blur like sotong? Don't. Get yourself a teh tarik at the hawker centre and celebrate.
Those are just a sample of the Singlish terms that have been accepted into the esteemed publication. Wah, you say. No, Oxford said so themselves.
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Singlish vs Standard English: I say, RELAK, lah!
Confession: I possess no PhD in English Literature or, for that matter, a MA, Int’l Relations or a BA (Hons), Sociology & Int’l Relations (the last 2 from UK universities, no less). But I do speak and write fairly decent English – and communicate in Singlish as and when.
It is no surprise to me how Chang Li Lin, press secretary to PM Lee, came down hard‘ on
Gwee’s ‘Politics and the Singlish Language’ (original title). The NYT editors might have thought of Singapore’s media being ranked progressively at a new #154 out of 180 low and its parallel to George Orwell’s 1946 ‘Politics and the English Language‘. To Orwell, language is an ‘an instrument which we shape for our own purposes’. And one where ‘political and economic’ causes and effects inter-play.
That might have motivated Chang to respond i.e. the hint of political manipulation of language use in Singapore is a No-No. Her key defence: ‘Standard English is vital for Singaporeans to earn a living’, highlighting the economic – while deflecting and eluding discussion of the political causes and effects.
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Singlish debate redux: Dr Gwee Li Sui is the new Phua Chu Kang sia
What we got was an epic lecture from then PM Goh Chok Tong during his National Day Rally speech about how PCK was leading the youth of Singapore astray.
He said:
“One of the problems MOE (Ministry of Education) has getting students to speak standard English is that the students often hear Singlish being spoken around them, including on TV.
“So they learn wrong ways of speaking.
“Teachers complain that their students are picking up catchphrases like ‘Don’t pray, pray’ and using them even in the classroom.
“The students may think that it is acceptable and even fashionable to speak like Phua Chu Kang...
“So in trying to imitate life, Phua Chu Kang has made the teaching of proper English more difficult.”
And that’s just an excerpt.
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Who's afraid of 'chao ah beng'?
In a classroom in the mediaeval city of York, northern England, university students discuss the use of Singlish terms such as "chao ah beng" and Singapore's history and socio-political context.
They are studying poet-playwright Alfian Sa'at's poem, Singapore You Are Not My Country, which has been taught in a global literatures module at the University of York for the past three years.
From Britain to the United States and India, more texts by Singaporean writers like Boey Kim Cheng, Arthur Yap, Edwin Thumboo and Stella Kon are being taught at universities across the world, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels
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Embrace your national identity with Singlish emojis
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recently highlighted 'identity' as one of challenges to beset Singapore over the next 50 years, lest we CMI.
What is CMI? CMI is the acronym for Cannot Make It, and such abbreviations form a core part of the Singlish syntax.
Singlish has been lauded as one of Singapore's distinct and unique identities, besting even the government's valiant attempts to purify our lexicon
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Singapore Right in Rebutting NYT Piece on Singlish
Singapore rarely t