Nowadays, Singapore is considered a multicultural financial hub with four official languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. But Singaporeans also tend to use a hybrid language developed by the interaction of their languages one from ethnic groups, Chinese, and English. There is a change of perspective and ideologies portrayed through their use of language.
This blog will take you through some of the aspects of Singapore related to their use of English and the issues that non-English speakers face:
- Some words and phrases of English are widely understood within the country but the version of it may vary with the kind of English you use.
- The language determines their class and education. Well-educated Singaporeans switch between the languages as per the requirement of the occasion. For instance, the hybrid English known as Singlish is used in casual settings while the formal meetings are always communicated through the formal English language.
- Less educated people might only speak Singlish.
- A Singaporean who never speaks Singlish is considered rude and
- But if you are looking for a job, then you should be able to use the English fluently.
- Ideas are interpreted differently. Every society possesses a unique way of expressing accomplishment, respect, love, care, and even some simple expressions of life. It varies from language to language, society to society, country to country, and even individual to individual.
- In some cultures, the tone of your voice describes your personality and it could portray you as a rude person or the soberest human being. Japanese provides detailed propriety to the flow of the conversation while the Urdu speakers tend to use poetic and grandiose description, they tend to romanticize all the simple conversations. Same is the case with non-English speakers in Singapore, you will notice that Singaporeans speak a variant of English which seems to have bad grammar and contain terms that a native speaker might not understand. That’s Singlish, a variant of English used in Singapore.
- Speed and rhythm contrast with different languages. It confuses the non-speakers when they are listening to a language other than their mother tongue because that’s they are accustomed to listening at a different pace.
- The melody of languages varies deeply with the perspective it carries, and we tend to carry the melody of our mother tongue into the new language, which causes confusion.
- When you embed yourself in different languages, there are plenty of cultural differences but the physicality of the language is completely changed as per your understanding of the language.
So, if you are planning to move to Singapore, it is advised to learn English in Singapore and improve your language to be able to communicate well with the people of Singapore.