January 15, 2007
SINGAPORE
Fun with the English Language
Every morning I go through a drawn-out process when I try to order my food at the canteen. None of the employees speak English so I must say everything I want in Chinese. This is not too bad for the basics like ordering coffee and such, but you can imagine how it gets tricky when I want my bread toasted and buttered. This morning, for example, I wanted a slice of watermelon and for the life of me I had no idea what the Chinese word for watermelon is. Through enough laughing and gathering around of employees we eventually worked it out. Come to think of it, I still don’t know the word for watermelon.
I do not want such incidents to give the wrong impression of Singapore because the native population speaks fluent English – it is the official language. When I say fluent, I mean they speak like I do. It has been difficult adapting to this because I have a tendency to water down my words and speak slower. It is especially disconcerting when I hear locals use the 25 cent words I used to have on vocabulary tests. Somehow when I see an Asian looking person brought up in an Asian country I have a hard time imagining they know most of the same slang and most of the same vocabulary as I do.
By far the most commonly used language in Singapore is “Singlish” (Singaporean English), which is comprised of the four dominant languages in Singapore: English, Mandarin (Chinese), Malay, and Hindi. Chances are you can hear similar derivations in “Chinglish” (Chinese English) when you order Chinese take-out or head to the local Chinatown. Here are a couple examples of Singlish that I can recall hearing:
1) Would you please repeat that?
What talking you-la? (“la” is used at the end of most sentences)
2) Where is the restroom?
Toilet zai nali? (“zai nali” is “where” in Mandarin)
I should add that English is spoken with tremendous pace in Singapore. More often than I care to admit I cannot catch what others are saying because they speak too fast or include a dash of Singlish in their sentence.