'Singlish' to make way for English

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, APRIL 5. An expatriate working in globalised Singapore or a tourist may take some time to get use to ``Singlish'' - English mixed with Malay words, Chinese grammar and local slang.

Sweet as it may sound, Singlish is not seen as good enough for an interconnected world; a world where standardised English is seen as a must for business and commerce.

So, in a bid to ensure that more and more Singaporeans speak standard English and are understood better by the rest of the world, the Government launched with effect from today a ``speak good English movement''.

Launching the movement, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, stressed the importance of English: ``According to BBC News Online, March 23, nine out of 10 computers connected to the Internet are located in English speaking countries and more than 80 per cent of all home pages on the web are written in English. More than four-fifths of all international organisations use English as their main, or one of their main operating languages.''

Mr. Lee said standard English, as opposed to Singlish, would allow Singaporeans to plug into the global economy, develop the city State into an attractive hub for multi-national corporations and link up with the rest of the world through trade and investment.

``Because our language habits are in transition, we must make a special effort to get people to speak standard English. The younger generation is switching from speaking Chinese, Malay or Tamil, to speaking English. We have to make a choice - either switch to English, or switch to Singlish.

``If we give up our mother tongues, only to learn and speak Singlish, we will be worse off. Our mother tongues carry with them values, ancient cultural heritages and a sense of identity. To lose some of this, because we need to speak standard English, an international language of business and science, is painful, but it is a rational trade-off to make...'' Mr. Lee said.

According to him, the ``course of least resistance'' was to end up with Singlish. ``But once we are stuck with Singlish, and children grow up learning Singlish as their first language, it will be very difficult for them to learn standard English in school,'' he said.

Mr. Lee said Singaporeans must make the effort to learn English grammar, sentence structures and pronunciation. ``We need not speak with a British or American accent; a Singaporean accent is fine. But Singaporeans must speak a form of English that is readily understood by people all over the world.'' He said the ``speak good English movement'' was off to a promising start. ``Through the Encouraging the Use of Standard English (ENTHUSE) Committee, the Ministry of Education has taken the lead to improve the standard of English of both teachers and students.

Our schools have many programmes and activities... MOE is also working to upgrade the standard of English teaching in schools.

``But Government effort alone is not enough. The home environment is very important. As a child spends a larger part of his early formative years at home, this is where he picks up his language skills. Parents can get their children to speak good English only if they try to speak good English themselves,'' Mr. Lee said. The Government, it is clear, will spare no effort in helping Singaporeans master standard English. A major battle with Singlish lies ahead.

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Section  : International
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