Singlish must not be allowed to displace Standard English

MAY 25, 2016

I agree that the Government cannot afford to ease up on its strict stance on Singlish ("PM's press secretary rebuts NYT op-ed on Singlish"; yesterday).

Singlish has indeed taken on a life of its own, and has flourished as a vernacular with a distinctly Singaporean heritage. We use and flaunt it like a badge of national pride.

While poet and literary critic Gwee Li Sui, in his opinion piece on Singlish published in the International New York Times, said that even politicians and officials use Singlish, I believe most do so with an awareness of the specific context and register that Singlish should be used in.

It is often used to establish an instant rapport with the audience, as it transcends barriers of race and social class.

Mica committed to all 4 official languages

Dec 18, 2008

I REFER to Tuesday's letter, 'What about proper use of other languages?'.

We agree with Ms Koh Mei Hui on proper use of the other languages. The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica) is committed to support and promote all four official languages.

Besides the Speak Good English Movement, Mica appoints and funds the Promote Mandarin Council, the Malay Language Council and the Tamil Language Council. They work with various public, business and community partners, as well as the mass media which is a key instrument to reach out to the communities. Together, they promote the use and appreciation of the languages. The councils and partners also organise language festivals, literary programmes and events rooted in the cultures of the communities.

The Government is committed to working with our community partners to promote the proper use of our four official languages.

Julia Hang (Mrs)
Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts

[If MICA is committed to the 4 languages, explain the contradictory "Huayu Cool!" slogan from sometime back!]

What about proper use of other languages?

Dec 16, 2008

I WOULD like to ask about other languages, especially Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

Many young Chinese Singaporeans cannot speak their mother tongue properly, especially variety show hosts and radio deejays who misread or mispronounce Chinese words. More Chinese Singaporeans speak Mandarin now, but in a sentence you hear a mixture of 'lor, then, but'. This is really frustrating to hear.

Singapore is fortunate to be multicultural and we have the environment to master different languages. I hope the authorities will look into speaking other languages properly as well.


Kok Mei Hui (Ms)

[I was thinking about this just this morning. I had just ordered "yi ke lor mai kai, he liang ke siew mai" which was basically Mandarin mixed with Cantonese. In my defence, at two coffee shops, my order of "teh-o peng" invariably gets translated by the China workers as "teh-o Ping". The hokkien "teh-o peng" gets mangled into hokkien-mandarin.  As long as we all understand each other. :-)]