Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Singapore, OK lar
so i've sent the last few days entertaining andy, machiam tourist likdat. aiyoh.
the thing abt being out with andy, or a foreigner in general, is that u have to be careful abt how u talk, not only the grammer, but the vocab as well. i guess it's only when u speak to someone foreign u realise that we as singaporeans actually have our own language.
and guess what, i'm actually proud of it.
if the brits can have their queen's english, and the americans can have their lazy english (color vs colour) and aussies have their downunder english, then why can't singapore have our own, well, singlish?
think abt it, it's the only thing that we have, that isn't a foreign talent, that isn't modelled after something, and is something i can safely (100% guarentee plus chop) say is well... really uniquely singapore.
why do we need to feel embrassed abt the way we speak? it's not that we can't speak proper english, i wld say that most of us are able to, it's just a matter of choice. this is a culture thing, a norm rather than a rule, and if we as singaporeans can differentiate between english and singlish, then hey, we got it good.
i think the problem with some of the younger singaporeans is that they're unable to draw the line between what's grammatically correct and what's not. coming from a family that speaks predomantly english, i'm appalled when i listen to some of the ah bengs and lians speak on the bus or in the train, and i nearly fainted when i was out with a guy i met and his english was just SO terrible. i hardly think that , "i thoughted ... " is acceptable by any standards.
but with that being said, i do admit that i might fall short of whatever english standard i am propagating. working in an environment with people from all over the globe, i'm forced to not only speak in proper sentenses, but also pronounciate my words with a certain accent to ensure comprehensibility. i don't slang cos i think it's cool, i think it's more of necessity rather than my coolness factor. now slanging when u're talking to a bunch of singaporeans, now that's acting cool. or as we say action action only
being out, showing andy the sights, sounds and smell of singapore, made me realised that singapore actually has alot of history, and alot of sights to see. we have a myrid of different cultures, races and religion, and the fact that all can live harmoniously together (minus a few racist here and there) is amazing.
singapore might be marketed in recent years as many things, and i remember doing a geography module on the effectiveness of STB's slogans. i came up with swinging singapore then, but right now, singapore, ok lar feels more from the heart.
