Why can't people speak good english in singapore?

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Sean Lawlor

I disagree with your notion that Singaporeans are bad in english. Im Australian and have been in sg for about 5 yrs now and i must say that the standard of english spoken here is just as good anywhere else. However, with all the Singaporean colloquialism flying around eg (lah, wah lou etc) its hard for Singaporeans not to use it when talking in front of a crowd or during a meeting...lets not talk about public officials, cuz if they use those 'slangs' they might be done for, but you do hear TV personals use them from time to time. Ive also not heard so much (maybe some 'lahs' and what not) of the Singaporean slang coming from the Malay and Indian community but mostly from the Chinese community. But then again, didnt the Singaporean Slang come from them?

So in my opinion, they speak good english, but a minority just dont know when not to use "Singlish".

Chris H

Maybe they'd rather speak their native tongue...

Kwek K

Just to check with you, did anyone said your english is not good, that make you ask this question?

Tan D

It's true that most Singaporean speak Singlish to friends or relative. But no one can doubt that they are capable to speak good English when needed, such as at work, meeting with foreigners and etc.

Maggie

Because if you speak perfect English, people will think you are stuck up, yellow-banana.....

Priscilla W

Haha, well, I am a Singaporean teen from one of the top 5 JCs in Singapore, but I myself don't speak proper english. I normally speak singlish when conversing with friends, cuz it's kind of a habit, the way I was brought up to speak, and it's the way all Singaporeans my age speak. I can switch between Singlish and standard English at will though. Actually, I think Singlish isnt that different from English... to me, that is. Cuz my Vietnamese friend told me that when she first came to Singapore she couldn't get what we were saying at all! haha

|adyINK

Its simple really...it's because singaporean are so busy making money they have no time to improve their english...hahaha...

Andy A

Well I am an English guy living in Asia, I would say SG is one of, if not THE best standard of English in Asia. I have lived in Thailand for 5 years and the standard of English here is very poor.

English is one of the strangest languages in the world and uses words from over 400 different languages, the grammar is all the opposite way round to most other languages (i.e. "big book" in English is "book big" in most other languages) but at the same time, it is more tolerant to grammatical mistakes, people usually will understand the general meaning.

IMO it boils down to education standards, SG is far higher than most of Asia.

wkc

What do you termed as good english? Does American speaks good english, if you ask a British?

Singaporean speaks Singapore English
American speaks American English
Australian speaks Australian English
Malaysian speaks Malaysian English

Which english are you talking about?

Jay Tsu

Because "good" English will not always be "good" English to everyone.

pau

coz we speak in our dialects and can relate better in our own mother tongues than in English, afterall we are not Americans

Kingston D

Not because people cannot speak good english in Singapore, its only that people in Singapore tends to speak "Singlish" more than English to their families and friends. I'm a Singaporean and have taught by both American and British teachers for English and I'm shocked to know that even British youngster nowadays, many of them cannot speak their English well. But thats his point and doesn't mean really that the British has bad English. Same goes to American and similarly Singaporean. Anyway, how good is good for English? Everybody has their different view and each country has its own standard by the way.

starryluvly

I think this question is quite insulting. Yes, like most places in the world, there are people in Singapore who may not have the best English. There may be several reasons for this:

1. They may be from an older generation where English was more of a second language than a first.

2. Following on from point, they may be from a family where everyone is simply more comfortable expressing themselves in another language. Thus, even if they did want to speak English, they may not have the right environment to improve on their English language skills.

Regardless of the reason, English is not only taught in school but it is also the language of instruction. Meaning, everything is taught in English.

Thus, while some people may not have perfect English, most people will have at least the basic level of English.

amfound2

When I went to Singapore the people there were VERY polite and spoke excellent English. Far better in fact than most English people!

Universal Love+Truth

The average Singaporean student has to speak English and his mother tongue and a dialect, if he is a Chinese. So it isn't easy to be really good in any one of them. Moreover the phonics, grammar and sentence structure used in English are very different from Mandarin and Chinese dialects.

But you would find many Singaporeans whose parents are professionals or from an English-speaking background, speaking very good English. Proper English takes much effort to speak, so most Singaporeans would rather speak Singlish which has no grammar and which follows a Chinese sentence structure and terms in Chinese and Malay. It would be rare to find many speaking the Queen's English, except those old folks well-schooled in English.

Anyway, English is spoken differently even in many developed countries, with different accents and at various levels of clarity and proficiency. If you travel widely around SE Asia, Asia and Europe, you would probably change your mind about our ability in English in a multi-cultural society.

nschwantje

Singapore people speak singlish. Their friends speak singlish. Their family speak singlish. Copying bad english which is what singlish is, is the reason that they don't speak good english. Remember there are 3 basic ethnic groups here and NONE of the 3 are english. Chinese, Malay, Indian...right?

Ninja Turtle AM (å¿è€…ä¹Œé¾Ÿã€æ— ç¥žè®ºè€…çš„ä½›æ•™å¾’ï¼‰

That would depends. Some felt it is better to Speak Singaporean English when we are speaking to fellow Singaporean and to speak international English when we are speaking to external parties.

I had read about the Taiwanese show criticising Singaporeans' English. I would not take it too seriously if it comes from Taiwan or even the America. I would take it seriously if it comes from the United Kingdom.

-----
I think you mean this :

"
I do not mean to insult. I am a Singaporean. I just feel we are a smart, efficient and rich country. However, where the English language is concerned, I feel that there are rooms for improvement.

It is, of course, important to be equally fluent in our mother tongue.
"
(p.s. I am a Singaporean as well)

Michael F

There IS room for improvement in general standards of English in Singapore. However the same certainly applies in England. I am often surprised by mis-pronunciations by BBC newsreaders and by basic spelling errors on those annoying news snips on the bottom of the screen.
Probably "correct english" will soon be a thing of the past anyway, as everyone drifts inexorably into SMS-speak.
All language is purely a means of communication to enable us to understand one another and so long as that understanding is achieved then so is the purpose of language.
At least Singaporeans (unlike Americans) know that there are two "i's" in aluminium.

DEviL_GaL

I Totally agree wit "wkc".. Each country has their way of specking English... But, there is always room for improvement.... I m a singaporean...

josh

because you have your own english there. ..A Singlish with, no lah, yah lah, can meh, can not meh,.okey lah..

I stayed there for two years...& i didn't want to be influenced by how singaporeans speak english but if i speak with the standard british or american english..they can't understand what i meant..if i speak with the Singapore english which is very far to the standard one, then, they can understand me.

rabitto

wait a minute why am i here..i'm not a singaporean..oh sorry..i'm kind of lost could anybody tell me how to get back into my country ..i live in malaysia

cindy

such a smart and efficient and rich country is poor english, it should be,,, such a smart,efficient and rich country, ok

as far as the english language is concern, should be as far as english language is concern

polishs up urself b4 u comment, sori if it does hurt you.

one up for starrylu

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