Why We Talk Like That?
Over the next few years, educational reforms swept through our young nation to fix what then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew called “distortions in Singapore English”. But a spontaneous series of events would stir the imaginations of Singaporeans and push Singlish into once forbidden waters.
Musician and host Shabir Tabare Alam discovers how our common tongue came to be and traces its journey from nationhood to the cusp of the new millennium.
Singaporelang - What the Singlish?
Mai tu liao! Huat ah!
This new monthly series highlights the diverse range of stories these Singapore photographers have produced in recent years, from a quirky visualisation of Singlish, to an extensive documentary on life in Singapore’s Southern Islands. Often going beyond what mainstream news outlets produce or publish, these photo-essays add rich new layers to the visual record of changing life in Singapore.
We kick off the series with “Singaporelang - What the Singlish?”, photographer Zinkie Aw’s technicolour love letter to Singlish. So, mai tu liao, check out the photos below and see if you can suggest lagi better captions.
I think I am very Singaporean because I eat, think, breathe and speak like one, and I am self-confessed sibei kiasu with my photography. While working on this project, I also realised that many people have the misconception that only ah bengs or ah lians or army boys use Singlish. But hey, wrong lor! The whole Singapore does!
Expats in Singapore say Singlish is ‘weird’ but ‘efficient’ because questions can be summed up with just one word: “can?”
YouTuber Max Chernov posted two recent TikTok videos about Singlish - the variety of English that sets Singapore apart. In a clip from earlier this month, Mr Ron Kaufman, a New York Times bestselling author, said Singaporeans are “the most efficient on the planet in terms of use of language.”
Mr Kaufman, a speaker, writer, and consultant from the United States who’s made his home in Singapore for the past eight years, told the story of a Singaporean woman who made a pitch in a work meeting. “And I realized she just distilled the question, ‘So what do you think of what it is that I’ve proposed, and should we be able to proceed?” with just “Can or cannot?” and a Singaporean recently pointed out that you can make that one-third even more efficient, just by saying, ‘Can or not?’”
Commenters on the video, viewed over 581,000 times, pointed out that the question may be made even more efficient with just “Can?” One netizen explained the “Can?” phenomenon: “Because Singlish was from hawker culture and in the rush hours talking more than 5 words is not logical.” On Thursday (Nov 23), Mr Chernov posted another clip of an Australian man named Benji, who has also lived in Singapore for the past eight years.
UK man in SG can’t understand Singlish, says it’s “heavily” modified “almost unrecognisable”
Singlish is a phenomenon that can be complex and puzzling for non-Singlish speakers, as one visitor from the United Kingdom found out.
“I’m struggling with English in Singapore,” explained a TikTok user who goes by @jackthebackpacker in a video he uploaded on Monday (Nov 21). The online personality, who posts content about cars and travel, has uploaded several videos from his visit to Singapore. And the one that’s gotten the most content is the one about his struggles with Singlish. It has also drawn a fair number of comments from people defending it.
“Right now I’m in Singapore and I’m really struggling to understand people’s English here. I’m a fully native speaker so I never ever had any problems with understanding people’s English and accents but here they have a very strong accent,” he said. Jack the Backpacker added that with Singlish, ordinary sentence structures in English are “heavily” modified to the point of being “almost unrecognisable.” He ended his video by saying, “In my Taxi yesterday, the driver was telling me all sorts of things, and I just had no idea what he was saying.”
US woman in SG learns that “wait a while” in Singapore means “wait a moment”
Languages are a funny thing. A word or phrase can mean one thing in one area and the opposite in another. And Singlish (Singapore English), specifically, can be quite challenging to anyone who did not grow up around it.
For an American woman who’s been living in Singapore for less than a year, one phrase in particular has “really troubled” her and has been “hard to get used to hearing.” The culprit is the phrase “wait a while,” as the expectations of how long exactly “a while” should take differ among English speakers. Jenna, who moved from Montana 10 months ago, took to TikTok to document her troubles with “wait a while” this week, drawing sympathetic troubles from many.
She said that she had gone to the doctor for a “very sensitive medical appointment” and after she had checked in with the receptionist at the time of her appointment, she was told, “Okay, please go have a seat. Wait a while and the nurse will be out to collect you.”
Swiss woman says, in SG, queueing, chope, Singlish, calling people “Uncles & Aunties” are ‘bizarre Singaporean habits’
A Swiss woman living in Singapore posted a video she called “Bizarre Singaporean Habits Explained 🇸🇬 | Expat Insights” last Tuesday (Sept 5), naming queueing and chope-ing as two of the “weird and bizarre” habits. However, for Ms Mary Mueller, “bizarre” appears to be a compliment, as she added that some of these habits are “sort of cute and nice and polite”. Nevertheless, these habits left her “perplexed” when she saw them — she “could hardly believe her eyes”.
So, for Ms Mueller, here are the “bizarre” Singaporean habits she explained in the video: “The Unwavering Queue Culture, The Chope Phenomenon, Singlish – The Unique Singaporean Language, Uncles and Aunties, and Food Lovers,” who take photos of their meals before eating. The YouTuber praised Singapore’s queue culture, saying the Swiss could learn something from Singapore. In her home country, people rush onto the train when it arrives, jostling for the best seats, she said.
As for the “chope phenomenon”, she praised Singapore for being so safe and secure that people leave even valuable belongings to reserve places. Ms Mueller mentioned that for her, the best Singlish words are “can, can”, “lah,” and her personal favourite, “shiok.” She went on to explain the habit of calling older people “uncle” and “auntie” out of respect, which she loves. As for food photography, she chalked it up to the constant innovations in Singaporean cuisine.
‘You can’t tell people to not speak it,’ says NUS don. But where does Singlish stand now?
“Blur like sotong” is one of theatre and television personality Hossan Leong’s favourite Singlish phrases
Search for “Singlish” on TikTok and you will be served up with more than 2,000 videos, with 60 million views in total. That is an indication of the popularity of this video content.
But guess what? Back in 1974, the authorities banned Dick Lee’s classic tune, Fried Rice Paradise, by reason of “improper use of English”. “Those were the actual words they gave me,” the singer-songwriter said in CNA’s two-parter, Singlish: Why We Talk Like That? “It seemed like I committed a crime or something.”
Today, with Singlish used in anything from Phua Chu Kang’s COVID-19 vaccine rap to Word-leh! — the local version of the viral word game Wordle — it may be hard to imagine that it was once considered a threat to Singapore.
The rise of Singlish
Singapore's famous spouting Merlion statue - in Singlish "merlion" means to vomit profusely
Singapore's government has long insisted that everyone in the island nation should speak English - it's the language used in schools, at work, and in government. But in practice many people speak a hybrid language that can leave visitors completely baffled - Singlish.
Singapore is known for its efficiency and Singlish is no different - it's colourful and snappy. You don't have a coffee - you "lim kopi". And if someone asks you to join them for a meal but you've already had dinner, you simply say: "Eat already."
Singlish first emerged when Singapore gained independence 50 years ago and decided that English should be the common language for all its different races. That was the plan. It worked out slightly differently though, as the various ethnic groups began infusing English with other words and grammar. English became the official language, but Singlish became the language of the street.
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What's a 'Chinese helicopter'? Latest Singlish entry in Oxford Dictionary has us scratching our heads
After some digging around, AsiaOne has managed to uncover the origins of the term 'Chinese helicopter'. So just how did the strange term come about? It turns out the term, which refers to a person who received a Mandarin education, is actually a mispronunciation. Apparently, the phrase originated in the army, when many soldiers and sergeants had problems pronouncing English words properly. When the men laughed at the sergeants, they would respond by saying: "I'm Chinese educated." Unfortunately, their poor pronunciation resulted in 'Chinese educated' sounding like 'Chinese helicopter'.
Singaporeans often take pride in our ability to converse with others using 'Singlish' - a unique amalgamation of various languages from different races and dialect groups in the country. When Oxford English Dictionary announced its latest update, many found it quite 'shiok' (cool) to see 19 of these commonly used terms and phrases appear in the esteemed tome's lexicon.
We can now 'lepak' (hang out) with family and friends after a long and busy week of work and school, while foodies can check out local fare at the 'hawker centre' which offers yummy dishes such as 'char siu' (roast pork) and 'chili crab'. Other terms that made it into the dictionary include: 'ang moh', 'blur', 'HDB', 'killer litter', 'sabo', 'sabo king', 'sotong', 'teh tarik', 'wah', and 'wet market'.
Colloquial Singaporean English, better known as Singlish, is an English-based creole language spoken in Singapore
Exaggerated Singlish on an advertising board outside a cafe in Pulau Ubin
While English is one of Singapore's official languages, Singlish (a particular dialect with its unique intonations and grammar) is commonly regarded as having low prestige. The Singaporean government and some Singaporeans alike heavily discourage the use of Singlish in favour of Standard English and Standard Mandarin. The government has created an annual Speak Good English Movement to emphasise the point.
Singlish is also heavily discouraged in the mass media and in schools. However, such official discouragement and routine censorship is actually countered by other presentations in mainstream media, including routine usage by ordinary people in street interviews broadcast on TV and radio on a daily basis, as well as occasional usage in newspapers.
The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, Malay, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Tamil and to a lesser extent various other European, Indic and Sinitic languages. Also, elements of American and Australian slang have come through from imported television series and films.
Singlish 101: Our A-Z list of common Singlish words for you to chat like a local in Singapore
So you know your Singlish and can tell the difference between lah, leh and lor?
Come, we clap for you. A huge part of the Singaporean identity (besides our local food) is our language. We’re talking about Singlish! Bottom line: Singlish is a truly peculiar ‘language’. We use it when we order kopi at hawker centres and even at cafes when we mingle with our friends.
Need a handy guide? We’ve decoded some of the essentials so you’ll know what it means when someone accuses you of being kaypoh.
‘Can or not? Can meh? Can lah!,’ What are the best Singlish phrases to teach a friend?
After a Reddit user asked, “Help me think of some Singlish phrases to teach a friend?” many commenters obliged, supplying what they feel are among the most helpful Singlish-isms.
“My friend from the UK loves Singlish and he’s been learning a few common Singlish phrases. He found on google ‘die die must try’ and ‘own time own target’ which he loved and has since been using loads – can you think of any more common or funny ones that I can teach him?” wrote u/rohorolo on r/askSingapore on Thursday (July 20).
The post spawned a lively discussion as Redditors riffed on the topic, with many of them citing the often-used “can” and its adjacent words as among the most useful. “Master the difference between the following: ‘Can lah, Can meh, Can lor Can one (Can wan). Plus all the tonal differences of ‘CAN OR NOT.’”
Singlish vs Manglish: Got difference, meh?
In Southeast Asia, language reflects the diverse cultural threads of a region. Malaysia and Singapore, close neighbours, have nurtured two unique variants of English – Singlish and Manglish. So, what’s the difference?
These Creole languages mirror the history, culture, and stories of these nations. Yet, they each have unique characteristics that set them apart. For those new to Singlish and Manglish, navigating their intricacies may initially seem challenging.
Singlish vs Manglish - To get you started, we’ve compiled a list of common words you might encounter in everyday conversations in Singapore and Malaysia, highlighting the subtle distinctions, as described by Coconuts Singapore.
Singapore Colloquial English (Singlish)
Nearly everyone in Singapore speaks more than one language, with many people speaking three or four. Most children grow up bilingual from infancy and learn more languages as they grow up. Naturally the presence of other languages (especially various varieties of Malay and of Chinese) has influenced the English of Singapore. The influence is especially apparent in the kind of English that is used informally, which is popularly called Singlish, but which is called Singapore Colloquial English or Colloquial Singapore English in most academic writing.
Singlish is a badge of identity for many Singaporeans, and, as you can see from the satirical website, Talkingcock, there are some websites that are written in it. Many Singaporeans move smoothly between Singapore Colloquial English and Standard English. As most Singaporeans use a lot of Singapore Colloquial English to their children, children tend to speak Singapore Colloquial English before they speak Standard English. It is still the case in Singapore that the younger you are and the richer your family is, the more likely you are to have English (and that usually means Singapore Colloquial English) as your native language. But Standard English is used in formal contexts, as it is all over the English-using world. Take a look at Singapore's leading English newspaper, The Straits Times.
Since the 1960s linguists and sociologists have studied the features and the functions of English in Singapore from a number of perspectives. Those who would like to know about studies of Singapore English should look at my annotated list of the major works on Singapore English. You might also like to look at the articles which I wrote on Singapore English for Speech Therapists. David Deterding maintains a full scholarly bibliography of academic work on Singapore English. There is also plenty of creative work in English by Singaporeans and you can find lots of information about Singapore literature at the Contemporary and Postcolonial and Postimperial Literature in English site maintained by George Landow.
Singlish Reflects the Power of My People
Is the government’s war on Singlish finally over? Our wacky, singsong creole may seem like the poor cousin to the island’s four official languages, but years of state efforts to quash it have only made it flourish. Now even politicians and officials are using it.
Trending at the moment is “ownself check ownself,” which was popularized by Pritam Singh, a member of Parliament from the opposition Workers’ Party. He was mocking the ruling People’s Action Party (P.A.P.) for saying that the government was clean and honest enough to act as its own guardian.
Singlish is a patchwork patois of Singapore’s state languages — English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil — as well as Hokkien, Cantonese, Bengali and a few other tongues. Its syntax is drawn partly from Chinese, partly from South Asian languages.
Singlish - Uniquely Singapore
Singapore's famous spouting Merlion statue - in Singlish "merlion" means to vomit profusely
Singapore's government has long insisted that everyone in the island nation should speak English - it's the language used in schools, at work, and in government. But in practice many people speak a hybrid language that can leave visitors completely baffled - Singlish.
Singapore is known for its efficiency and Singlish is no different - it's colourful and snappy. You don't have a coffee - you "lim kopi". And if someone asks you to join them for a meal but you've already had dinner, you simply say: "Eat already."
Singlish first emerged when Singapore gained independence 50 years ago, and decided that English should be the common language for all its different races. That was the plan. It worked out slightly differently though, as the various ethnic groups began infusing English with other words and grammar. English became the official language, but Singlish became the language of the street.
Politics and the Singlish Language
No official recognition is given to Singlish as a marker of Singaporean identity or an indigenous patois. This is despite political leaders using Singlish during election campaigning to better connect to a local audience.
The government recognises that Singlish cannot be eradicated but it will not take kindly to attempts to promote it.
The concern is that any mixed signals on Singlish will undermine efforts to raise English language proficiency. A similarly tough and consistent stance is taken against Chinese dialects, in order to promote Mandarin Chinese proficiency.
Singlish join Oxford English Dictionary
A plate of char kway teow from Alexandra Village Food Centre. FOTO: THE NEW PAPER
More "Singapore English" words used colloquially here have been added to the lexicon of the venerable Oxford English Dictionary (OED), following its latest quarterly update this month.
Top on the list of new words - "aiyah" & "aiyoh", which are often used to express impatience or dismay, & "ah beng", a stereotype applied to Chinese men.
"Atas", an oft-used term by Singaporeans to deride people for being too arrogant or high-class, was also included in the list.
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