Singapore government wants locals to speak better English
September 9th, 2010 - 12:28 am ICT by Aishwarya BhattSingapore, Sep 8 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Singapore may have a better economic edge, if the citizens speak better English or rather Slingish.
Slingish has become the unofficial language of the country with a population of over 5 million people. The language is a hybrid of the country’s four main languages. It fuses Mandarin, English, Malay and Tamil to produce the unique language, which is spoken by almost all the different ethnic groups in the Island. But the Slingish is not taught in schools.
Singapore has established itself as financial services hub in the region and economic experts say that Singapore’s success may be attributed to the fact that among its competitors, they are the only country that speak English.
But the government is concerned that the Slingish language, which does not use proper English grammar, might be bad for the country’s economic health. As a result, the government is urging the citizens to speak grammatically correct English.
“There are many people who champion ‘Speak Singlish.’ But I appeal to you to think of our children. Put aside some of the more emotional elements that language always engenders,” according to Vivian Balakrishnan, who is a government minister.
However that might be a difficult task for the government because most Singaporeans see the Slingish as their unique language that sets them apart from other countries.
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Tags: 5 million, citizens, different ethnic groups, economic edge, economic experts, economic health, emotional elements, financial services, fuses, government minister, hub, hybrid, locals, malay, mandarin, proper english grammar, singapore government, tamil, unofficial language, vivian balakrishnan