I Don't Understand Singlish!! (As an American)

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English is the first language in Singapore (新加坡), but Singaporeans mostly speak Singlish. Singlish is a combination of Chinese, English, some Malay and Hokkien words.
Learning Singlish can be quite difficult because Singaporeans talk very fast. There are a lot of words that they add onto the end like “lah, lor, meh, ah”. How to use all these words in the day to day conversations in Singapore, how to live like a local and become local Singaporean in a minute :)
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#singapore #singlish #livinginsingapore #rediscoversingapore

[@TheKrazyKoala]

I started my 2nd channel dedicated to the world journey. plz follow: www.youtube.com/@KoalaTravelSolo -Follow my Instagram: @TheKrazyKoalaAC. instagram.com/thekrazykoalaAC

[@mhanwen4899]

Aiyo, just learn lah, is not difficult mah everyone also learning singlish leh.. 😅😅..

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@mhanwen4899 😅😅😅you are talented la.

[@knownshetty1841]

@@mhanwen4899 OMG You are talented la From India🇮🇳

[@mhanwen4899]

@@vincecarlo errr,,, wah Lao like that also say act cute Sia? Normal leh bro.

[@johnnyhs_ngnng5554]

Hello Kola, I see you hve some problems in learning Singlish. Rome is not built in a day. Be patient you will be there soon.

[@DonYang73]

Meh is basically a “Question Mark” used when in disbelief or disgreement. Overall, you have been pretty accurate lah. Congratulations ah! But hor, there is a lot more leh. Can? Good weekend. 😃

[@TheKrazyKoala]

hahaha thanks for scoring my homework ..... glad that i passed the quiz 😂 i don't know why i rarely come acrosss "hor" so far

[@johnnyhs_ngnng5554]

DY, meh is Cantonese usually a question mark. You say “meh” because you want someone to respond to your meh.

[@asiancookrice9006]

i think meh comes from 吗 bc they both sound rlly similar and is used the same way

[@NiceEarth12]

​@@asiancookrice9006, no, meh isn't 吗？it's actually 咩? And yes, it's Cantonese.

[@barriechew9826]

Singlish....uniquely a Singapore thing! Hearing someone with Singlish, we immediately feel extraordinary homely when bumping into someone, especially in a foreign country. I find that Singlish kinda builds the bond among Singaporean. It is uniquely Singapore culture. There is definitely a longer list of words used in Singlish. Some of the words used can be Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, Tamil, Chinese....etc. Take your time to learn them and use it. Hehe... making conversations with local wil nurture a closer relationship.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Haha yes 🙌

[@kwpf]

The problem arises when you pronounce "can't" in American, which sounds like "can" to Singaporeans. Try pronouncing it in British English and it will be understood.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Oh haha yes yes 😁😁😁 singaporeans are not used to it

[@edmundlee6895]

British "can't" might be misunderstood as a swear word For example Lady: Can I have this seat? Me: No, you can't Safer to use "cannot"

[@kwpf]

@@edmundlee6895 Most Singaporeans will say "No", "Cannot", "Taken" or "有人" (literal translation: have a person).

[@edmundlee6895]

@@kwpf That's why I said it's safer to use 'cannot' rather than 'can't'

[@lizyliz970]

@@edmundlee6895 Never met anyone frkm Singapore or Malaysia or Asia who would mistaken can't with "that" word. It is an American thing. Americans swear too much.

[@michaelshih8163]

I like your video very much, as someone who lived in Singapore for 17 years, almost 18 years. I never figured out the differences between all those one-syllable words at the end of the sentence. And you explain them so respectfully with no hints of condescending (while the viewers are rolling on the floor laughing).

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Thanks! 😃 so happy to hear that! hope you'll share my video too!

[@michaelshih8163]

@@TheKrazyKoala Yes, I will, with those who need a laugh. You should be a stand-up comic. Singapore is an interesting country. It is a "developed" country, yet so 3rd world in so many different ways, like the HDB, the way people talk, and the hawker centers, which I can describe with one word, yuck. It is supposedly a democracy, yet the people are so obedient and vote for the same authoritarian party election and election

[@Stephen_Ito]

Interesting view whats your background ?

[@eatdriveplay]

The reason why some people can’t understand ‘can’t’ is because we pronounce it almost like cu*t. So the American way of pronunciation confuses those who are less exposed to Americans. They do catch the ‘t’ at the end, but can’t be sure.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

understand 😆 we are all used to different ways of speaking. it's a good cultural experience.

[@vadimurputi730]

It's because we pronounce the british way? We learn british english in school.

[@chrischris5462]

“Do you think is nice meh?” This is still wrong. Should be just “nice meh?” 🤣

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hahahaha really 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@RahimRahmat]

"This one nice meh?" would be closer to what we normally would say.... but not bad Chris Chris :p

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@RahimRahmat 😁

[@theone6002]

Sori hoh, Shood be just " nice meh? "

[@chrischris5462]

@@theone6002 you are right, just “nice meh” is enough because if you use “this one nice meh” you are just adding slight sarcasm in your sentence. My English is limited... but my Singlish is unlimited. 🤣

[@thomasgoh2896]

" La " , " leh " , " lor " , " meh " , exhibits different emotional states.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Yes 👍 I mentioned different emotion states in my video 😊

[@dennylui]

Yes! And they are all from Cantonese but not mandarin.😉

[@huanweichan9821]

hahaha... I have a good time laughing when you shared the Singapore movie clip. I have been taking for granted as to how we speak and never find it odd until you point it out. Your clip on how to use the word "lah" , "meh" had me in stitches as it made me realized that it can be so confusing to a non-local.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Lol 😂😂😂😂

[@musenw8834]

@@TheKrazyKoala i find your point on Singaporeans speaking fast not totally true. It really depends on the individual. Some of the older ones or more chinese educated would not speak fast. But some may just speak fast as a habit, so can't tie one to the other v

[@joekidal5797]

‘Singlish’ is the most common language that Singaporeans use. In the military bootcamp or in the police academy we learned ‘Enhanced Singlish’ 😄

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Wow haha. What are those enhanced singlish?

[@rogerfaint499]

Like 'wake up your idea'

[@markoh210]

Blur like sotong

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@markoh210 never heard 😂

[@2030chinna]

@@TheKrazyKoala Look for the movie "Army Daze". Enhanced version throughout the whole movie.

[@jjyf78]

Hahaha! This episode is so funny! Especially the bottle against can !!!😆😅😂

[@TheKrazyKoala]

😅😅😅 I was so confused at the beginning

[@jjyf78]

@@TheKrazyKoala can lah ! No problem lah ! Everything will be fine lah! 😆😅😂

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@jjyf78 hahaha okie dokie teach me something new lol

[@yuanluho7873]

Absolutely love this episode :-)

[@Time4Peace]

So funny lah!

[@Dan8254]

All these suffixes are very difficult to explain yet you explained them clearly with the right contexts.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Thank you! plz share my video too! 🐨

[@musenw8834]

About talking fast. It's not always the case. Sometimes we do, other times we don't. So that point is up for contention. The fact is it's heavily simplified, relative to the standard British English that we're taught academically and also throws in words from other languages

[@yapsiewmeng6728]

Hahaha, very entertaining video! This is how we speak in Singapore! Hope you can return to the can can meh meh lah lah island soon!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hahahah 😂😅😅😅 confusing but I’m learning. Thank you a lot

[@Cysecsg]

Majority of educated can hotswap between Singlish and English. Those who don't, are either older generation, still young not exposed much to working environment, or simply uneducated.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Yes they are so flexible. It’s not so easy for other people 😂

[@namedrop721]

hotswap is a word I’ve never heard. Is it singlish?

[@Cysecsg]

@@namedrop721 I worked in IT sector where hot-swapping means replacement of components without shutting down systems. Its not singlish nor a proper term. Just merely borrowing the definition with different context. The actual term is called code-switching.

[@lowchristopher5226]

Well explained leh! Steady lah! Pandai ah!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

hahaha thanks Chris!!! i hope it's entertaining! . thanks for subscribing to my channel!

[@Levi-di1pw]

Singlish is our local creole. Its a mixture of hokkien, malay and english. Also singlish tends to butcher words. So for instance 'can' stands for alright/yes.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

😀😀😀totally. very interesting language. thanks for visiting. hope to see you on my channel again.

[@anchored555]

In Singlish, “can” means yes/ok. It comes from the Chinese “可以“ or “行“。 Singlish is actually a colloquial mixture of English, Chinese and Malay. It is unique to Singaporeans and used in casual/informal settings eg when talking to friends/family, or in the wet market/hawker centre. However, in government, educational, formal or professional settings, people generally speak proper English, not Singlish. Many Singaporeans can switch registers depending on context, and who we are speaking to.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Yes I agree. Not sure if you get a chance to watch until the end, I did mention the same, a mix of those languages like a rojak 😂 people are too multi lingual 👍 I need to think about it when I hear them 😃

[@musenw8834]

@@TheKrazyKoala generally the code switching ability can be strong or weak depending on the level of education, environmental influences as well as level of social interaction. Therefore foreigners staying here for years would have developed the local accent and lingo, that which foreigners would've had trouble understanding, and older folks who have had humble lives would converse mostly in Singlish or even dialects. Also a big deal of Singlish has mainly malay and hokkien origins, mostly translated from mandarin too . cantonese and teochew words incorporated into singlish are few.

[@musenw8834]

Nevertheless, there are still some locals of today who may not be able to codeswitch. That's where the barrier can hit hard on foreigners.

[@jaytan6809]

@Koala: Point of clarification. Singlish is generally not used in a business discussion unless between 2 people who know each other well and have a casual discussion. No one will as a rule use Singlish when conversing with a foreigner unless of course he has a low level of English education

[@TheKrazyKoala]

i agree. that's true. in the meeting, i rarely hear that. but when you are talk to a coworker offline 1:1, sometimes they use that .

[@thomasgoh2896]

As Americans pronounce " can " and " can't " with the same tone , it confused everyone . That's why you shall pronounce " can't " as " kunt " . And this will differentiate between the 2 words.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

😅😅😅😅 I see. Now I spelled it out. And my American friends are not used to me saying cannot now

[@thomasgoh2896]

@@TheKrazyKoala 😆

[@blaxerx]

Personally, the most beautiful Singlish word in this video is actually LAH. LAH, can be used in many scenarios to express a different meaning. But, just by switching the tone of LAH can change it. Just the word OK LAH = it’s alright OK LAH = it’s acceptable OK LAH~ = please accept or agree OK LAH = whatever, I agree. Any many many more. So yeah. It’s indeed complex.

[@sneo7470]

👍👏💪Good singlish! Singlish is just like adding emoji to the English sentence, so as to make the sentence adapts to local dialect culture.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

haha good analogy! emoji!! i like that! thank you for supporting my Singlish growth 😂

[@shoubiaokuang747]

❤️ this gal 😄 interesting vid !

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Glad you enjoyed! haha i hope it's fun!

[@shem44]

Yes Singlish is much more than just Lah, Leh, lor, Meh, Ah. 1 Singlish sentence can comprise English, Chinese, Malay, Hokkien and Cantonese. It is definitely very hard for foreigner to master.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

It's very difficult haha.... i underestimated it haha.... thanks for watching. look fwd to learning from you too. thanks for subscribing. see you on another video!

[@ymhktravel]

@@TheKrazyKoala Eg. I really tak boleh tahan (malay for can't stand) this chee sin lo (cantonese) or siao tar por (hokkien) which means crazy man.

[@MalamaLife]

One of my favorite videos of yours 😊❤ I learned a lot and now want to speak Singlish. Also, love the acting in between. I never asked, but is English your mother tongue? :)

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Oh wow really? I’m surprised this is your fav one 🤔 I thought u might like my dating comedy better hehehe 🥰 how have you been? It’s been a while since heard from u. I can’t express well with my mother tongue. English is my first language 😃

[@MalamaLife]

@@TheKrazyKoala sometimes I have a hard time expressing in English 🤣 I'm doing better! Trying to get ready to post a video tomorrow ❤ i love this video because I learned a lot. Super valuable

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@MalamaLife oh hahaha right, i remember you said your goal is to learn a new language this year. no wonder you like this video LOL.... look fwd to your video !! btw, i msg you on IG!

[@kitakita1184]

I am Japanese who have moved in Singapore one month ago This video is amazing to learn Singlish🎉

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hi Kita-san. Welcome! Glad that you enjoy the video! I also made a lot of Japanese videos on my new channel here! Welcome you to check out! youtube.com/@koalatravelsolo?si=QGxb8CnYRtHHn5x_

[@ymhktravel]

Singlish is also economy of english words used (concatenation). Why say " Have you had your lunch ?" when you can just say "eat already?" or "makan already?" OR " Are you coming tomorrow?" becomes "Tomorrow coming?" (following chinese word order 明天来吗？)

[@kksuccess111]

hahaha great examples!!!! thanks for visiting my channel :)

[@mathewlee3210]

Colloquial slang is evident in most country. Yes, it takes time to comprehend. Good on you tt u take concerted time n effort to blend with the locals though not all Singaporeans speak in that manner. As the saying goes, do what the Romans do. I'm sure even in the US, if you are from out of town n visiting the Southern part, u will initially find it difficult to understand the southern accent. Haha. Great video agn, KK. Kudos.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hahah that’s very true. Language is one of the best ways to really understand the local culture. I learned so much from communicating with locals, not only in Singapore, but also in other countries too. This is the first language culture video I made 😅😅 thank u

[@georgeinjapan6583]

One of your best videos this is (out of many good ones) !

[@TheKrazyKoala]

awww thank you. and plz do share the video with frds in japan then 😃

[@georgeinjapan6583]

@@TheKrazyKoala I have, but I will continue to. They are trying to work out a travel bubble between Japan and Singapore, but Japan isn't reciprocating on the reduced quarantine for fully vaccinated.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@georgeinjapan6583 ahhh 😌 I cannot get into Jp now

[@kahsiongkiu3201]

I didn’t notice Singlish is so deep till I see this clip. I impressed that how you break it down and explained in detail. 👍👍

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Glad you enjoyed it! i'm so happy to hear that!!! I tried my best haha..... i think for you, it's so natural to use it. for me, i need to learn haha feel free to share this video with other ppl!

[@2030chinna]

Singlishverycheemonelah! This is how we speak (Singlish very cheem one-lah!)

[@user-iv3fp4gy1u]

FAVE video!! As a fast talking polyglot, I loved learning all about Singlish. Here, it's like adding "lah" or saying "can" or "can can" mean I have a secret code to see who has any idea of a distant, enchanted land.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

haha how's your singlish learning?

[@KaungKhant-iy4ek]

So informative. Love u ❤

[@TheKrazyKoala]

❤️🐨

[@tomtom-hd4uz]

Hi KK, U just make my day lor. .. .

[@TheKrazyKoala]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 KK says thank you Tom Tom

[@cy7602]

Soon you will realise the most painful thing is when you have a Singaporean manager who likes to type short-form all the time. And even google could not understand it.

[@namedrop721]

I had a study partner back before smartphones oh god

[@kianmetarudesu9572]

Singlish is an exercise in Singaporean efficiency. Haha 'Is it necessary to undertake this?' becomes 'Need meh?'. Efficient, right? Haha

[@TheKrazyKoala]

hahahahah so funny. yes. you guys can shorten any sentence into 2 words ? 😂

[@kianmetarudesu9572]

@@TheKrazyKoala can! Haa

[@rogerfaint499]

*Sing*lish is not speaking English in a singsong manner?

[@user-ht1qg9xn3ra]

"can" = alright, a translation from English to Chinese, then back to English wrongly.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

😀😀😀 Thanks for visiting again! Hope you have a good weekend

[@kksuccess111]

have a great weekend everyone. i hope this video is fun! 😆

[@TheKrazyKoala]

✌️✌️✌️

[@jjyf78]

@@TheKrazyKoalathanks for the video, i really enjoyed it! There's a lots of la in this video too! Hope you like it! 😆 kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpq2eWlnp5qDlck

[@lostinasia888]

hiya, i really love this episode lor, so funny ! i burst out laughing.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

hahaha thank you. is this one more funny than this episode about the working culture? these are my comedies 😂 kzbin.info/aero/PLY2Aid4xBze2Hr2qbL9ig_edoFSH9sSsl

[@lostinasia888]

@@TheKrazyKoala this is the funniest episode !

[@Keean_TTRealm]

As a Singaporean, this really hits the spot in terms of getting the gist of the meaning behind the additional words we add in our sentences 😂 Of course, it still sounds a little off if you use it with proper english grammar/sentence because they sound a lot better with the local slangs. By the way, you’re from America but I believe you have an accent that is Chinese/Korean too ?

[@TheKrazyKoala]

hello thank you for your comments and your visit. happy to share what i've learned in SG through my experience. Don't forget to subscribe. Will have a new video up in an hour.

[@illuminite]

Yea, agreed. Her accent sounds like that of someone from Hong Kong, or at the very least, that of someone that speaks Cantonese.

[@matthewhartman7176]

As an American I can assure you there's no one "American" accent in the United States. Like any accent, they tend to be regional and the US is a huge place. You can very much have a situation where a child born in the states is raised with the accent of their Asian parents/family who were born elsewhere. You can hear all sorts of accents here. Not uncommon at all, and there's no accent police. Though the United States predominately speaks English, there is no actual official language here.

[@cephasgoh1261]

We are taught British English not American English. There is s different in spelling too. While the world is using metric, US is using pound in their weight system. We are taught to use can and cannot not "can" . Now Singapore has a mixture of American and British English a kind of rojak. For a British a cup of tea while for US a piece of cake - similar meaning but different use of word Singlish is being used as a more cordial way to converse with the local since we live in a multi culture country. I like your definition for those ending words.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Oh haha really? British says a cup of tea instead of piece of cake? 😅😅😅good to know!!! 😀😀😀😀

[@mic5391]

Exact explanation of the discourse particles: I dun have lah. - I really don't have it. I dun have leh. - For some reason, I don't have it. I dun have lor. - I wish I had it, but sadly I don't. I dun have liao. - I used to have it, but I don't anymore. I dun have ha. - I remind you that I don't have it! I dun have hor. - Don't look at me; I don't have it. I dun have mah. - It would help if I had it, but I don't have it. I dun have meh? - You think I don't have it? I dun have siah! - I can't freaking believe I don't have it!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

😂 do you use all these?

[@mic5391]

@@TheKrazyKoala yes, when situations warrant the use of them.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@mic5391 very advanced la 😂

[@mic5391]

@@TheKrazyKoala Here you would use man instead of lah. 😂 And you could also substitute advanced with the Singlish vocabulary word cheem. So the complete Singlish sentence would be “beri cheem man”.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@mic5391 hahaha 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@AN9ELHSU]

Hahaha very nice!!! Your Singlish is good!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Thank you for your visit! 😃 welcome!!!! :))))

[@kimmytan6573]

Your examples using "singlish" were very good, makes me laugh, so funny.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

hahaa good. share it with your frds

[@workfasts]

There is a joke: A: what do you do when you free? B: study lor. A: Oh, study law is good!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hahaha 🤣 funny. 👍👍👍😬

[@johnnyhs_ngnng5554]

Hello work workfast, I agree your joke was good once upon a time but it does not work. People don’t laugh anymore. However, I thank you for for your efforts.

[@Mary-222]

It’s good to learn new language as we can challenge our self to learn more. I’m Chinese Indonesian, moved in SG. When I’ve kids my kids also laugh at me that my English so weird. B’cos there‘s Indonesian accents. But I tried to correct it. As Chinese many different dialect also, so my kids are learning many languages though. I speak Bahasa, Chinese mandarin, Hokkien, Teochew but my hubby is Cantonese, live here speak more English. So we should no problem when go to the country that we know the language. Just enjoy it!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh so cool! your family is so talented!!!!! 😃

[@andychong4585]

Hi KK.. BRAVO!!😅 Glad to see you are "blending" well with Singlish or i wud term it as "Singa" language culture. ✌Yes ur adaptation thru conversation skids r executed vry acurrate by yr observations. 👍To us 'Singlish' : its definitely a direct yet relaxful combo of diff races having same mindset when we walk the talk daily thts uniquely only to us Singa..poreans 🤗 Kp up the excellent efforts..u look like one of us already..hehe 😁

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Oh oh haha i'm so happy to hear that Andy!!! love your comments, as always! It was very hard for me to understand all these words, to be honest. It's taking a long time 😂 now i almost got them. but still need to increase my vocabulary 😂 need to graduate from my Singlish

[@andychong4585]

No worries.. juz take things on yr stride.. I know that you got this👍 !! Haha😅

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@andychong4585 😂 👍 👍

[@raymondloo3181]

Already Subscribed LA!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Haha 😂

[@parhunlombok440]

Wooo... Very very easy to understand after hearing explanation thanks 🙏🙏🙏

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Most welcome 😊 and i saw you just subscribed to my channel too? thanks a lot!

[@rajutalukdar6346]

😁 loved it. People from different parts speak different way. I didn't know about singlish before. If there had been only one language ( whatever it may be) for the whole world !

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hello Raju. Thank you for enjoying the video 😀😀😀 I’m very happy to share. I wish there’s 1 language that we can all communicate together too

[@rajutalukdar6346]

@@TheKrazyKoalaawaiting for your next visit to YT 😀🙏

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@rajutalukdar6346 oh haha yes yes

[@punder]

You nailed it. Nice!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

i'm so happy to share 😃 and you can share this video with other people too!

[@user-oh6wb5rj2q]

meh (吗 in cantonese: use to ask a question) - to show uncertainty and doubt the fact that the other party just shared. 'We can go in' 'Can meh?(Are you really sure? I don't think so)' lah - similar to 'duh' in English. To show the person what they just shared(fact) is a common sense OR to hint others not to doubt ourselves/to show firmness and assertive for our answer. 'It's raining! How you gonna go home?' 'Use umbrella Lah!(obviously, I will use an umbrella?)' P.s. As a local, I considered this as rude. But depends on the other party whether they can take jokes or not loh - the polite form of lah or trying to be nice to others. 'Use umbrella loh' Hor(rising tone) - similar to ‘right?’ In English. To seek for validation and it’s in a very nice and polite way Hor(lowering tone) - added to a fact that the person just said, to show we should/shouldn’t do something but in a polite way. Leh - usually use for correcting others but at the same time being polite. “Please don’t do that” = “don’t do that leh” Boh - originated from Hokkien word “無” (to not exist) =usually to ask question (有無） “Are you sure boh brother” (to show friendly ness) Eh - to get one’s attention (extremely rude but effective)

[@FreedomRunnersIO]

Looks like this would take some getting used to. Glad you figured it out 😊

[@TheKrazyKoala]

did you understand them??

[@FreedomRunnersIO]

@@TheKrazyKoala no... lol...but I understood you which was most important 🤣🤣

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@FreedomRunnersIO lol you can try this words with me

[@FreedomRunnersIO]

@@TheKrazyKoala Okay “La” 🤣🤣

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@FreedomRunnersIO hahahah pretty good wor

[@tttan1843]

Bery good, well explained on the la, lor, meh. You may have miss Hor, it is added behind to express you are 90% sure about something, but somehow, it still happened. Example, your friend bought noodles for you, but you dont take noodles, so you reply "aiya I dont take noodles hor" kindda also telling that person its the friend's fault that he bought noodles, in a subtle way.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh hahah amazing. i never used to Hor. maybe next time i'll try using Hor hahaha.... KZbin is amazing, can learn many things from audience.

[@amubi]

The combination of different languages into speach is Uniquely Singapore

[@TheKrazyKoala]

It is. And good stuff 😊 thanks for subscribing to my channel. See u on another video! Have a great day

[@2030chinna]

Also uniquely ASEAN mah.

[@sanjaypanchal3732]

Its great to know about Singlish😉 & in my country also a very good language known as Hinglish (Indian local english)😄😄, its tooo good to know about it

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hi Sanjay thank you for visiting again! haha oh really? there is Hinglish too? for example, what word?

[@simroysten7963]

If I am not mistaken some local university lecturers in psychology do sometimes refer to these terms in the local context.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh not sure about them. but i went to school in SG also, my professors were from Europe, but in the end of class, they still said "ok lah, that's all for today." lol. Thank you for subscribing to my channel! check out my other videos too!!!!

[@lordnoobz6154]

If the singlish words is from english word, usually it is a direct translate of chinese word. "Can" is from 可以 which can mean agree 砍菜头 mean being scammed but people will say chop vegetable head.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh i see 😂 i never heard of chop vegetable head. it's my first time. thanks for your explanation.

[@lordnoobz6154]

@@TheKrazyKoala it's in 0.25

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@lordnoobz6154 yes I know it’s in the movie. I’m saying it’s the first time I heard the explanation 😬

[@rogerfaint499]

Cow father, cow mother from cowpeh, cowboo?

[@lordnoobz6154]

@@rogerfaint499 not related to cow. 哭爹，哭妈 in Chinese dialects. It means crying for father/mother to save them Welcome to Singlish. Mixture of Chinese, Chinese dialects, Malay, Tamil and English grammar and vocabulary

[@dantlanz2225]

For "can't",it's more of your pronunciation. You can differentiate it by pronouncing it as 'c-unt' (no pun intended). Then people will not be confused with the two words. This especially so during this period where everyone is wearing a mask, and the word is not heard clearly.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Oh haha good thought!!! Yes yes. Wearing mask makes it much harder to hear what people say. I feel like I have to yell at someone 😂

[@ranbobo5456]

Interesting videoKK.bah! ngam liau.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh haha thank you Ranbobo. good to see you again 😜 happy saturday!

[@massimilianomelandri2996]

Funny video ,i been in SG and ppl really speak a good english,of course slang mmmm is so different ,it happened to me in Australia,bus driver talk for 5 minutes and i didn' t understand a single word....very similar to US citizens who speak slang,it's so difficult to understand US english/slang ,but luckily your english is perfect and i can understand all u say,have a great we Ashley.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

haha next time you can combine italian with singlish 😂 how will that sound?

[@massimilianomelandri2996]

@@TheKrazyKoala Lol

[@icyboy771z]

American slang is easy to understand since we are used to it watching movies/listening songs. Aussie can be hard though.

[@davidchow935]

You look great lor 🤗

[@kksuccess111]

hahaha your singlish is very advanced

[@matthewhartman7176]

Thank god my Singaporean GF (I'm American) also just speaks good old fashion English. She actually doesn't care much for Singlish, and she tells me it's not encouraged in the corporate world meh, which works out better for me lah. Cannot.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

hahaha great

[@jasontang9536]

And here is the singlish Star rating of a movie..... 5-die die must watch...4- try find time to watch....3-got time then watch.....2- if you got nothing better to do... and 1- don't waste time

[@TheKrazyKoala]

hahaha 😂 that's so vivid. amazing!!!! you can create your own movie review system

[@jasontang9536]

Aba then

[@jasontang9536]

Aba then means agrees

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@jasontang9536 🤣🤣👌good leh

[@jeny7177]

U truly are spot-on lor

[@TheKrazyKoala]

haha thank you for your compliment and subscribing to my channel. see you on my new video on Sunday

[@jasonh4905]

You captured the confused look well in this TN. Then again...Singlish does make u confuse..lah. I will need to give u more coaching hahaha

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hahahah 😂🤣🤣🤣✌️✌️✌️✌️ thank you la. Ungo J. You will first go back to SG to polish your singlish first 😂

[@iwavns]

2:03 In Singapore we usually pronounce can't like the British (kɑːnt) That's why...the American pronounciation of kæn is quite confusing for me...haha

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh hahaha interesting. ya ya i realized that from many singaporeans 😂

[@iwavns]

@@TheKrazyKoala That's because Singapore was colonized by Great Britain. However, nowadays the trend is to pronounce American English in Singapore (for example, pronouncing Z as Zee instead of Zed)

[@rahulmaron]

Hahaha same experience. It's very difficult to understand at first because it feels like they ignore punctuations in sentences when they talk which makes a paragraph a single sentence. And also, in short conversation they always talk an incomplete sentence like there's no subject or predicate. The lah, can, meh, alamak, ayoh is something that really puzzled me.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Haha ya. Where r u from?

[@rahulmaron]

@@TheKrazyKoala Philippines. School teaches American English.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@rahulmaron oh haha hope u hv a good time in SG!

[@rahulmaron]

Thanks. Yea I really do enjoy the uniquely Singapore culture. Singlish, queuing, hawker, etc. You gotta embrace all to enjoy your stay. Hope you have good time too!

[@samkelinci5674]

Nice girl and welcome to Singapore...👍👍👍

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Thank you for subscribing to my channel! 😃

[@Time4Peace]

This episode is funny leh. Interesting lah. You are American meh? You sound Singaporean hor.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Haha cool. Thanks. Don’t forget to subscribe for more videos ha

[@woonfaseng8737]

please note that for the 1st minute example taken from a singaporean movie, that is not most singaporeans talk most of the time . unless we are sure the other party or persons are purely 100% locals . that is just a movie that exaggerates how singlish can be used and for fun. most singaporeans only speak a bit of english here and there amongst normal speech so most english speakers need not worry so much

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Oh haha thank you for your elaboration 😂

[@maquiavelo7157]

Can can ? Yes, Also can ☺️🤣 Also, It called my attenntion the ways they ask for "kopi" at any Hawker Center. It's s a whole science all the terms they use.

[@Michaelmaggimee]

Subscribed!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

haha thank you! hope to see you again on other videos! happy sunday!

[@Michaelmaggimee]

Thanks. Hope can converse in Singlish with u soon

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@Michaelmaggimee 😁😁✌️✌️✌️

[@chrislee4229]

U are so cute in describing the Singlish. A tip, for the word ‘meh’. It is equivalent to ?. Meh=?

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Oh thank you Chris 🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️ an audience says meh is the Chinese word with characters of “mouth” and “sheep”.

[@neutraluser4019]

Gone are the days in 60s and 70s with so many friends and classmates from different race and dialect groups, you would tend to learn from each other to make our conversations more personal like our own language so call Singlish. Nowadays, the new generation can hardly speak their own dialect or mother tongue.😔

[@TheKrazyKoala]

awwww... nostalgic feeling. but i still feel young generation still speak these suffix daily

[@neutraluser4019]

@@TheKrazyKoala ok lah but if not government and schools banned dialects, believe Singlish would be more widely used ☺

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@neutraluser4019 what??? Govt banned dialect???

[@neutraluser4019]

@@TheKrazyKoala ok maybe banned is incorrect. It was restricted and only allow on cases to case basis. Films on tv and movies are Mandarin to encourage speak Mandarin campaign in late 70s. So you would not find HK films in Cantonese or Taiwan films in Hokkien aired in Singapore, all dubbed in Mandarin.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@neutraluser4019 ahhh I was not born yet 😂

[@user-eh6hb9mz4g]

Awesome info👍🌹lah is politeness word. Bhutanese n Tibetan also use la. But Ladakhi people use ley rather than lah or la. All the best from Ladakh the moon land🌖💕

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Oh really? Thanks for teaching me something new too! I definitely hear a lot of Lah from Bhutanese. I thought they learned their English from Singapore 😂

[@user-eh6hb9mz4g]

@@TheKrazyKoala lah. Johnson la. Chris la. Normally use la/lah after name n sentences. La/lah use also for yes La la means yes yes in Tibetan or Bhutanese 😊

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@user-eh6hb9mz4g oh oh. so i can use la in every single sentences? can be used in a question too?

[@user-eh6hb9mz4g]

@@TheKrazyKoala In Bhutanese yes La👍Sometimes also it use for question in Bhutan. When Bhutanese people talk each other even in English they use la. Suppose : What's your name la? But first time I'm hearing from you that Singaporeans too use lah. Thank you la(Bhutanese ) 🙏🙏🙏💕

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@user-eh6hb9mz4g oh 😇😇😇🙏🙏thank you for your example. Singaporean audience just told me they don’t say “thank you la”. They say thank you 😂

[@exas4791]

Seems to me like evolution of the English language in a multi-cultural society where non-native speakers of English assimilate (or corrupt ?) the language with their mother tongues operating in their brains. E.g. "Can can" comes from Chinese 可以可以. Creolisation.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Oh that sounds more intuitive 😂 yes yes like Rojak 😇😇😇 I love it. It’s pretty nice to learn. Thanks for subscribing to my channel !

[@shawnc8704]

I suppose its from the cantonese language, Lah 啦, Loh 咯, Leh 呢, Meh 咩 and there's more like Woh 喎, Mah 嗎, Ah 呀. You will hear it alot in Hong Kong as well.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh yes you are correct. but i don't hear HK people say these words in english tho

[@shawnc8704]

@@TheKrazyKoalayeah that's true haha

[@modhua4497]

Not surprised you are not used to Singlish. In America, can and can’t sound 99% the same. I was having hard time during my first few years in America but gradually get used to it. If you mingle with more local Singapore people you will gradually get used to it. Good luck!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh haha that's right. now i sometimes speak singlish LOL

[@jaames]

Can and can't is pretty easy to differentiate, because of context. You will NEVER hear the word can and can't used on its own as a single answer to a question, unlike in SG where they're used as a binary answer to close-ended questions (answerable by a yes or a no). The typical answer in the US would be: Yes, you can. No, you can't. Of course, you can. But 99.99% of the time, the answer is just a simple yes or no.

[@modhua4497]

@@jaames depends on which state, some states use only Y or N

[@jaames]

@@modhua4497 which states answer Y or N? Isn’t answering “y” to a question extremely confusing due to sounding the same as ‘why’?

[@BHUTAN_1616]

Every episode you looks much younger and pretty 😍 🙏🙏🙏

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Wow. You are so nice to me 🥰🥰🥰

[@BHUTAN_1616]

@@TheKrazyKoala it’s my pleasure 🤣🙏✌️

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@BHUTAN_1616 😍😍😍

[@ptan4120]

I don't think 'lah' is from Chinese lingo but more so from the Malay lingo. You got it right - 'lah' is for 'affirmation' and 'exclamation'. In Malaysia or Indonesia, its not 'lah' but 'rah' for them . 'Meh' is like 'really?'. Ah is more instructive - more like parent to child relationship with example like 'eat your food ah' - instructive and emphasis. 'Lor' is from the Cantonese lingo. 'It is what it is' is spot on. Great video!

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hi Thank you for your comments. especially the comment on "ah" as instructive, which is something new to me! welcome to my channel. do check out my other videos too. hope you see you again! happy CNY!

[@ptan4120]

@@TheKrazyKoala Happy Chinese New Year to you too and stay safe during this Covid period!

[@ilink06]

Well done.. u earn my subscribe.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hahah thank you for your endorsement

[@kakashi1982]

First time I see non-singaporean explain lah, lor, meh, ah almost perfectly. Just the tone of them can be better to sound authentic.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh haha thank you!! that's very encouraging to me. Don’t forget to subscribe (if you haven’t) and check out my other Singapore videos too.

[@papabear3784]

Lor, meh and lah are Cantonese contributions to Singlish. They are the original vocal emojis.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hello Papa bear. You have a cute name 😊 thanks for watching. Welcome to subscribe to my channel for more similar contents

[@johnnyhs_ngnng5554]

Papa Bear is not your real name so how do you expect your fellow commentators to reply a Bear, which is an animal.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@johnnyhs_ngnng5554 hahahha 😂

[@johnnyhs_ngnng5554]

@@TheKrazyKoala hello Koala, he who laugh first, laugh last. Ha ha ha.

[@fazidaha]

Don't worry lah, you'll get use to it

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hahaha yes yes. Thanks! Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel if you haven’t 😁

[@notenufftoys]

Not that we don't say can't say can't and must use cannot. We pronounce can't differently as in US and UK english kind of "can't".

[@TheKrazyKoala]

😁😁👍👍 very unique. Now I also say cannot 😜 hope to see u come back for more videos 🇸🇬

[@foxtwo]

Somehow my comment thread went missing, but I could see your question - Answer - Yes I do use the suffixes, but only with locals. Knowing that you're a foreigner, I'd be speaking standard English to you, and being raised on a steady diet of American TV from the 80s to now, I can easily understand you, even understand some of your sayings, local lingo (applicable to the US but not here) etc.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh that's weird that it went missing. I didn't delete 😂 maybe some bugs on YT. Cool. I'm interested in learning more. Maybe should increase my vocabulary on malay first. I don't know many malay words.

[@deepone5005]

Mine has gone missing too.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@deepone5005 oh wow. What happened with KZbin

[@deepone5005]

@@TheKrazyKoala probably gone krazy.

[@deepone5005]

@@TheKrazyKoala Cos I dont think I sounded so extreme as to warrant a deletion here ,unlike in some other posts elsewhere where my fierce patriotism was too much for Utube to digest. I m pretty sure.

[@mouselim72]

You're so funny! :))

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Haha thank you. I made a few comedies. Feel free to check them. kzbin.info/aero/PLY2Aid4xBze2Hr2qbL9ig_edoFSH9sSsl

[@SuccessforLifester]

You are so funny lah, 🐨

[@TheKrazyKoala]

hahaha 🤣 😹 😂

[@ByronAgain]

HA HA! Yes! 'can' and 'can can' or 'cannot'...And the use of very old, weird military terms like 'retrenchment' and 'thrice' - there are a lot more. I find them charming, if not a little baffling. More confusing for me is that in Nepal 'lah' is 'yes' and 'lah-lah-lah' (said quickly) is basically 'no' whereas 'lah' alone or 'lah (pause) lah' means 'yes'. Singlish is a distinct dialect that's almost not English. I might end up missing the little oddities when I'm back in Canada.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Oh wow. That Nepal insight is interesting! Good to know!

[@heimao6681]

From your narration, I just guess that you have some Cantonese connection, so the fastest way for you to "participate " in singlish is to "Direct" translate how you would speak in Cantonese. Like 我走先 = I go first...etc. Welcome to Singapore...lol

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hahaha 🤣 thank you. Welcome to my channel.

[@Elrossss]

As a native Singlish speaker, I do have to make some small corrections/tweaks. For eg. "I don't like this shirt. Do you think it's nice meh?" Should be: "I don't like this shirt, nice meh?" Or: "This shirt nice meh, I don't like." Even if you say "Do you think it's nice meh?" in my opinion it should go "You think it's nice meh?". Not sure entirely why but I think it's because it echoes the sentence structure of the equivalent Mandarin phrase: 你觉得这件衣服好看 ？(meh?) Thanks for making this video!

[@Elrossss]

Come to think of it, meh is actually literally Cantonese and the sentence can be directly translated to cantonese from Singlish ... In fact there is a written word for "meh", which is 咩. Like "唔係咩"？ would be "not correct meh?".

[@TheKrazyKoala]

oh thank you for contributing your thoughts. that's very educational! i should learn more from you:))))

[@TheJazzMatt]

I actually understood everything without thinking...

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Wow. How can u do that? Did u grow up with singlish?

[@TheJazzMatt]

@@TheKrazyKoala Malaysian :)

[@TheKrazyKoala]

@@TheJazzMatt oh 🇲🇾 hello 👋 nice to meet you. Thank you for subscribing to my channel 😁

[@stephenshw2262]

Can't is an antonym of cannot anyway. Singlish is a combination of pidgin, patois and accent so it has its own very fixed set of rules to use.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

🤗happy CNY 😬

[@kameiwilson12345]

Watching far away from northeast India...... Your English is so good 👍👍...... Singapore English is so funny LoL 😆😆😂😂

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Glad that you enjoy. Do share my video with others in India too

[@gordonkon7523]

You are really good at Singlish liaw! I truly mean it! Keep it up. In Rome, do what the Romans do lor! 👍👍👍

[@TheKrazyKoala]

😁😁❤️

[@stevey7059]

Just out of curiosity, do you always talk this formal with your American friends as I find you speak with very proper words and grammar, probably due to your high education background. I have Amercan friends in my university whether they're Caucasian, Asian, blacks, they all talk like drunkies except when doing presentations in the class.

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hi Steve. i always have wrong grammar haha 😂 but i just don't know how to speak the Singapore way lol

[@ggc7318]

Ha ha..very funny post "lah" 😄

[@TheKrazyKoala]

😂😂😂 your application of Lah is very good

[@ken2633]

Like that can meh... Like that also can lah... Double confirm

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Hello Ken. happy Saturday 😊😊 can can

[@PosPsycho88]

Wah....not bad hor....you did your best liao. Love the way u break it down and explained each of the local exclamation expression lor....well done har Hope you got it 🤭🤭

[@TheKrazyKoala]

Lol

[@Liz-ux8be]

Which bank were you working for ? Now that you are staying in Singapore, so you are working in Singapore now ?