Singlish Is A Language For Our Future, Lah! | Gwee Li Sui | TEDxSingapore

Gwee Li Sui puts up an argument for Singlish, a colloquial version of English in Singapore.
Gwee Li Sui's demeanour belies his expertise across multiple fields. A literary critic, a poet, and a graphic artist, he wrote Singapore's first full-length comic-book novel, and published a volume of humorous verse, Who Wants to Buy a Book of Poems? A staunchly independent voice on a wide range of cultural topics, he entertains and rivets with his Facebook posts and tweets.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@yangchuyou2356]

It's self-contradicting how people are like 'We need to strengthen our national identity' yet they aren't proud of the usage of Singlish or Singaporean accents.

[@jovantivity8820]

Ikr im singaporean and it's so annoying when Teachers scold us for using Singlish

[@mt1235]

+JovanTivity LOL You have made five errors in spelling and punctuation, my good man.

[@yangchuyou2356]

mt1235 It's all right, he isn't taking an English exam now

[@mt1235]

+Megu X LOL You made two errors in punctuation, dude. Btw, correct English isn't just for examinations. Just saying. ✌️

[@yangchuyou2356]

mt1235 By the way* jkjk There is no error, if you are referring to 'It's all right' it is 'It's'. It's is short for it is or it has and if you wanna put that fullstop at the end. JovanTivity isn't wrong too, there is no rule that short forms can't be used on the internet, similar to your 'btw' neither is 'It's so annoying' cause 'its' is used for a neuter possessor. For 'Teachers scold' she/he's also correct, cause 'teachers' is plural and the following should be 'scold'. If you say we are wrong, do tell us where, so we can acknowledge it if you want that correct English.

[@ckh74]

Dr Kandiah will be delighted to hear this. :)

[@waynetan152]

stop at 3 min. clear your throat lar

[@florleano3217]

Lol 😂😂

[@kutacrusader6565]

i cleared my throat multiple times listening to that thick gooey gurgle

[@TET2005]

Kaaaa Puiiii.... throat cleared.

[@mikusov2]

It's fine to use Singlish if you're communicating with the locals and/or maybe foreigners who are familiar with it. However, let us not forget to use proper English when communicating with foreigners that do not know it and in formal occasions. Just know when to use these two versions of the English language.

[@michaelmallal9101]

Singlish is probably ideal for the multicultural kampong that is Singapore.

[@ukiakicha3880]

I’m indonesian and i use singlish very often

[@Elfaia]

While I think Singlish is just bad English, the sole purpose of language is communication and Singlish does that perfectly in Singapore.

[@wacky1nash]

It alienates the expats though. We can’t participate in a Singlish conversation. Communication breaks down there.

[@lcceee]

Well we use singlish as a comfortable way to speaking to locals or friends.

[@marahan.guzman]

Singlish creates a common Singaporean identity

[@RonLarhz]

Nabeela Shaikh Lmao. You chose to go other country so u have to learn to intergrate.not the other way round. Fking hate this kind. Better fk off if u dun like. Come earn our money but mouth so stinky.

[@lcceee]

RonLarhz its only a how locals speak i dont want this to be called a language as i just want it to be a way on how sigaporeans speak.

[@TaeyeonAndSunny]

when singaporean chinese look to the west and cant relate due to different culture n race and when they look at the east, they despise the eastern culture even doe they r related to them. So use singlish as a means to make yourself feel significant and try to establish an identity and cultural community.

[@empoweryourlifeatstepintop1413]

Love that our Singlish is given it's due recognition!

[@medved7153]

Kris Ang its broken English

[@k9woof219]

Kris Ang I

[@mt1235]

It’s a pidgin language.

[@nsyou76]

Just ignore the others of course singlish is a part of our identity

[@dingus42]

@@medved7153 tell me you're uneducated without telling me you're uneducated...

[@frankesingapore1239]

We love Singlish - the soul of Singapore!

[@Occam1000]

Celebrating the richness of pidgin or a unique brew thats an admixture of local languages is different from substituting such locally derived speech forms into mainstream use of another language. Particularly one that's a truly global language. Any dynamic and growing language will absorb influences. English certainly borrows from all the countries it is used in but the assimilation happens over time and enriches the vocabulary of English speakers , not just in one isolated location but worldwide. Subverting that logic to giving legitimacy to a local variant made up of a brew of languages will only handicap Singaporeans. Well educated Singaporeans are able to work in any part of the world where the english language is the primary form of communication. But a focus on Singlish would definitely be a huge handicap for Singaporeans particularly those who can not or do not pursue higher education. The increased use of Singlish by those whose grasp of English is tenuous to begin with would make it difficult for Singaporean companies who by default have to interact with the world to find enough people who can do so competently and comfortably. Singapore is one of the very very few nations in S.E Asia and Far East that can leverage and use its comfort and skill with the English language. It's a far greater advantage than most Singaporeans realise and is a key plank in Singapores competitive advantage. Singaporeans should enjoy Singlish as a side dish but refrain from making that their main course. If this speaker had chosen to make his entire speech in Singlish how many people would have understood anything of what he was saying ? Only those in Singapore.

[@gleeny]

Occam1000 the thing is that most singaporeans know the difference between english and singlish and we know how and when to use english. sure some may not know when to speak singlish and english but is that really a basis to say that all the rest cant be able to do so? will you forsake your culture for advancement? i think not. i would say majority of singaporeans know how to converse both languages well enough to be able to code switch between them. so i dont think it should be shoved aside as just a side dish but more of a main dish together with english

[@suivzmoi]

cool story bro

[@thepriceofsalt9003]

@@gleeny it just gets a bit much when singaporeans bash each other for their preference to speak standard english rather than singlish, though they still consider themselves singaporeans and have pride in the fact that we are multi-cultural. singlish is not bad. it's just that, if people cannot code switch or express themselves in professional environments with fluent and understandable english, then it's a shame. the same goes with the chinese language for the ethnically chinese. and it's nice that singlish has stuck around for so long, but as a young singaporean chinese, i'm a bit peeved that many of my peers cannot/don't want to speak regional chinese languages (hokkien, teochew, hakka, cantonese), much less standard chinese. when i hear my peers of other ethnicities speak in their own languages, i wish i could do the same with confidence and not feel like a stranger to my own tongue.

[@fizziz_1035]

That's just how languages work. They grow, die, and break apart, subglish is just part of this natural process

[@void3381]

I don't know. The government seems quite supportive of it to me. They recognised it as part of our culture.

[@huangnation4980]

So many intelligent comments, just enjoy the talk lah... solid man the presentation.. not liquid ah but solid. Think so hard for what..you with your friend speak Singlish you work got different cultures then you use English lor. So ez

[@kateaye3506]

I adore Singlish. It makes Singapore seem so much more relatable and friendly. One of the best things about Singapore. Without it, Singapore is bland, boring, nondescript and sterile.

[@eded9792]

Take a paradigm shift, Singlish is not 'English' (else people slams it as poor English) but Singapore Dialect. I speak Singlish besides other languages, and I can share that Singlish uses Syntax of Chinese (go where, eat what), vocabularies of our multi-languages (English, Chinese, dialect hokkien, Malay, Tamil) and communicate in the language medium (English, Chinese, Malay, etc) ... as besides in English form (as Phia Chu Kang), Singlish is also spoken in Chinese (Jack Neo, Mark Lee style) and Malay.

[@Robdotfer07]

Why are the comments all in English not Singlish?

[@CoconutsWithDrag]

This gundu voice crack soooo much leh walao

[@Qladstone]

Speaking Singlish makes me feel like I'm being forced to return to pre-school days when my language capabilities were not sufficiently developed and I had only to rely on short blurts and awkwardly constructed phrases.

[@Nisalz]

Okay.

[@minty_ly]

Yay

[@imteacherwendy929]

This is an excellent piece. While I support Singlish, I think the bigger problem we have is that most Singaporeans misunderstood our command of Singlish for good English.

[@RonLarhz]

Wendy Kek Uh simi si "good english". U effing papies propaganda huh?. There is only proper/right/correct to discribe language.

[@michaelmallal9101]

The Portuguese contribution in Straits Colony Malacca is unrecognized in Singlish la.

[@limyongjun6826]

uh youre using 'la' in the wrong context

[@philomelodia]

I am not from Singapore. So, sorry if I sound clueless. Question for you is when did he start speaking singlish? I noticed that his accent thickened a little bit and use a few more regionalisms than before but it was still English. Is singlish the name for the regional variant of English of Singapore? I would hardly call that another language though. It's not as different from standard English as say for instance Tok Pissin from New Guinea. I heard someone speak it once and I was absolutely lost.

[@Labr4tOfficial]

He didn't go full-on Singlish. He just started using a bit of local slang and thickened his accent. That is just accent, mind you. Tok Pissin is a Creole Language. It is a Language in itself that evolved from Local languages mixed with English. Now, what Singlish is, is a Pidgin. A pidgin is not an official Language in itself and there are no native speakers of pidgin. An example of another pidgin is the one spoken in west africa, an example sentence being "Dem dey go for go it res" -- "They are going there to eat rice". In Singlish, it would be like "dey go der it rice", "they go there makan rice" or "they go there eat nasi". It can vary from being close to English or very far, but most foreigners really cant understand us.

[@edukid1984]

Singlish is what you'd call pidgin English native to Singapore, and it's very similar to Manglish (its pidgin counterpart in Malaysia). More importantly, since only Standard (British) English is taught in our schools and acceptable for formal & business/professional use, what has happened is that many people fall on a SPECTRUM of ability to code-switch between, on one end, Standard English and full-on local pidgin English on the other.

[@paranoidrodent]

@@Labr4tOfficial The evolution of a creole language is preceded by the creation of a pidgin. The pidgin evolves as a second language, often for trade (but sometimes to allow an invading power and their conquered subjects to communicate), bridging a gap between very different languages using a very simplified mix of two or more languages. Once you get a native population who starts growing up learning the pidgin and using it as a native language, they quickly find it lacks the sophistication needed for complex communication and the stripped down pidgin starts rebuilding in complexity so it can serve the needs of the native-level speakers, becoming a creole. Basically, a pidgin is a simplified mashup meant to bridge between languages and a creole is a latter evolution of that mashup where it regains complexity to be a full language in itself I'm not familiar enough with Singlish to say whether it is a mere pidgin or whether it is on its way to evolving into a proper creole. It does appear to be something different from a mere dialect of English.

[@dingus42]

@@paranoidrodent Singlish is by definition a full proper creole language, since it has been nativized by children generations as a native language (a pidgin is by definition non-natively learned, but just used to bridge communication gaps).

[@marsbars4767]

Could benefit the military a lot when giving orders or communicating during war

[@jonathantio7531]

Oi that side lah

[@Zaidini]

go Gwee!

[@geoprodigyx]

lololol

[@leornendeealdenglisc]

One, two, three does not come from Modern High German Einz, Zwei, Drei. One comes from Old English Ān, Two from Twā, Three from þrēo

[@TheMichaelK]

Exactly, they just come both from "common" West Germanic 😄

[@macnewman2588]

the colloquial national language of sg

[@jinig4833]

Ok I sympathize with the fact that people need to have their own culture and with it their own language with which they can identify with, all fine and good. The problem with Singlish though, is that its linguistic structure is too simplistic to be able to have a non-akward conversation with a standard English speaker. Instead of saying a standard English sentence like, "I think this is a marvelous way to start the day", the Singlish speaking Singaporean would say something like (it's only an example)= "me tink that it a *insert chinese word here* day start, lah". First of all, if the goal for Singaporeans is learning English for international communication, then it won't help them if their language contains chinese words, because the standard English speaking person (especially when the Singaporean travels to another country, or for an international business meeting) won't even have a clue where to start. And all these endings such as leh, lah, might be seriously misunderstood from the standard English speaker's perspective as an "incompetent way of speaking". I mean, if Singlish is all that the Singaporeans will learn in the future, how will they be able to talk with the rest of the world through an extremely simplified and chinese-mixed language? They will only isolate themselves from the rest of the world that way... I suppose as long as they are able to speak both Singlish AND Standard English (and if they are able to switch between both of them easily), then I see no problem. However, more and more Singaporeans unfortunately are unable to speak Standard English which will cause problems for them in the future...

[@u0201874]

Jinigosoti Game-Clips "I think this is a marvellous way to start the day" = "hm. Not bad." think of Singlish as a language made up of memes. Memes work cos the group has a common understanding that words/phrases/images have more than just denotative meaning, it's got connotative meaning too. Thing about memes is that they are spoken by people within the community, with a shared common experience, who will then unpack the meme the way the "speaker" intends it to be interpreted. Do memes isolate internet-users from the rest of the world?

[@jinig4833]

I suppose within the internet/social sphere, memes are a good way to communicate. But outside of that, not really. And are you saying that Singlish is a meme-language, because I'm not sure the Singaporeans would be too happy about that xD ^^.

[@iMarc89]

Jinigosoti Game-Clips So language should necessarily be complex and unambiguous? Try telling that to an English speaker. Standard English is full of ambiguity. Also, I am an English speaker from Scotland. We have dozens of words, phrases and idioms which do not appear in standard English. Some people here don't have the ability to speak standard English and it doesn't harm them. If someone only speaks Singlish and doesn't need to leave Singapore, why does it matter if they speak standard English or not? If they plan to be involved in a global business, then they will learn standard English, and they will do so with ease because standard English is actually just a more ordered and less syntactical Singlish. Also, if you want to be pedantic (and I do), mocking Singlish as a Creole is hilarious because English itself is basically a Creole: a standardised and widely accepted Creole, but a Creole nonetheless. The basis of the language is old English of Germanic origin, but just as Singlish incorporates words from Hokkien and Mandarin, Middle English incorporated words from French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and German. And before that, old English incorporated words and grammatical concepts from Saxon, Latin, Greek and Celtic languages. So why should it stop there? Singlish is unintelligible to me, just as Scots would be unintelligible to you. Don't dismiss something new just because you don't like it.

[@jinig4833]

+iMarc89 That's not what I was saying. I don't hate Singlish. And I certainly don't hate Singlish on the sole basis that they borrow Chinese words. I was talking in the context of mutual intelligibility in the wider context, not that it's a bad idea to incorporate words from different languages. Listen, the situation in Singapore is the following: Chinese Singaporeans (for example, as opposed to Indian or British Singaporeans) learn English and Mandarin at school PLUS they learn Cantonese at home. As a result of this, they get confused (which is understandable cause which government in their right mind would think it's a good idea to confuse the children with too many languages at once). Singlish is simply a result of that confusion, it's basically a mixture of Mandarin, and English, and some other mother tongue (if the Singaporean is of some other ethnicity too). Now, Indian Singaporeans would go to a totally different school where they would learn Hindi and English PLUS speak Tamil with their parents at home. And thus, the problem is this: *Many Singaporeans cannot very often speak neither fluent standard English NOR fluent Chinese/Indian dialects*. That's right. You'd think that since Chinese Singaporeans incorporate many words from Chinese and mix them with English that they would feel that their Chinese is more superior to their knowledge of English, right? Wrong. They are overloaded with 3 or more languages at once, very often individuals won't know which language will be their dominant one. That is an extremely terrible scenario. And Singlish is basically a result of that confusion. Why should we say that Singlish is a necessarily particularly fantastic idea, when in fact that is the very opposite of what the original plan was, to open up Singaporeans for global communication, not make them even more confused. As far as Scotland is concerned, I don't think it's a good comparison. Scotland does not really have a multilingual school system (unless you're in a Gaelic speaking region). Scots (even though like you said their English might be poor) don't seem to have any trouble in communicating with outsiders. Singaporeans do. They confuse languages together. That's the point.

[@mt1235]

iMarc89 Och aye the noo! It's a braw bright moonlit night tonight. (Pure Scots, as taught by my secondary school English teacher. He's Irish, not Scottish.)

[@michaelmallal9101]

OMG, Hokkien is not an official Singapore language.

[@akramsd1658]

Good luck

[@Labr4tOfficial]

"Singlish" is just a Southeast Asian - English Pidgin, no different from the English pidgin of West Africa. Foreigners can barely understand us as much as we understand them. Especially if we are speaking to people from a non-native English speaking country, like say Japan. People could barely understand me even when I use correct grammar syntax and vocabulary, just because my articulation/pronunciation of words is different from standard English. I used to be for Singlish, but living in that country has contributed to my shift in opinion with regards to that. Now I understand why Lee Kuan Yew regretted the Bilingual policy and why our government discourages it.

[@davenn7597]

SHOW DIS TO DA GOVERMENT

[@yeahbronah6319]

Ikr

[@CoolGirl007]

Singlish is not the funniest one , I once heard this " here view same same my house ...view same same " from a foreign worker

[@bowlampar]

For your future only. Not our!

[@michaelmallal9101]

Singlish lacks French and Spanish words. Maybe needs more Hindi, Punjabi and Bengali?

[@mangosteenlah6239]

Erm no? It does not.

[@qwerty6789x]

Its like Engrish of Japan. No need to slam it. but for pete's sake speak proper english specially on business.

[@bpm78]

Well they have no choice, bo bian lah 😂 See they ain’t have no culture, no language. They are mixed fried rice with Chinese, Indian, Malay with side dishes from Indonesia and Philippines. So without a language of origin like Japanese, Chinese or Bahasa etc. they have no choice but to come up with one. Well they try hard on English actually but still can’t. So make sense they start speaking a new one and name it.

[@Loshram]

manglish singlish same same only la. lol

[@agapebiz-media9672]

Singlish For Singapore - Singlish Go Global!

[@haroldbradford690]

firstly, singlish is not new - it comes from Malaysian English. why do you think they speak so similarly... Malaysians didn't copy singlish... secondly, if you look at only simple sentences there is no issue with singlish. it is a creole dialect like many others - great. however people who speak singlish can only speak with very simple sentence structures and limited vocabulary. that is extremely limiting to how Singaporeans communicate and often leads to misunderstanding in my experience because Singaporeans don't have the proper linguistic tools to express the subtleties of meaning that exist in all real languages (I. e. Not creole)

[@Rolando_Cueva]

Singlish is evolving tho, so maybe it will in the future.

[@rickyzmkuo]

Frankly in my 13 years spent in Singapore, I have always deliberately avoided picking up Singlish simply because I am afraid that it will make my sentence structures so broken that once it becomes a habit I won't be able to properly use any of my languages like a native speaker at all. The problem with Singlish is never about the accent or the special words adopted from Malay or Hokkien, it's rather the laziness of putting your sentences in a incomplete and imprecise manner that compromises the clarity for communication.

[@judy6520]

rickyzmkuo If you’re an English speaker, I see no problem if you were to pick up some Singlish here and there. I’m a Singaporean and I use proper English in terms of report as well as speaking to foreigners. However, if you’re not, I understand your concern. Like any dialect, Singlish is a dialect of Singapore that makes the country unique.

[@bowlampar]

Singlish is your future, no kidding, you must BE a ' rojak' people. haHA...

[@caljanice3524]

Singlish is simply broken English???

[@dingus42]

um no it's by definition not?

[@mt1235]

This is cringeworthy.

[@Qladstone]

Collective cultural amnesia it is. Singlish is a compromise for the days when we were a third world country and our native languages were being suppressed in favour of formal official languages. When the building is finished, remove the scaffolding. There is no point hanging on to this hideous amalgamation. Perhaps spend more effort on mastering the formal official languages and the native languages we were made to abandon?

[@keefzcobra4616]

It's an embarrassment !

[@akeconomou]

Mr Gwee, please get some facts right before doing a public spreach. One Two Three doesn't come from the German Eins Zwei Drei. It comes from the Greek Ένα Δύο Τρία (Ena Thio Tria), as all the other numbers come from.

[@DARIO4Cq]

Well, that's not right either. Greek, English, German (as well as spanish, hindi, persian and many others) come from indo-european. Latin and greek are not the parents of all european languages.

[@davenn7597]

Nerd alert

[@philomelodia]

Andre Economou oh ... the irony! You poor deluded, misinformed man. English comes from western Proto-Germanic by way of the languages of the saxons, Angles and Jutes. germanic languages are not closely enough to Greek for the number system to originate with it. The Greek derived words you do find an English are usually scientific in nature and were borrowed long after English was an actual language. If t germanic languages had been so close to Greek, Herodotus would not have encountered the problems understanding them when he visited that part of Europe. Proto germanic, of course, came in turn from original Indo-European The distant similarity that you seem to be ascribing to the numbers in English comes from the fact the Greek also descends from Indo-European.

[@philomelodia]

Just for the record: the numbers 'One, two, three' come from the anglo-Saxon 'an twa threo'.

[@Staygloww]

Singlish is extremely hard to understand. Very strange accent. And not a proper standard of using English.

[@davenn7597]

Are you singaporean if not IT IS MY FURKING LANGUAGE

[@Sone_carat90]

That's why we use it only to communicate among locals.

[@dingus42]

what is your native language if i may ask...?

[@nazgulstew]

who care