Situated on the tip of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore is a fascinating island nation with a unique cultural coctail. Originally discovered by the Chinese but used by the British Empire as a strategic ‘halfway house’ in the region, Singapore has attracted migrants from all over Asia and the Middle East.
Singapore’s unique combination of ethnic groups is reflected in the different languages spoken, architecture visible and food eaten. Indulge in the delights of Singapore, whether that’s shopping till you drop on Orchard Road, eating treats in the hawker stalls, or sipping a Singapore Sling in the Raffles hotel.
Languages Spoken in Singapore
Malay may be enshrined in the Constitution as the ‘national’ language, but in practice the most common language is English, spoken by almost every Singaporean under the age of 50 with varying degrees of fluency. In addition, all official signs and documents are written in English, usually using British spelling.
However, the distinctive local patois Singlish may be hard to understand at times, as it incorporates slang words and phrases from other languages, including various Chinese dialects, Malay and Tamil as well as English words whose pronunciation or meaning have been corrupted, and has an odd way of structuring sentences, due to the original speakers being mostly Chinese.
Complex consonant clusters are simplified, articles and plurals disappear, verb tenses are replaced by adverbs, questions are altered to fit the Chinese syntax and semirandom particles (especially the infamous lah) appear:
Singlish: You wan beer or not? — Dunwan leh, drink five botol oreddi.
English: Do you want a beer? — No, thanks; I’ve already had five bottles.
Thanks to nationwide language education campaigns, most younger Singaporeans are, however, capable of speaking so-called Good English when necessary. To avoid unintentional offense, it’s best to start off with standard English and only shift to simplified pidgin if it becomes evident that the other person cannot follow you.
Try to resist the temptation to sprinkle your speech with unnecessary Singlishisms: you’ll get a laugh if you do it right, but it sounds grating and patronizing if you do it wrong. The Coxford Singlish Dictionary (ISBN 9813056509), also available online, is a great resource for decoding Singlish. Wikipedia’s Singlish article goes into obsessive and occasionally impenetrable grammatical detail, but the sections on vocabulary and abbreviations are handy.
Singapore’s other official languages are Mandarin Chinese and Tamil. Mandarin is spoken by most younger Singaporean Chinese while Tamil is spoken by most Indians. Like English, the Mandarin spoken in Singapore has also evolved into a distinctive creole and often incorporates words from other Chinese dialects, Malay and English, though all Singaporean Chinese are taught standard Mandarin in school.
Various Chinese dialects (mostly Hokkien, though significant numbers also speak Teochew and Cantonese) are also spoken between ethnic Chinese of the same dialect group, though their use has been declining in the younger generation since the 1980s due to government policies discouraging the use of dialects in favour of Mandarin. Other Indian languages, such as Punjabi among the Sikhs, are also spoken.
The official Chinese script used in Singapore is the simplified script used in mainland China. As such, all official publications (including local newspapers) and signs are in simplified Chinese and all ethnic Chinese are taught to write the simplified script in school. However, many shop signs and restaurant menus are still in traditional Chinese. This, in addition to the popularity of Hong Kong and Taiwanese pop culture and television serials, means that most Singaporean Chinese are also able to read traditional Chinese even if they cannot write it.
Languages You Can Study in Singapore
European
- German
- French
- Spanish
- Russian
- English
- Turkish
Asian
- Chinese
- Korean
- Cantonese
- Japanese
- Tamil
- Hindi
- Thai
- Malay
- Indonesian
- Javanese
- Burmese
- Filipino
- Vietnamese