Hello, Singaporians^^

465 Views 20 Replies 13 Participants Last post by redstone, Jun 18, 2006

k2

Discussion Starter · May 11, 2006

Hello everybody~~~^^
I am from HK, probably some of u knew me already coz I first came here like one year ago and then disappeared for a long time then appear again and disappeared again....ha...

Anyway, I just dunno why suddenly I become so interested in Singapore, I hv been to there before but u know...when I was small...I couldn't really remember anything...

Quite a few things that I am interested~~~
Do people in Singapore speak 4 languages???
If Chinese is the majority in Singland, how come English is more important than Chinese??
I want to meet some Singland friend here^^

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1 - 20 of 21 Posts

ignoramus

· #2 · May 11, 2006

k2 said:
Hello everybody~~~^^
I am from HK, probably some of u knew me already coz I first came here like one year ago and then disappeared for a long time then appear again and disappeared again....ha...

Anyway, I just dunno why suddenly I become so interested in Singapore, I hv been to there before but u know...when I was small...I couldn't really remember anything...

Quite a few things that I am interested~~~
Do people in Singapore speak 4 languages???
If Chinese is the majority in Singland, how come English is more important than Chinese??
I want to meet some Singland friend here^^

Er welcome back! but Singland sounds really bad.........

Singaporeans generally speak the language of administration (English) and their mother tongue which could either be tamil, malay OR chinese. They do not speak all 4. These are all taught in school since age 6.

English is more important than chinese in a way because everything here is written in english (Subway station signs, maps, forms, documents, publications, rules, basically everything). A second language is available only on some signs, forms etc.

Furthermore, it is a must for students to pass english if they want to go to university (and a good pass) whereas it can't be said the same for chinese, malay or tamil.

Thus, Singaporeans generally speak english better than their mother tongue.

However, the government is trying to reverse this trend a lil' bit.

k2

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 11, 2006

ignoramus said:
Er welcome back! but Singland sounds really bad.........

Singaporeans generally speak the language of administration (English) and their mother tongue which could either be tamil, malay OR chinese. They do not speak all 4. These are all taught in school since age 6.

English is more important than chinese in a way because everything here is written in english (Subway station signs, maps, forms, documents, publications, rules, basically everything). A second language is available only on some signs, forms etc.

Furthermore, it is a must for students to pass english if they want to go to university (and a good pass) whereas it can't be said the same for chinese, malay or tamil.

Thus, Singaporeans generally speak english better than their mother tongue.

However, the government is trying to reverse this trend a lil' bit.

OIC....><
Sorry for saying Singland, coz I am just too lazy to type Singapore...haha

Hmmm...I wish I can come here again becoz it'll be quite funny that all the people speaking English, even aunties...haha

The buildings in Singapore is really awsome...
Wish I can come again><

babystan03

· #4 · May 12, 2006

ignoramus said:
Thus, Singaporeans generally speak english better than their mother tongue.

Looks like I'm the odd one out.....:lol:

ignoramus

· #5 · May 13, 2006

babystan03 said:
Looks like I'm the odd one out.....:lol:

I apologise for generalising...

babystan03

· #6 · May 13, 2006

ignoramus said:
I apologise for generalising...

It's ok....used to it.....:yes:

k2

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 13, 2006

==

Where is my topic??==

eyetoeye

· #8 · May 14, 2006

babystan03 said:
Looks like I'm the odd one out.....:lol:

And i'm a perfect example!

babystan03

· #9 · May 14, 2006

EyeToEye said:
And i'm a perfect example!

:lol:

Cliff

· #10 · May 14, 2006

me too!

ignoramus

· #11 · May 15, 2006

going way off topic! haha. though i don't really know what's the current topic...hehe...

Pengui

· #12 · May 15, 2006

k2 said:
Hmmm...I wish I can come here again becoz it'll be quite funny that all the people speaking English, even aunties...haha

There's not so many aunties who can speak english ^ ^ I think a lot of them only speak Hokkien or some other Chinese dialect. I know 'cause my girlfriend and I often get troubles getting understood both in Mandarin and english ^ ^

RafflesCity

· #13 · May 15, 2006

While Singapore has one of the best standards of English for an Asian country...it is a mistake to assume that all the Chinese here speak English at the expense of Chinese.

Quite the contrary Chinese, especially Mandarin is very widely used here..maybe even more than English. Although English is used for official purposes and the touristy areas of Singapore seem really cosmopolitan.

Many Singaporeans just mix English into Chinese when speaking.

Arvo

· #14 · May 19, 2006

I have to contact my colleagues in Singapore everyday,why they speak Mandarin to each other,while talk to me in English?I oso know Mandarin mah.And how come many of them can actually speak Cantonese,where did they learn it?Do u tink Cantonese is very ah beng?

hyacinthus

· #15 · May 19, 2006

"Ah Beng" is spoken in Hokkien rather than Cantonese.

ignoramus

· #16 · May 20, 2006

Arvo said:
I have to contact my colleagues in Singapore everyday,why they speak Mandarin to each other,while talk to me in English?I oso know Mandarin mah.And how come many of them can actually speak Cantonese,where did they learn it?Do u tink Cantonese is very ah beng?

IMO I find Cantonese to be better sounding that the other dialects. You don't really see people falling in love with Hokkien Pop but rather Canto Pop right?

Dialects are not taught in schools, we basically learn it from our parents.

Arvo

· #17 · May 20, 2006

ignoramus said:
IMO I find Cantonese to be better sounding that the other dialects. You don't really see people falling in love with Hokkien Pop but rather Canto Pop right?

Dialects are not taught in schools, we basically learn it from our parents.

How many young people in Singapore can still speak Hokkien?
Many people in Hong Kong are originally from Teochew,Fujian or Jiangsu in China.Occasionally I can still hear young people speaking Hokkien or Teochew,but only to their grandparents.

Singapor3

· #18 · May 20, 2006

I'm a cantonese,but dosen't really understand it nor speak it,but it does sound better than hokkien.I find hokkien very err,disgusting,or rather,rude,as it's what those ah bengs in singapore use to hurl vulgarities to each other

Kit

· #19 · May 20, 2006

raptorsuperb said:
I'm a cantonese,but dosen't really understand it nor speak it,but it does sound better than hokkien.I find hokkien very err,disgusting,or rather,rude,as it's what those ah bengs in singapore use to hurl vulgarities to each other

Personally, I find those who speak with fake yankee accent more disgusting.

JoSin

· #20 · Jun 8, 2006

Many youngsters in singapore understands it, but we find it hard to speak our dialects. As for me, I a am a hokkien, but I can understand but we find it hard to pronouce as we seldom have a chance to spek to our elders in dialect because they dont encourage us to speak.

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