Chairman of the Speak Good English movement Professor Koh Tai Ann argued that instead of making Singlish our national language, we can claim ownership to Singapore Standard English. In the ST interactive poll, only 18% said they prefer to speak standard English with 81% indicated they prefer Singlish. I for once go for Singlish. What's your take ?

lame la , y can’t singapore have its own ver. of language . why so lame must follow western style nia

Zhang Ziyi said "Why must I learn English, why can't they learn Chinese?"

But for Sg, I think it's important we learn good standard English. Until we are = US, then we make them learn Singlish.

theres no way they can make every1 speak standard english, unless mother tongue and dialects are entirely banned.

if you mean languages like japanese, korean then it's nice.
if you mean dialects like canto in Hongkong and hokkien in taiwan
then i wouldn't want it... sounds so old...

we have our own very language but we preferred english over it.
National Language of Singapore: Malay

Do know that the efficiency and proficiency of a language takes eons, thousands of years to perfect to what it is today. A new language is no longer viable. Language and communication efficiency leads to faster development of a country. Like Japan, Amercia, China followed by India and so on.

Do realise that there are some words/phrases that cannot be described by using another language or dialect.
I would rather not have singlish for our country. would rather our country reach first world status asap.

Originally posted by airgrinder:

Zhang Ziyi said "Why must I learn English, why can't they learn Chinese?"

But for Sg, I think it's important we learn good standard English. Until we are = US, then we make them learn Singlish.

If every country insists everyone learn their national language we might have to master 49 languages before age 18

Well, I do admit that I don’t take too easily to Singlish. It’s a unique way of speaking. Sinagporeans should learn standard English to be able to communicate on the same level as foreigners.

the world takes after the language of the most developed country.
That show the efficiency and proficiency of the language.
English in this way.

If the china wars didn't prolong that long and they focused more on development of the country. The world might be speaking Chinese now.

listen to this Singlish song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvjt9uvWf10

yeah, elites can bugger off.....

i communicate in whichever language the other party can understand.

Outside Asia, there’s a mix of a country’s language with English too. So we’re probably not the only country with __glish.

To hell with Singlish.

Every Singaporean should:
Speak English like an Englishman.
Speak Mandarin like a Beijing native.
Speak Malay like a Malaysian.
Speak Tamil like an Indian national.

No one cares about Singapore's 'unique' culture. It's simply too small to have any appreciable effect on the world.
Give it up and learn to speak PROPERLY.

Originally posted by ORIGAMIST:

Chairman of the Speak Good English movement Professor Koh Tai Ann argued that instead of making Singlish our national language, we can claim ownership to Singapore Standard English. In the ST interactive poll, only 18% said they prefer to speak standard English with 81% indicated they prefer Singlish. I for once go for Singlish. What's your take ?

so did he define what is Singapore Standard English? Please ask him to give us crap.

Originally posted by qlqq9:

so did he define what is Singapore Standard English? Please ask him to give us crap.

oops, correction - please ask him not to give up crap!! Nothing better to do is it!!

why should we give up our national language? Singlish is something that truly

belongs to us. its our identity its how we recognize other Singaporeans

overseas. Dont people feel as sense of closeness when speaking singlish?

When intracting with foreigners we should speak standard english but when

we speak with fellow singaporeans i feel we should stick to singlish. At least

thats how i feel.

So DONT phase out singlish!

all these speak mandarin, speak english champaigns are useless.

the hongkongers and taiwanese dont speak english but their economies are even better than us.

l like singlish

Originally posted by helIomotosxq:

l like singlish

you are lying..
you like chinese !!!

just now i saw "user log in"... and i knew... another clone

Originally posted by helIomotosxq:

l like singlish

u r back!

why all that debate about english vs singlish?
in the end, no1 will care.
those who speak english continue to do so.
those who speak singlish also continue to speak singlish.

Originally posted by qlqq9:

so did he define what is Singapore Standard English? Please ask him to give us crap.

July 24, 2007
Speak Good English to score with youths
MARKING its seventh year with good music, organisers of the Speak Good English Movement or SGEM is focused on the 'language of the heart'.
Promising a new theme and graphic, organisers hope to encourage Singaporeans to express their feelings in good English, naturally.

Chairman of the movement, Professor Koh Tai Ann, elaborated the importance of speaking standard English from young, and making it part of a lifestyle.

'Attitudes and good speech habits tend to be acquired at this age, and significantly, from among them will come the teachers, parents and workers of tomorrow.

Launching their initiatives at Timbre on Tuesday, the organisers roped in Singapore artistes as activitists of the campaign.

One of them is Shirlyn Tan, who said she would like to show people how speaking good English can help her compose poetic lyrics for her songs.

Home > ST Forum > Online Story
Aug 2, 2007
China students who run down Singlish and Singaporeans

ON MONDAY, I witnessed first-hand some foreign China scholars, who are studying in our top JC, having a field day criticising Singlish (which, based on their conversation, appears to be believed by them as 'the standard Singapore English').
They also mimicked and made fun of how heartland Singaporeans order their 'kopi si' and 'char kuay teow', et cetera, and were having a most enjoyable time making fun of Singaporean culture and Singlish.

They tried to camouflage their intentions by making fun of 'Ah Bian' (which I believe refers to Taiwan's famous 'Ah Bian') for a while when they realised that I could hear what they were saying about Singapore and Singaporeans, before returning to making fun of and criticising Singapore again.

Obviously, this group of foreign students are here to take advantage of Singapore's fine education system. Otherwise, why come here when they sing praises of British and American English (I do not doubt the superiority of British English as Singapore's standard of English is based on it since colonial days).

I would expect such scholars to have at least the decency not to run down and make fun of their host country's culture.

I hope that they represent only a minority of the foreign talent that we are trying to include in our population.

Low Ah Lin (Mdm)

Speak in the way as long as the other party can comprehend your words can liao luh.