El Hombre and I spent the past weekend in Singapore house-hunting and I was introduced to my first prolonged period of hearing Singlish. Even though I've been to Singapore for work before and worked on deals with Singaporeans, most people I've worked with in business/legal settings have toned down the Singlish. This past weekend, we were introduced to Singlish in full force - by our RE agent, mortgage broker and locals. Singlish is English spoken by Singaporeans, but it sounds so different that to me it's almost like a foreign language. Here's why:
1) They mix in Hokkien, Chinese and Malay words as if they were English. "Alamak! She's so kiasu." Alamak is Malay for "oh my God!" and kiasu is a word I am still trying to figure out, but apparently it's very important because it describes the national pysche and character of the Singaporean people. It's a Hokkien word that means "afraid to lose" but is used in a lot of different contexts - both positive and negative - to describe a person or behavior that is cheap, cheating, aggressive, out to win, etc. So if someone cut you off on the freeway just to get in front of you in your lane, that would be kiasu. If there's a limited edition happy meal toy at McDonald's, many Singaporeans will line up for hours to get one - that's kiasu.
2) They use Chinese syntax rather than English syntax when speaking (which is totally different from the way they write because generally their emails are proper English grammar). So instead of saying "have you eaten yet?" they will ask "you eat no eat?" because that's how it would be spoken in Chinese.
3) Singlish is tonal. Whereas American English and British English are both monotone despite their different accents, Singlish has tones. It's very staccato, with the emphasis on the second syllable of each word.
4) Singlish is tinted with a British accent, but also with a Chinese one. So imagine your fobby Chinese cousin went to London to study for a few years and picked up a British accent, but then also add the Malay tones where the second syllable is emphasize and tilts up. That's the Singlish accent.
5) Singaporeans like to shorten every single word or phrase they can. For example, my mortgage broker couldn't be bothered to call HSBC by its full name and kept calling it "HS" instead. She also took the liberty of calling me by my one-syllable nickname without my permission even though I had introduced myself with my full name and always signed all emails with my full name. To me, it's a bit presumptuous to shorten someone's name without their permission so it was a bit grating when basically everyone I met - my banker, my RE agent, my mortgage broker - would take it upon themselves to shorten my name without my permission. They would also keep referring to El Hombre as my hubby rather than my husband, which also seems a bit too familiar for someone you've just met.
6) They use words completely differently. For example, the word "can" is one of the most versatile words in Singlish. It is used as shorthand for "sure, that's possible" or "sure, you/I can do that." For example, if I asked someone if they are free next Saturday for dinner, they might answer me with a simple "can (lah)" which means, "yes, I'm available and I'd like to join you for dinner." And if they were to have a conflict in schedule, they might answer "no can."
7) They add "lah" to a lot of sentences. If Singlish is known for one thing, it's the use of "lah" at the end of words, phrases or sentences. Honestly, you kind of stop hearing the "lah" after awhile, so this was the easiest difference to get over. But it's funny how it creeps into your vocabulary because now I like to add the "lah" to my sentences, just for fun. Uh oh.
1) They mix in Hokkien, Chinese and Malay words as if they were English. "Alamak! She's so kiasu." Alamak is Malay for "oh my God!" and kiasu is a word I am still trying to figure out, but apparently it's very important because it describes the national pysche and character of the Singaporean people. It's a Hokkien word that means "afraid to lose" but is used in a lot of different contexts - both positive and negative - to describe a person or behavior that is cheap, cheating, aggressive, out to win, etc. So if someone cut you off on the freeway just to get in front of you in your lane, that would be kiasu. If there's a limited edition happy meal toy at McDonald's, many Singaporeans will line up for hours to get one - that's kiasu.
2) They use Chinese syntax rather than English syntax when speaking (which is totally different from the way they write because generally their emails are proper English grammar). So instead of saying "have you eaten yet?" they will ask "you eat no eat?" because that's how it would be spoken in Chinese.
3) Singlish is tonal. Whereas American English and British English are both monotone despite their different accents, Singlish has tones. It's very staccato, with the emphasis on the second syllable of each word.
4) Singlish is tinted with a British accent, but also with a Chinese one. So imagine your fobby Chinese cousin went to London to study for a few years and picked up a British accent, but then also add the Malay tones where the second syllable is emphasize and tilts up. That's the Singlish accent.
5) Singaporeans like to shorten every single word or phrase they can. For example, my mortgage broker couldn't be bothered to call HSBC by its full name and kept calling it "HS" instead. She also took the liberty of calling me by my one-syllable nickname without my permission even though I had introduced myself with my full name and always signed all emails with my full name. To me, it's a bit presumptuous to shorten someone's name without their permission so it was a bit grating when basically everyone I met - my banker, my RE agent, my mortgage broker - would take it upon themselves to shorten my name without my permission. They would also keep referring to El Hombre as my hubby rather than my husband, which also seems a bit too familiar for someone you've just met.
6) They use words completely differently. For example, the word "can" is one of the most versatile words in Singlish. It is used as shorthand for "sure, that's possible" or "sure, you/I can do that." For example, if I asked someone if they are free next Saturday for dinner, they might answer me with a simple "can (lah)" which means, "yes, I'm available and I'd like to join you for dinner." And if they were to have a conflict in schedule, they might answer "no can."
7) They add "lah" to a lot of sentences. If Singlish is known for one thing, it's the use of "lah" at the end of words, phrases or sentences. Honestly, you kind of stop hearing the "lah" after awhile, so this was the easiest difference to get over. But it's funny how it creeps into your vocabulary because now I like to add the "lah" to my sentences, just for fun. Uh oh.
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