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The official languages in Singapore are Malay,
Chinese (Mandarin), Tamil and English. Malay is the national language and
English the language of administration. Mandarin is widely used among the
Chinese. Besides Tamil, other languages spoken by the Indians include Malayalam,
Punjabi, Telegu, Hindi and Bengali. 1. English English was introduced to Singapore by the British. The British first set a port and then gradually set up a colony in Singapore. After gaining independence, Singapore decided to keep English as the language of administration and work. This is in contrast to few other South East Asian countries who adopted their local languages as the official language. While in schools, children learn their lessons in English and are also taught their mother tongue so that they do not forget it. Numerous families speak English at home and it is one of the first languages learnt by about half of the current pre-school children. English is
the language that the world uses to communicate and to do commerce. English
servers as common platform between the locals and other ethnic groups, it also
becomes handy when conversing with foreign nationals. As a global language it
helps in the development and progress of Singapore into the mainstream of
international commerce. 2. Singlish Many foreigners might face some difficulties in the beginning of their stay in Singapore. Communicating with the locals who speak in Singlish might be a bit of a problem. Singlish is a mix of other languages into English. Sometimes phrases can end with funny terms like 'lah', 'leh', mah'. Sometimes inter-dialect groups don't understand one another's language, as the language is greatly different. Singlish has its origins in the schools of
colonial Singapore. Most Europeans and other foreign national would send their
kids to English medium schools; gradually the Chinese and Indians also started
sending their children to the same schools. The interactions between the
different races with street kids created an informal slang language of the
streets. For most Singaporeans, Singlish is an identity in itself and our proud
of it too. 3. Mandarin Chinese is a second language and is spoken by
most of the population in Singapore, given that the majority of people in
Singapore are Chinese in origin. Increasingly, there are more mainland Chinese
in Singapore and you will find that even the Mandarin spoken locally comes in
different flavors. 4. Malay The traditional language of Singapore, Malay,
is still spoken by the large Malay community in Singapore. If you know Malay, it
will be useful if you're going to places like Jalan Eunos or going to nearby
stops in Malaysia and Indonesia. In fact, Malay is still the dominant language
in the Southeast Asian region - Singapore is an exception. Tamil is a language that is most common amongst Indian communities. Hindi,
Malayalam and Punjabi are also spoken by the Indian community here. Tamil is one
of the four official languages in Singapore. Tamil is characterized by its use
of retroflex consonants and by its agglutinative grammar, where suffixes are
used to mark noun class, number, and case. Nearly 60 percent of the Indian
population in Singapore speaks Tamilas their native language. Conclusion People in Singapore can speak two to three languages. This diversity in languages is important in helping the locals understanding different cultures and religions. Most children growing up in Singapore have this trait in them. If you want to learn languages in Singapore, there are many good language schools out there, you can check them out in the Internet. Good luck! Related ArticlesYou may also wish to read the following related articles:
5 things to do before you come to Singapore © 2007 Best-Singapore-Vacation.com
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