Another example close to Singapore is Jakarta. Anyone with basic
Indonesian knows how different the native dialect of Jakartans is
from Bahasa Indonesia, even though Bahasa Jakarta is still the same
language3 Jakarta is the only place in Java where Bahasa Indonesia
is spoken as a mother tongue.. Jakartans need standard Indonesian
to talk with Indonesians from outside Jakarta, and for formal
situations, even when everyone present is from Jakarta. You might
think that native Jakartans get confused between the two dialects
and can't speak good standard Bahasa Indonesia, yet after three
years of living there, I can report that every single native-born4
Migrants from rural areas of Java are native speakers of Javanse, a
completely unrelated language, and sometimes struggle with Bahasa
Indonesia Jakartan I met speaks fine standard Indonesian, be they
professionals, taxi drivers, maids, gardeners, drivers, security
guards or whatever. I don't think too much of relying on personal
anecdotes, but all the native Jakartans I've asked report the same
thing. In other words, native born Jakartans speak two quite
different dialects of Indonesian with ease. This would not be a
surprise to people familiar with research in this area.
Singaporeans easily perform the same thing.
English speakers raised in Singapore learn early in their life how
to use different dialects for different situations, just as people
do in all the other places on the planet with different dialects
for different social needs. Many languages have different dialects
for different social situations, and both Singlish and Bahasa
Jakarta (known as 'slang' by its speakers) are used mainly in
informal circumstances between social peers even when both speakers
know the standard form of the language. The important conclusion is
that usage of Singlish does not mean that Singapore speakers will
be impaired in using standard English.
My reference to "Cockney" above may give the impression that
Singlish is restricted to usage in Singapore by less educated
people, since Cockneys are famously lower class residents of a poor
part of London. In fact, as research by Gupta (see also links
below) and others show, Singlish usage is widespread through all
classes in Singapore, including "bank managers, doctors and
teachers"5 private correspondence, groups who have excellent
command of standard English. In Jakarta, Bahasa Jakarta ("slang")
is also used by all classes.
Despite the negative pressure from the authorities, most
Singaporeans are quietly proud of Singlish, and why not? It is a
fun, energetic and dynamic dialect. If Singaporeans wish for a
separate cultural identity, Singlish is likely to grow in
popularity, no matter what the government does. Not so long ago the
editorial pages of the Straits Times were dismayed by surveys
showing that some young Singaporeans really wanted to be
Westerners. Singlish is strong evidence that most young
Singaporeans are actually moving in the opposite direction; they
want "Singaporean" to mean more than living in an air-conditioned
dot on the map (Mahatir's phrase).
As for the concern about international English, who could seriously
deny that these same young Singaporeans are first class speakers of
standard English? No country in Asia has better English skills;
among its service economy rivals, only Australia offers serious
competition in overall language skills. But is there a decline in
English here? No. Spending some time among both older and younger
Singaporeans reveals that English in Singapore is getting better
with successive generations, even as Singlish seems to spread
further and further into the mass media.
English recently became the first language in 2000 years to have
more second-language speakers than native speakers. By using
different dialects of English for both international communication
and for local use, Singapore is not joining a world wide
corruption. It is leading a world wide trend; globalisation means
that people are becoming more protective of their identities even
as they spend more time in contact with the rest of the world. This
will drive language change everywhere, but it will not threaten the
requirement for standard English anywhere.
Clearly, Singapore's language education is working well. In an
island speaking so many languages, there is very good and improving
command of standard English. It's odd to think that Singlish is a
threat to this, because evidence from all over the world says it's
not.
Relax, lah. Singlish is cool, it's homegrown and it's no
problem.
