Last Updated on 2017-11-30 , 1:35 pm

When my Korean friends in Singapore use Singlish in our conversations, I’m not impressed. Not because they are using it wrongly but because Singlish is not standard English.

Yes, it builds camaraderie to a certain extent and may be a “mark of friendship and familiarity” but still… it’s not English that you can use at the workplace, with clients or during more formal settings like presentations.

Picture your interviewer’s face if you’re using Singlish when you’re not supposed to.

I know there are two sides to this coin so I’m going to leave you to form your own judgement.

But what’s new in this little red dot right now is that expats are getting schooled in Singlish at the British Council.

Hmm. What do you think?

Well, I applaud efforts by the British Council for these FREE “Coffee Morning” sessions to help expatriates assimilate into the local culture.

While I’m not a hundred percent putting a stamp of approval on this new initiative, certain lessons are pretty practical and really helps to include one into the community.

Let’s not go into the Singlish particles we mindlessly put into our conversations:

There are certain “localized” nouns and phrases that are useful for expatriates to know.

Chew on this conversation.

Mum: Ah girl, got bring slippers not?

Daughter: Huh? Need to bring meh?

Mum: You don’t want to get sand in your shoes right?

Daughter: Hmm okay.

Mum: Don’t forget to bring your handphone hor. Wait for you at the void deck ah! Hurry up.

Daughter: Ma, later you follow my car, Pa say he need to go office take something first.

Notice the words I’ve bold?

If you’re so used to the local culture, you might be wondering how come I’m drawing your attention to those words right?

Here’s why. While we are so used to using the word “slippers”, it can be more commonly known as “flip-flops” to others.

As for “handphone”, it is widely known as “mobile phone” or “cell phone” in certain regions.

“Void deck” is usually understood as an empty space internationally, but in Singapore, it’s actually the “heart of the community”, specifically, the ground floor of many Housing Board blocks.

For the phrase “follow my car”, expats might read this as an invitation to physically follow behind a car, but what we actually mean is to get into the car.

I hope I didn’t bore you.

The first Coffee Morning session was held in March and by the time the 6th session was held this month, 253 participants of 39 nationalities had already attended the sessions.

Wow, I guess there’s really a demand for Singlish huh?

According to Associate Professor Tan Ying Ying, a linguist at the Nanyang Technological University, Singlish is not bad English just because someone does not understand it.

Prof Tan adds, “When expatriates can speak it, they feel more included and locals feel more comfortable with them.”

British Council’s Head of Adult Courses, Ms Claire Firat agrees: “Using Singlish shows people you are interested (in their culture). It causes people, such as taxi drivers, to open up to you.”

Thoughts?

Putting myself in the shoes of expats, if I were to live abroad in a foreign land, I might also sign up for such local language classes. Will you?

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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Featured image:  straitstimes.com