Article: The Tongue of Singapore

The Tongue of Singapore

In a highly developed asiatic country, English stands as the main language.

Singapore in famous for archieving high development in a few decades. Since their independence from the British Empire, in 1963, Singapore has been considered a cosmopolitan country, in which languages combine and evolve every year. Despite the fact that over 70% of the population is Chinese  English stands as the most important language. Children are taught English in schools, the law is written in English and even the traffic signs are in English! However, the government ensures that young children also learn their ethnic group languages, to conserve the relevant aspects of each culture. This has a great importance in a country that contains Malays, Chinese, Indians and other races in its essence.

As a once British Colony, and now members of the commonwealth, Singapore still has some of the English aspects in its organisation and culture. In this sense, it's interesting to see that the legal system used in Singapore is based on the "Common Law". Therefore, the laws and legal processes in Singapore are all done in English, something astonishing if we consider that the English population is the 2% or 3%. However, the use of English is not just tradition, as it grants some benefits to the country. In fact, when Singapore gained self-government in 1959, the local leaders decided to keep English as the main language to maximize the economic opportunities. 

However, we know that languages evolve. In Singapore, the case hasn't been different, as Singlish emerged in the streets. Singlish is an English-based creole language, which combines Malay, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Tamil, English and other indic languages, and began to be used in the sixties, after Singapore's Independence. Singlish is spoken by the popular communities in the Island, as it is considered a low prestige language by the upper clases. In fact, the government created the "Speak good English movement" to promote the use of Standard English. Also, Singlish is heavily discouraged in the mass media and in schools

As a cosmopolitan country, Singapore resembles the asiatic culture with a clear British influence in its roots. Someone could say that Singapore has taken the best of the Eastern and Western world to achieve a rich and highly developed society, supported in a huge economy with a population of only five millions. In this process, languages were naturally combined to ensure the communication between different ethnic groups.