Bad English

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the "Speak Mandarin" campaign in Singapore. Minister Mentor Lee stood out to encourage families to speak the language at home (See Chinese Debate) as in recent years, more families are using English. So it might be assumed that Singaporeans speak good English. Big mistake. Although it has been more than 30 years since the nation adopted English as the main business language and the main medium for subjects taught in schools, the truth is that our standard of English likens to that from the caveman era. Maybe we need to divert more effort to promote good English.

Singaporeans are victims of bad English. It is not uncommon to find grammatical errors every day in our press and hear incorrect pronunciations in the news on television- the places you would expect accurate Singapore Standard English. Perhaps the root of the problem lies with the fact that many educators themselves are not as proficient in the language as they are supposed to be. There is a lack of standardisation of English in Singapore as both British English and American English are deemed acceptable. The average Singaporean speaks Singlish, which is a muddle of English, Malay and Chinese dialects, much like the slangs in other parts of the world. The influence of Internet messaging like e-mails, ICQ, IRC, as well as SMS (Short Messaging Service) on mobile phones, deals the final blow on achieving good English.

My mind switches through a variety of English when I face different groups of people; When I speak to friends, the casual Singlish would be employed. When I'm at work, I use standard English. When I message others, that's when all the chat lingo starts appearing. One language extrapolates into a confusing lot of languages that sometimes befuddles me.

Yet like any other language, the key aim of getting English right is to achieve effective communication. Using a localised version of the language which is not standardised will cause several misunderstandings and miscommunications. The road to good English is a challenging one but the first step is to embark on it.