Hi,
I;d like to ask what;'s the official language in Singapore? Mandarin? Fookien?
Full Version: What's The Official Language In Singapore?
I've always thought it to be Mandarin, but a quick bounce to Singapore's offical Tourism site finds:
| QUOTE |
| The official languages are Malay, Chinese, Tamil and English. Malay is the national language and English is the language of administration. Mandarin is being increasingly used among the Chinese in place of the main Chinese dialects Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, Hainanese and Foochow. Besides Tamil, some of the other languages spoken by the Indians are Malayalam, Punjabi, Telegu, Hindi and Bengali. The general literacy rate of residents aged 15 years and over was 93 per cent in 2000. More residents were also multi-lingual. Among the literate population, 56 per cent were literate in two or more languages. |
I love Singapore English. It's just like English...but you add "lah" to the end of the sentence.
And the accent put on the last vowel.
Singaporean English, aka "Singlish"
Singaporean English, aka "Singlish"
Malay is the national language but still, it is not used in most of the place. Malay is the national language is because it is an agreement after Singapore divided from Malaysia...
| QUOTE (huaren @ May 5 2004, 04:04 AM) |
| Malay is the national language but still, it is not used in most of the place. Malay is the national language is because it is an agreement after Singapore divided from Malaysia... |
Bahasa is the official language but it is only spoken by the minority Malays in Singapore. The most widespread (and annoying) language is Singlish.
| QUOTE (Nam Quoc Son Ha @ May 5 2004, 06:24 AM) | ||
Bahasa is the official language but it is only spoken by the minority Malays in Singapore. The most widespread (and annoying) language is Singlish. |
Yeap singlish is the most popular in Singapore! LOL! A mixture of Chinese, malay, english and indian is called singlish. LOL!
| QUOTE (Cuirassier @ May 4 2004, 01:27 AM) |
| And the accent put on the last vowel. Singaporean English, aka "Singlish" |
Yes, Eat Lah!
Ahhhh.. the sing-song quality of Singlish, music to my ears!
xi'an dialect is most available in campus in singapore. :0)
that's what ive been wondering. o_0. most people i know from singapore just speaks mandarin or english wif the -lah.
| QUOTE (Achilles @ May 13 2004, 09:41 AM) |
| xi'an dialect is most available in campus in singapore. :0) |
wrong..lots people in singapore speaks fujian hua
| QUOTE (chinowei @ May 20 2004, 08:41 PM) | ||
wrong..lots people in singapore speaks fujian hua |
yeap... tt's true...most of my chinese friends here are hokkien (fu2 jian4 ren2). i'm a singaporean chinese. nearly all of my friends here in singapore can speak both in english(or shld i say singlish) and their mother tongue. most of my chinese friends here are hokkien (fu2 jian4 ren2). but i am a cantonese. my cantonese (learnt from my grandpa when i was a toddler) is not fluent as compared to my english and mandarin because i only study mandarin and english in sch like all singaporean chinese students...
many foreigners i chatted with thought tt singapore is a muslim country with malays making up most of the population... but it is actually the chinese that make up more than half (ard 75%) of the population in singapore.
Hi dan, good to see a Singaporean ard. In my experience which is quite contrary to yours, most ppl do know that Singapore is a Chinese majority country and are quite surprised to know that Malay is the national language.
Some Chinese Singaporean friends of mine don't really know what the wordings to the national anthem Majulah Singapura mean, despite singing it often. This strike us Malaysians as strange as it is after all the national anthem. Having relatives in Singapore, I know that Malay is really not used much outside the Malay community.
Anyway, If you're Cantonese than you know you'd feel very much at home in KL, right?
Many Cantonese speakers here.
Some Chinese Singaporean friends of mine don't really know what the wordings to the national anthem Majulah Singapura mean, despite singing it often. This strike us Malaysians as strange as it is after all the national anthem. Having relatives in Singapore, I know that Malay is really not used much outside the Malay community.
Anyway, If you're Cantonese than you know you'd feel very much at home in KL, right?
Many Cantonese speakers here.
yeah hi malaccan... pleased to noe there's some1 from the country i go to most of the time for a holiday in this forum. lolx...
| QUOTE |
Anyway, If you're Cantonese than you know you'd feel very much at home in KL, right? Many Cantonese speakers here. |
yeah~! i love KL~! me and my family went to KL many times for holidays... especially in genting.
went there again last yr jus b4 christmas and spent my time roaming around the streets near the new hotel berjaya times square... from many trips there i do hear many chinese there speaking in cantonese. hope i''ll go back there soon again... btw... u r from malacca right? (looking at your nick) haha... i've nvr been there b4. (i was supposed to go there once but i stayed in sg for school reasons) i usually go to Johore and KL. may our countries stay as gd neighbours forever. =)
I'm from KL Dan, mom's from Malacca with her father from Singapore. Ours is a close-knit family, so we often visit Singapore often to see family in Bukit Timah, Tampines and Paya Lebar. You should come to Malacca sometime, certain parts still feel quite old world. Many Singaporeans r buying property there now. Even the traffic lights in Melaka have the count-down timers which tells you how long you've got before the light turns red/green, just like the Lion City. You don't get these even in KL!!!
Yeah, may Singapore-Malaysia ties grow stronger and more importantly, STAY THAT WAY. hehehe.. I am sick of all this tug-of-war between our govts. Just let the ppl get on with our lives lah, for goodness sake. But today I read in the news that SingTel and Telekom Malaysia are putting their funds together to invest abroad. Maybe portents of better things to come?
Yeah, may Singapore-Malaysia ties grow stronger and more importantly, STAY THAT WAY. hehehe.. I am sick of all this tug-of-war between our govts. Just let the ppl get on with our lives lah, for goodness sake. But today I read in the news that SingTel and Telekom Malaysia are putting their funds together to invest abroad. Maybe portents of better things to come?
cool... tt's a gd sign... 
| QUOTE (huaren @ May 5 2004, 07:37 PM) | ||||
Yeap singlish is the most popular in Singapore! LOL! A mixture of Chinese, malay, english and indian is called singlish. LOL! |
right!Sometimes you cannot understand what are they talking at!
QUOTE(mac_bolan00 @ May 3 2004, 07:48 AM) 
Hi,
I;d like to ask what;'s the official language in Singapore? Mandarin? Fookien?
I;d like to ask what;'s the official language in Singapore? Mandarin? Fookien?
4 official languages in Singapore: English, Mandarin chinese, Malay and Tamil
The lingua franca (Common Language) in Singapore is English
National language of Singapore: Malay
Most widely spoken language is Singlish (among all races) and Singdarin (Mandarin in Singapore style among the chinese)
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