It's Chinglish, not Singlish.
Ever wonder how 'singlish' sounds so much like the way a chinese child speaks - like that child on the left? Not like a malay child, not like an indian child. The next time you speak 'singlish', just ask yourself how different it is from that little boy on the left.
That indicates that 'singlish' is not actually 'singlish', but 'chinglish'. And this further indicates that the formation of this so-called colloquial and unofficial ‘national’ language indicates that non-chinese differences were not considered in its formation, which, incidentally, parallels the chinese-determined criteria of what alright and not alright in all other arenas. No wonder that the msn.com site for singapore is called ‘xin.msn.com’. If it is representative of anything, it is only of post-80s chinese self-absorption. Same goes for the ‘wit‘ which is typical of the wit in Chinese media and conversations. Childish, and has no resemblance with the higher level metaphorical wit that might be found amongst the Indians or the English-speaking singaporeans of all races, and even the chinese, in the 70s. It's no wonder that the best of British comedies are not aired in singapore as opposed to generally juvenile american ones - though many were aired in the 70s. The chinese singaporeans of today wouldn't understand them. Everyone's exposure is narrowed to the dimensions that the chinese are able to handle.
There are parallels in all arenas, if one is inquisitive enough to seek it out. Why do so? Well, so that one can avoid the pitfalls of intellectual and creative development, and mainly avail oneself of that which is of positive and progressive value, and hence be all that one cannot currently imagine until one takes to this path.
Like i said to V (chinese girl from singapore working in the UK) last week, it’s sad, but true, that those traditional chinese whom the Catholic english-speaking Chinese whom i knew, would call ‘ching chong’, have, since the 90s, determined the cultural, intellectual, and creative evolution of singapore. Thanks to the government’s chinese supremacist policies of course.
related: Why 'Singlish' is actually 'Chinglish'.
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I seem to recall that “Chinglish” came about in the late 80s. My english-speaking chinese friends in the 70s up to mid 80s definitely spoke proper English unlike the chinese now who speak english like they have never been to school, with suffixes like ‘la’, ‘mah’, lor’ in their sentences.
ReplyDeleteIn my view, “Chinglish” not “Singlish” is the national language of singapore. A colleague of mine from India, who has been living in singapore for the past decade and whom is currently a Vice President in a multi-national company, has changed the way he speaks english. I distinctly remember he spoke proper english with a tad of indian accent when i first met him ten years ago. When i met him again five years later, his proper english with indian accent is replaced by chinglish minus the indian accent. When i asked him why did he switch to speaking chinglish and the answer he gave me affirm what you say about the chinese. He told me the singapore chinese will lose interest in conversations if he speaks and explains issues in proper english. He found it extremely effectively to speak exactly like the chinese using short sentences and suffixes like “la” to rally for their support and get them to do work. In a way, he has lowered his experience and narrowed his perspective to the level that the chinese can handle. He told me to "survive" in singapore, he needs to speak and behave like the chinese in order to “blend” in especially he is Indian and from India. The chinese are very used to doing things that they like, certainly not sensitive to the others, despite the fact that he is the Vice President of the company. There isnt much he can do as all employees are chinese and he is the only Indian transferred from another country. It's sad for me to witness the deterioration of the development of another intelligent person because of the chinese dominance in singapore.
i'm surprised that msn allowed the singapore version to be called "xin". looks like microsoft is clueless about how insulting their choice of website name really is to singaporeans of non-chinese descent. that's why i never use msn. please boycott them and just use yahoo or google instead.
ReplyDeleteI will truly be surprised if the views and sentiments of the singapore minorities are being considered. From the early days of "Speak Mandarin Campaign", "Chinese speaking candidates" in job ads to "Mandarin speaker preferred", the reduction of non-chinese foodstalls in hawker centres and coffeeshops, a dedicated marker commemorating deng xiaopeng which sits beside the singapore river and finally the blatant naming convention for singapore msn really paint the whole picture of what singapore really is about - the chinese.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if MSN is to be blamed here 007. I think, when it comes to a country's prefix, the relevant authorities in the country will be consulted, or perhaps the relevant authorities will propose the name. If that is the case, it is not MSN that is to be blamed but the relevant authorities in singapore.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not like the relevant authorities in singapore aren't biased towards the chinese - take a look at the Syed Alwi tourist promo board outside Mustaffa Centre....it only speaks about the chinese. That's grossly biased. The same thing is going on here with this 'xin' nonsense. It just shows the degree to which chinese racism, apathy, and self-absorption over the decades has turned singapore into a satellite of china. Hence, xin.com....
The signs are all around for everyone to see, provided they are not oblivious to it because they are used to it, or are profiting from it, as the chinese in singapore are - It may not be their intention. But it certainly is the consequence.
Yes. That has been obvious to me since the early 90s. I made my predictions in 1993, and its unfortunate that every single one has come true.
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteI believe you all might have been aware of the presence of the Disney regional office which was set up in the early 1990s, as well as the activities organised by the company. In case you are wondering why the Disney events in Singapore has died out, it was due to the fact that the Disney HQ closed down the regional office which had placed "Mandarin speaker preferred" advertisement as a requirement for the candidates to be considered for the job interviews. Prior to the HQ's decision, complaints had been lodged to the management team of the local branch in which no-one intervened. So apparantly, someone lodged a complaint to the HQ and upon the HQ demanding an explanation from the local branch, the latter did not give a satisfied answer. So what transpired were that the regional office was shut down and all the staff working there were dismissed. This shows that the majority, who undergo socialisation process in the Legalist-Confucian milieu, have taken things for granted insofar as a 3rd party has to intervene. What a tragedy.
There were some typo errors in my comment. In "Prior to the HQ's...", "to" should be replaced with "with" and in "So apparantly, ...", "to" should be replaced by "with".
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it wasn't, technically, a 'Freudian slip'. A Freudian slip reveals underlying intentions or perspectives. In this case, it is blatant, conscious, and arrogant.
ReplyDeleteWell, don't expect the so-called 'opposition' to kick up a fuss over such things. They want to maintain racial harmony, whilst conveniently and self-servingly 'forgetting' that true racial harmony is engendered by mutual care and concern. So much for that. Egalitarianly speaking, the opposition is a lost cause.
hi vanes, yes, unfortunately you are 100% accurate. according to recent reports, in a few short years, the singapore government admitted more than a million prc nationals to settle and work in singapore. that's greater than the total population of non-chinese singaporeans combined! if this act doesn't construe blatant sinicization and ethnic cleansing in a desperate attempt to secure chinese supremacy on the island, i don't know what does.
ReplyDeleteAng gave me an idea: let's complain to microsoft headquarters about the discriminatory nature of the msn singapore address. they may very well investigate. Of course, we would need to explain the erroneousness of the initial choice of website name to them. Don't expect Microsoft to know that Singapore is a multiracial country if we remain quiet about the mistake made by their singapore headquarters / deliberate misrepresentation of singapore's history and demographics by the chinese supremacist government.
ReplyDeleteGood idea 007.
ReplyDeleteYes. Why not give it a try. Though, personally, i think MSN is not going to override xingapore's decision to go with Xin due to a few complains. They'll have to get into the history behind it and takes sides against the government and the majority of the people whom, for obvious reasons, have no problem with it.
Additionally, as MSN is mainly into business and profiteering, i don't think they're going to bother. But hey, it's still worth a try isn't it. Great idea mate. Too bad there aren't more like you and Ang around. If there was, this site could focus on other stuff.
That is an interesting case Ang.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about it actually. Did the news receive much media attention in the local papers, online, 'oppositional' media, etc? 007 has been inspired by your account to complain to MSN - though personally, i don't MSN is going to take on this issue as it is of much more significance as it deals with a nation's representative name on the net. But it's still worth giving it a try.
Thanks for the info bro :)
A million?! Wow. That's quite a figure. Quite interesting actually.
ReplyDeleteI told V a few months ago that the New Chinese are going to outnumber the local Chinese soon enough since they are going to be reproducing more than the locals as they haven't been trained within the 'affluent' singaporean lifestyle of working hard and not having too many kids. They are going to be operating like the ancestors of the Old Chinese(singaporean 'native-born Chinese) who had many kids for security.
Additionally, quite a few China chicks would marry local men as well, and thumb them down good and hard. You could say that LKY & Co are doing the SDU thing in this area by matchmaking China chicks with local cocks.
Multiculturalism, or any hope for it, is now well and truly dead. What we'll see now is a fusion between local chinese and new chinese culture - as fusion between local chinese and indian/eurasian/malay culture had already been stopped since the late 80s. My predictions in the early 90s have come about.
Hence, the time is certainly right for Singapore to become Xingapore. I suppose, unfortunately, i'm the first to use this most apt term, and to appreciate the evil behind this transition.
Ah well.....
Hi 007,
ReplyDeleteThis is one of Ed's predications that has come true. Personally, I do not fancy being in any country where majority is chinese, doesnt matter if they are pretty or ugly. It's a shame that you are attracted to "pretty china chicks". Just beware that your brain size does not get reduced to corn size - too late by then to find out who is the prey and who is the predator :)
Be well!
just being sacarsti. i love all pretty chicks regardless of race, lol. and like you, i detest being in a country with a chinese majority as much as you do - ed can vouch for that. no one in singapore wants to emigrate as much as i do, just that i've not been fortunate enough to get permanent residence in the us/uk/australia/canada. i'm also the last person who wants singapore to be flooded with ktv wh**es, masseuses and streetwalkers from china, which lky and his government have done in a desperate, botched attempt to do the "SDU" thing which ed described earlier. it doesn't work because these girls are goldiggers and shrews and make the worst wives on earth. they would certainly "thumb" a typical dumb singapore chinese male down as ed puts it, drive him bankrupt and then divorce him to move on to the next low iq sucker, lol. thank god my brain size is large enough for me to realize this. thanks for the well wishes, hope you are enjoying your new home country now.
ReplyDeleteyes, i will write to them soon.
ReplyDeleteActually, this information is not within the public domain. This was revealed by the same person who revealed the motivation behind the establishment of the TOC as mentioned in our fb message. Though again it's an unverifiable source, this case is quite possible to have happened if we take the overarching situation in Xingapore into consideration. This bloke seems to know a lot about what happened behind the scene within the establishment. Basically, majority of his accounts are about how the political elite have done to seek incorporation of oppositional elements into the establishment's greater scheme of things since the 1950s, some of which could be astounding, so that the establishment could consolidate their power with impunity. Many of those accounts can't be easily found anywhere else. Since he works with the establishment, he has no choice but to post those facts under the cloak of anonymity to protect his identity. Relevant to this article would be revelation about the fact that the deterioration of the standard of spoken and written English was due to the change in pedagogical approach as well as the syllabus as dictated by LKY sometime in the late 1980s in order to diminish the opposition's influence within the local political sphere, and also the adverse effect of the mother tongue language policy. Never was it expected that his decision has caused the younger generation of the populace's standard of English to be severely compromised, as you may have noticed.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it's good to know that 007 has been inspired by my account to lodge a complaint with the MSN. Didn't expect that though. I thought it'd be interesting to comment about a certain event that has not already been available in the public domain as well as "oppositional" media, which is relevant to Vanessa's original comment, so as to allow the readers to appreciate the social evils in the MNC setting within the local context as well as being aware that they can actually do something to bring about positive change and not just resigning themselves to "it's like that one". As a human, one has to be responsible for her/his action or inaction. And yeah I agree that the MSN is not going to do anything about this issue as it's not in their interest to go against the government as well as the majority. But 007's decision is certainly laudable. :)
Hey you should be encouraged to lodge a complaint with the MSN with regard to this issue. I'm actually glad that you've been inspired by my account to do so. Didn't expect that though. Let us know of the outcome so as to know whether the MSN could be as as ethical as the Disney in the past with regard to this issue. Your decision is certainly laudable. :)
ReplyDeletehey ang, thanks for the support / encouragement and for the "insider information". could you post more leaks from your singapore government contact? I'm sure all of us, especially me, would like to read more of their dirty secrets. it was very enlightening for instance, to know that lky's push for the language policy change stemmed from his fear of the opposition gaining more and more support from the chinese supremacists who have traditionally backed them. if you could, please start a blog on these state secrets and i'm sure all of us will read your posts. thanks again.
ReplyDeleteIronically, promoting China's culture, and language, and synonymising singapore with 'chinese', not only reduced the english-speaking opposition's influence on the population back then, but turned the opposition into a chinese-centric organisation as well. Once the opposition fell for this, they played into the hands of the PAP as the opposition would always come across as less desirable since it was the PAP that actually upped local chinese interests over all others and deprived the chinese of competition from more intelligent and vibrant indians, malays, and english-speaking westernised chinese.
ReplyDeleteA more important reason for this is that the destruction of multiculturalism by the sino-nazi government was required for the above to come to fruition. Turning the people into 'chinese' meant getting rid of multiculturalism and turning them into confucians - there was a lot about this in the papers in the late 80s and early 90s i think. That worked wonders. Even amongst the best of the chinese i've encountered ever since, the confucian trait is still exceedingly strong in them.