my first contribution to my course blog =)

Just a little Singapore culture

‘So what is Singapore’s culture like? It seems to be so manufactured’. This was what Hilori asked me on our first lesson. I replied ‘yup it is, Singapore is a very manufactured place; our education, infrastructure and even the government is moulded according to our economy needs’ and I added on by saying ‘yup Singapore’s culture is just like any other city culture’
Well, that was how I answered her question that day, but I went back and thought about it, is Singapore’s culture really so manufactured? Isn’t there a distinct point that makes us uniquely Singaporean? And I’m glad to say yes there is. What she observed of Singapore’s culture was probably just the tip of the iceberg; the huge block of ice underneath the water was probably hidden by our ‘manufactured city look’.
Just the way we speak for instance, ‘Singlish’ – the Singapore version of English. My friend just recounted an incident to me; while she was conversing with her brother in Singlish, her British friend asked ‘what language are u speaking?’. Apparently, our version of English is so different from the mainstream English language, that even her British friend couldn’t recognise it! If i were to say ‘my class has a lot of ang mohs’ or ‘Sian, I need to go to school tomorrow’, I guess most foreigners probably won’t understand what I mean. This I feel, is one of the unique traits that makes us Singaporean, at least I am pretty sure I can recognise a Singaporean overseas when I hear one. Even though our government encourages us to speak proper English, I still like Singlish, I like the fact that we can make up our own words, or conveniently borrow phrases from various dialects or other languages and call it our own. I guess Singapore is probably the only place that you can find a language that isn’t recognised as an official language, and yet is used widely by the whole nation.
I guess I just want to emphasise the point that this course has made me more aware of my own culture. Living in Singapore made me assume I knew Singapore’s culture inside out, but I guess living the culture is quite different from putting it into words. I guess I didn’t give much thought about what was Singapore’s culture like, but now I am more sensitive to my culture I hope I have understood my culture a little better.
***
FYI: ‘Sian’ means sick and tired of something. ‘Ang mohs’ refer to Caucasians in general.
If you are interested in more Singlish words, you can refer to this url (it’s not exhaustive though): http://www.travel.com.sg/publish/stbportal/en/home/about_singapore/fun_stuff/singlish_dictionary.html
*********