Singapore has 4 official languages namely English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. Communicating with the locals may prove to be one of the more challenging tasks. Though, Singaporeans can speak English, Singapore has its own version of English – Singlish, much like Taglish is to Filipinos. What complicates it for me is that we Pinoys are much used to the American english vocabulary and accent while Singaporeans use British english with a mix of British and Chinese accent. (Imagine that!)
Local speak is usually ended by “lah” much like “noh” is to us Pinoys. Ex. “I don’t like that, lah.” is kinda like saying “Ayoko yan noh.” Another interesting singlish phrase for me is “Can? Can?”. The tagalog translation for that would be “Kaya ba? Kaya?”
1 response so far ↓
1 local // Oct 5, 2010 at 8:48 am
you are an elightened pinoy and make some sense in your comment on the way the local people speak their english. some pinoys coming here to work ridicule the way the locals speaks. i see it in some of you pinoy forums.
what some of your countrymen and women need is a dose of self checking. to some locals, your accent do not in any way sound american but there is this overpowering “rrrrr sound” whenever you guys open your mouth. to each his own, some find it soothing to the ears!
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