There is no such thing as Bad English.

(Only Bad People)

Singaporeans are fortunate to grow up in British-English education (American culture aside) with our colonial roots, we learn grammar and English by natural observation and practice from the day we were born – and often laugh at other countries’ ways of speaking english.

Often we assume their English is poor or they are uneducated, though often we are the one’s that’s mistaken. English said by others that we come across with English different from ours, is simply based on English using their own language structure.

Next time you or a fellow Singaporean say “Can”, it’s pretty much the same scenario and probably something both you and a Thai would understand, but not a British.

If you were to use English structure to speak Chinese, Japanese, or Malay – you may find yourself sounding equally ridiculous if you were native speakers of those languages.

In addition, most cultures have norms that result in presumed meanings of words or phrases due to “herd mentality” – through generations passing down the use of english in a certain way. After hearing many of their own countrymen using these words or phrases to mean something unique to themselves, they assume it’s the way others would understand.

For example, in Thailand, many of the less advanced English speakers use “SAME SAME” , or “You want FUNNY with me?” – the meanings (I leave it to your imagination) of these are perceived by the speakers as good enough english that you will understand.

Next time you or a fellow Singaporean say “Can”, it’s pretty much the same scenario and probably something both you and a Thai would understand, but not a British.

Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Singapore and China all have Chinese speakers – and they could use very different words for the same thing by practice. Often, we tend to think the other variations are not correct Chinese, when cultural differences, legacy of our forefathers, and of course “Herd Mentality” is key to how nuanced-language is shaped along with appropriate use of terms in their own context.

At the end of the day, language is about being understood and understanding – and that matters the most since it is the purpose for language’s creation. No language or version of it (ie British or American English), is superior and correct – it’s all contextual.

We’ve come together to help Singaporeans, Expats, Friends and the Global Community recognise and appreciate how Singlish is just as much as a perfect language as proper British English, American Slang and everything else spoken by our community on this little red dot – and to make learning easy and fun for everyone.

Whilst we build up our Singlish Wikipedia (of sorts) in easy and fun videos, we challenge you to make sure you get your British English Basics right first – starting with this video below. Since it’s COVID-19 period and most of us are acting like we are working from home (or trying hard to find one to let us do so) , why not learn something of value, RIGHT? 🙂

Do you want to be informed when our first Singlish Training Video launches and be fully Singlish Certified (SE-ISO2020) for free ?

(OPEN FOR PERFECT ENGLISH SPEAKERS ONLY)

This is a Satire site on Singlish, Can?

We are a team of Singlish enthusiasts determined to preserve our Singlish culture by compiling a range of education materials to teach you proper Singlish and to differentiate between British English and Singlish, amongst other language mixtures.

To keep our passion alive, please send donations in kind so we don’t go bankrupt on passion (even during trying times like this). A million SGD can go a long way to feeding the rest of our lives.