When I told my friends and family that I was coming to Singapore most of them asked about the language barrier. Lucky for me, English is one of the national languages of Singapore and is widely spoken. But I had kept hearing about this “Singlish” from friends and coworkers who had visited and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Basically what I knew was to expect to hear lots of la’s when the speak. Hey! I can say laaa says Laura. Now that I’ve been here for 11 weeks I figured I had experienced enough of this silly language to give you all an education on how to speak Singlish and a glimpse on what my daily interactions include.
Singlish – a spoken language that is technically English where one speaks with the least amount of words and adds la to the end of words and/or phrases, in turn making a language that is completely incomprehensible to a native English speaker. (as defined by Laura’s dictionary of magical ideas, aka the weirdo who writes this blog).
Got that? Great laaa!
Let’s start with the first characteristic. In the US we are taught to use those fancy adverbs, adjectives, cinnamons, and those other weird grammatical words that basically make your sentences sound more pretty. (Yes, I am aware that it’s synonyms not cinnamon). Well for Singlish, forget all of that descriptive mumbo jumbo and say only what you really need. For example, in the US one might call up their friend and say Hi Emily, where would you like to go for dinner tonight? In Singapore you’d say Yea, Emily, go where? Same message is delivered but the latter is more direct and to the point without any of that proper stuff mixed in.
Now let’s add in the la’s. So many of you ask me but what does la mean?? There is a proper answer for this. La means nothing. Literally, figuratively, any way you read it, la has no meaning when used in Singlish. In fact there isn’t a rule of when to use it either. One can wait until the end of the sentence or phrase, or add it at the end of words in between. Let’s take a look at our example from before and complete the Singlish translation. So again, in the US I call my friend and say Hi Emily, where would you like to go for dinner tonight? In Singapore I say Yea laa, Emily, go where laa?
I know what you’re thinking, wow Laura it makes perfect sense! Why don’t we speak the same way in the US? Well there’s also a very simple and proper answer for that. Grammar (yuck)!
While I still find myself amused with Singlish and enjoy using laa whenever I can, I really have had to change my natural English speaking habits a bit to better communicate in some instances here. The change is mostly when speaking with taxi drivers or when ordering food. I usually speak very direct and without any fluffy words in between.
Overall I am extremely thankful that I am in a country that English is spoken in but it has been fun listening to the silly language of Singlish and trying to speak it when I feel like a local.
Please feel free to leave Singlish comments!
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