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Singapore English (SgE, SE, en-SG) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Singapore.In Singapore, English is spoken in two main forms: Singaporean Standard English, which is indistinguishable grammatically from British English, and Singaporean Colloquial English, which is better known as Singlish.
The languages of Singapore are English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, with the lingua franca between Singaporeans being English, the de facto main language. Among themselves, Singaporeans often speak Singlish, an English creole arising from centuries of contact between Singapore's internationalised society and its legacy of being a British colony.
Singlish (a portmanteau of Singapore and English), formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is an English-based creole language originating in Singapore. [1] [2] [3] Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact between speakers of many different Asian languages in Singapore, such as Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien, Mandarin, Teochew, and Tamil. [4]
While English is the core language of instruction in government schools, mother tongue languages are taught on a weekly basis. While "mother tongue" typically correlates to the first language (L1) overseas, in Singapore, the Ministry of Education refers to it as the "ethnic language" or the second language (L2). [36]
The campaign aims to discourage the use of Singlish and encourage the use of a more standardised form of English, (i.e. generally modelled on the British standard). ). According to the movement's chairman, then Colonel (NS) David Wong, [8] the Speak Good English Movement aims to build a sense of pride that Singaporeans can speak good English, as opposed to Singlish, as well as to check the ...
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The English name of "Singapore" is an anglicisation of the native Malay name for the country, Singapura (pronounced), which was in turn derived from the Sanskrit word for 'lion city' (Sanskrit: सिंहपुर; romanised: Siṃhapura; Brahmi: 𑀲𑀺𑀁𑀳𑀧𑀼𑀭; literally "lion city"; siṃha means 'lion', pura means 'city' or 'fortress'). [9]
Today, Singapore has four official languages, English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. [51] Malay is the ceremonial national language of the country and is the home language to 13% of the population. [ 52 ]