I was just having a normal conversation with my mum when my urge to use some Singlish shot in. She immediately underlined the shame which goes with it being ever present in our daily conversations. She let me in on how foreigners would communicate with us locals at the hotel she is working at.
“Excuse me, I would like to order a set lunch lah.”
Notice that “lah” is bold. If you say it aloud, you would be laughing to yourself just as I did I when first heard it.
Whichever way you look at it, that coming from someone who grew up in an environment which practiced the use of well formed English sentences; it must be very difficult on their part. It depends on how you see it. It could very well be interpreted as an insult that Singaporeans have problems speaking the English language, one which I can’t disagree or it could be the foreigners just trying their best to sound as local as possible.
My mum was praised as being ‘one of the few Singaporeans who could speak perfect English’, I wonder; is the English spoken by us of such a poor standard? No offense to my mum who always tries to practice good English speaking habits at home. But it is just me always trying to get her to speak broken English or Singlish. And on most occasions I am successful.
And out of mischief, I always tell my mum:
“How Singaporean are you if you don’t use the lingo we all use?”
You might have guessed that I love using Singlish but yet I don’t really practice it in my blog posts for the sole reason why we are encouraged to speak good English – so that others around the world can understand what we are trying to say. I doubt someone half way across the globe would understand you if you said:
“Eh, help off light leh!”
That wouldn’t make any sense to them now would it?
I could get loose with my excessive use of Singlish while talking among my friends, but you would never catch me doing that in situations which requires me to practice good English. Situations where you do not know how much the use of Singlish would impact the mutual relationship between the person you are conversing with and yourself.
I do approve the use of Singlish to a certain extent, it is alright if you are still able to practice good English when the situation calls for it. But if it eventually sips into your daily speaking habits, now that is a cause of worry.
What about you?
Do you approve the use of Singlish?
22 year old fitness enthusiast currently pursuing a Bachelor in Computer Science at the University of Adelaide and aspiring to become a Web Developer in the near future. 
I disapprove the use of Singlish. It is a poor form of expression and foreigners will not be able to understand us effectively.Speak Good English.
I approve of singlish, since the foreigners are coming to OUR country, they, of course wants to learn more about our culture, and how we speak etc. If we are just going to show them some PERFECT english, it just seem like another boring country. If singlish is an example of bad english, what if we look at the other way, saying that Singlish is not a english? Saying that singlish is a WHOLE new language, then we are the kings of the language.
jialin: Then we would all have to study a minimum of 3 languages from now on. English, your mother tongue and Singlish. Wahahaha! Thankfully I am no longer in primary/secondary school.
There is no such thing as “broken English”.
PS : i approve singlish