I came across this interesting article from My Paper about Singaporeans being multi-lingual instead of bi-lingual and her personal experiences with respect to speaking English and Mandarin. Her views struck a cord and I wanted to shout " Yes! Yes! This is how I feel" as I read each para.
Her first statement of how Singaporeans should consider themselves multi-lingual instead of bilingual already caught my attention. By her definition, bilinguists referred to individuals who could effectively speak 2 languages at all times and who could translate between the 2 languages. Most Singaporeans often were not competent in the latter. Hence, we should consider ourselves multilinguist instead. Indeed, if you asked me to translate balance sheet, income statement, cost of capital to Chinese, I would probably need the help of the English-Chinese dictionary.
She further commented that we spoke English more for efficiency but fell back on Mandarin due to the emotional ties. To write an email or to send an SMS, English was the primary choice. However, we often watched Chinese TV programs and listened to Chinese pop.
Indeed, although I did not speak impeccable English, I would still use English for professional reasons. Yet, sometimes to establish a sense (I hoped it was not a false sense) of camaraderie, I would engage my colleagues in Mandarin or even Hokkien. It was as if we were immediately on the same side, in the same boat and fought the same battle when we discussed our problems in Chinese. Carrying out an entire conversation in English sounded too distant and often reserved for talking to external parties or management.
What about you? Do you engage in a 'rojak' languages at work, with friends and at home? Perhaps, such rojak use of langauges have already become a signature of Singapore culture.
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