Question: Will foreign kids in local schools speak Singlish?

here_i_am · Post by **here_i_am** » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 5:56 am

We're exploring schooling options and I was hoping for some other parents' personal experiences. For those that send their kids to local schools, do the kids end up speaking in Singlish? Does it make a difference if you speak straight English at home and require your child to speak properly?

I guess I dont have anything specifically against Singlish, but I simply have a hard time understanding and appreciating it. I also see it as a possible roadblock to some opportunities. For instance today, we had an almost great presentation from an agency, until their account manager started speaking in Singlish. She was very hard to understand and her grammar and expressions were awful. Suffice to say, her Singlish made their agency lose the account.

durain · Post by **durain** » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 6:08 am

here in dis folum oledi learning singlish la.

taxico · Post by **taxico** » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 7:31 am

i studied in singapore for 9 years after arriving at aged 7... i have non-singaporean friends who have lived here as PRs since birth too.

i recall those who hung around with english speaking friends (as in; strictly english speaking only, locals or foreigners irregardless) turned out okay.

and yes, it makes a difference if you speak properly to them (and correct them - yes, we pick up colloquial "terms" and accents).

if that doesn't happen and the kid mixes exclusively/very regularly with other local kids who speak nothing but singlish and dialects and bastardized madarin (they still exist), it's extremely likely he/she will speak in the same weird way given enough exposure.

your best bet will be to put them in the "better ranked" local (pri/sec) schools or more popular pre-schools. the students there speak mostly english.

how did i turn out? i speak fine, and i have the added ability to turn "on" my singlish mode whenever i visit! plus i know local swear words... heh!

k1w1 · Post by **k1w1** » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:38 am

My kids went to a local kindergarten and they began speaking in the most God-awful manner, despite only being in the school half the day and having two native-English speaking parents. I found it infuriating and would correct them all the time, but it made no difference. I'm an English teacher, so I thought I could definitely sort it out. Wrong.

Students I come into contact with, who have spent time in local schools, all have terrible speech and often very unnatural ways of writing (such as a total overuse of words like "actually", or very formal/outdated expressions).

The comment about getting them into a "good" primary school is irrelevant, as foreigners are only allowed to apply for places in schools once local kids have all been allocated places. Needless to say, places in good schools are long gone by that time.

kaseyma · Post by **kaseyma** » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:15 am

here_i_am wrote:We're exploring schooling options and I was hoping for some other parents' personal experiences. For those that send their kids to local schools, do the kids end up speaking in Singlish? Does it make a difference if you speak straight English at home and require your child to speak properly?

Daughter learned Singlish and was able to use it in everyday conversation with school friends.

However, she also knew to switch over when talking to us (the parents) and our friends.
Was funny to watch the seamless switch when she was talking with her friends and then had something to ask me.

kaseyma · Post by **kaseyma** » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:22 am

k1w1 wrote:My kids went to a local kindergarten and they began speaking in the most God-awful manner, despite only being in the school half the day and having two native-English speaking parents. I found it infuriating and would correct them all the time, but it made no difference. I'm an English teacher, so I thought I could definitely sort it out. Wrong.

Sorry to say, but it sounds like you are letting your children's friends be a bigger influence than you are.

Best to take back as much control as you can now.
You only lose control the older they get.

gif · Post by **gif** » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 1:45 pm

I think it's hopeless situation, singlish is so "fast catching": I have a quite strong italian accent which I'm trying to get rid of, but turning to a sort of singlish!!!
Unless you confine your kids into native-english speaking environment, but sounds a bit "sad", like in a "ghetto", whereas the best part of being abroad is to get in touch with different cultures.

A good point could be to let them handle the singlish as a second language, trying to force them to proper english at home. If they're young enough, like a game in which they get prize (or "punishment" like cleaning the table) when they use, or not, singlish at home.

How does it sound? Is it too cruel? I have no children, but trying to make up my mind how I should be educating them, considering that they might spend abroad most part of their life.

viajera · Post by **viajera** » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 1:59 pm

i suppose it also depends on how old the child is. when we arrived, my son was almost 5 and after about a year in a local kindy, he now switches between english, singlish and another european language, his accent and sentence construction changes when he's talking singlish to his mates, cabbies and aunties in the shops, but drops it when talking to us or other non-singlish speaking persons.

taxico · Post by **taxico** » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 4:29 pm

viajera wrote:after about a year in a local kindy, he now switches between english, singlish and another european language, his accent and sentence construction changes when he talking singlish to his mates, cabbies and aunties in the shops, but drops it when talking to us or other non-singlish speaking persons.

that sounds like me when i was young... : ) it's like singlish is a language by itself (i know it seems crazy) but the brain's a wonderful thing. heh!

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Sun, 12 Oct 2008 4:14 pm

here-i-am, how old are your children - are you thinking only for kindergarten or long term , cause speaking singlish may be the least of your problems. My son went to school here from 7 - 14 - he loved it - no singlish accent - could switch it on and off with friends. When he went to new zealand he was streaks ahead in his maths (doing maths at 14 he did at 8 in singapore) - but suffering in his creative english. Trying to use his imagination is hard, as they are not taught that way.

If your children have been in another system overseas and then going to .local school, I dont think they will adapt to it

k1w1 · Post by **k1w1** » Sun, 12 Oct 2008 7:18 pm

kaseyma wrote: Sorry to say, but it sounds like you are letting your children's friends be a bigger influence than you are.

Best to take back as much control as you can now.
You only lose control the older they get.

Geez, way to make a ridiculous assumption...

My children are also influenced by their teachers, who all spoke with local accents too. If you read my post again, you'll see my kids were at a kindergarten - exactly how much control do you really think peers that age have? My kids now attend an International School anyway.

I agree with the last poster. Singlish might be the least of your problems... (My kindergarten children were shown pictures of 9-11 and told the horrendous story of that day in graphic detail. The principal could not understand why I felt that was inappropriate...)

road.not.taken · Post by **road.not.taken** » Sun, 12 Oct 2008 8:25 pm

k1w1 wrote:
kaseyma wrote: Sorry to say, but it sounds like you are letting your children's friends be a bigger influence than you are.

Best to take back as much control as you can now.
You only lose control the older they get.
Geez, way to make a ridiculous assumption...

My children are also influenced by their teachers, who all spoke with local accents too. If you read my post again, you'll see my kids were at a kindergarten - exactly how much control do you really think peers that age have? My kids now attend an International School anyway.

I agree with the last poster. Singlish might be the least of your problems... (My kindergarten children were shown pictures of 9-11 and told the horrendous story of that day in graphic detail. The principal could not understand why I felt that was inappropriate...)

I thought the same thing when I read kaseyma's post.

I think if you have to exert that much 'control' over your children just to battle the influence of the english skills of the other students and teachers than you are in the wrong school. In the right school, they would be learning positive things you wouldn't want to undo. K1w1's point about 9/11 certainly proved that. I had dinner with an older gentlemen a few night ago who used to be in charge of admissions of a large international school, not here in Singapore. What he was saying about the wasted efforts of counseling after a tragedy like 9/11 was downright scary. "Chinese people don't need counseling, chinese people are strong." What a putz, good thing he's retired.

MaddyJay · Post by **MaddyJay** » Mon, 13 Oct 2008 9:19 pm

heya,

we moved to singapore just after 9-11 and we were just going out for shopping one day at jurong mall and this little kid came up to us, put his arm up straight like a building and had his other arm out and pushed his hand toward his upright arm...and then he pointed at us..re-enacting 9-11 with his hands...
now, i'm not going to tell what race he was, but it was really shocking.. he could have been about 8.

anyway, i went to high school here and i did learn a lot of singlish. i personally dont like it at all.. it was hard trying to talk to my friends with an aussie accent so i had to try to speak like them when i was with them, but talk normally when i was at home.

but i find it weird when i meet some singaporeans who have never been to US but have a US accent...

-confused maddyjay

taxico · Post by **taxico** » Tue, 14 Oct 2008 6:13 am

MaddyJay wrote:but i find it weird when i meet some singaporeans who have never been to US but have a US accent...

like how you use singlish when socializing with locals, maybe singaporeans use american-accented english under similar situations...

especially when one doesn't need to be in US to pick up that accent as it's commonly heard around the world, and these days, perhaps most accepted.

what i find weird is singaporeans who still use an accent when talking to select group of locals who may find the accent hard to understand.

i don't believes there's such thing as a singaporean who can't speak singlish (unless they have lived their lives wholly overseas).

judaspriest · Post by **judaspriest** » Sun, 19 Oct 2008 6:50 pm

My 7-yr old was in a non-local school till this year, when I moved her to Pri-1 at a local school near home. I feared she'd get this godawful accent and grammar after nearly 1-yr of schooling here, but I'm amazed at how these kids adapt. When talking to the maid or some of her friends, she switches to singlish, and when talking to others, switches seamlessly to proper English.

My office-mate's son was in a PAP child care and kindergarten since the beginning, and the accent and grammar are unmistakably horrible. He simply can't speak proper English. I don't blame the school entirely - there was almost zero effort at home to correct this.

Their environment in school / friends etc does affect them, but this can be offset by speaking correctly, formulating proper sentences, using the right grammar and pronunciation at home. However a good school in the early years (upto 7-8) where proper English is spoken really helps a lot. It will be a lot tougher if they're in a singlish-only atmosphere from day-1.

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Question: Will foreign kids in local schools speak Singlish?

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