Loss of culture remains a persistent predicament that has plagued many
countries when concerned with the ill effects of globalization, specifically
Singapore. The challenge faced in Singapore today is that there is a lack of
appreciation for one’s own language heritage. One example of such deteriorating
language culture is the erosion of dialects in Singapore (Vaish, n.d). Also, in
modern society today, the use of Singapore’s own version of English, also know
as Singlish, is frowned upon by the government and many citizens. This shows
the lack of espousal towards Singapore’s unique culture. With the new
generation of youth being more interconnected with other western cultures and
mannerisms, there is increased difficulty in attempting to draw back these
youth to their origins. The stray of the younger generations away from their
roots could affect Singapore’s culture as a whole, where in the future, such
cultural habits will not be passed down to upcoming generations. Such losses
have an imminent effect on Singapore’s society, which could distort the
representation of Singapore to other parties. Thus, to stay true to Singapore’s
unique nature, solutions have to be executed so as to ensure that Singapore’s
cultural integrity will remain intact.
Languages in
Singapore can be viewed from two different perspectives. One can be that of
competing fields, while on the flip side, they can be seen as compliments, which
is the stand the government takes (Ong, n.d). However, globalisation pushes the
stand for a more homogeneous use of language instead of one that consists of a
variety. Youth of Singapore generally feel more comfortable with speaking
English and their mother tongue rather than their own dialects. According to
the “Census of Population” in 2010, 1,064,157 of Chinese Singaporeans prefer to
speak Mandarin at home rather than their own Chinese dialects, which only
482,550 speak at home. It has also been a concern that Singapore’s policies
such as the Speak Mandarin Campaign have actually eradicated the use of Chinese
dialects (Gupta & Siew, 1995; Li, 1997; Ong, n.d; Pakir, 1993). So if such
government policies are not effective, there may be other ways to bring back
the essence of dialects so that it is not forgotten. A solution would be to
include it into the local universities curriculum. Instead of giving the option
for Singaporeans to study other languages, it could be made compulsory for them
to take up a module that involves learning a local dialect from their own race,
be it if you’re Chinese, Malay or Indian. It brings awareness to these students of other dialects that they might
not be mindful of. This would be beneficial to Singapore, as the original
diverse range of dialects would not just be condensed into a simplified version
of Mandarin for example. Such knowledge will then be able to be passed on to
future peers.
Another point
encompassing language cultural loss in Singapore is that with globalization,
the government has been trying to eradicate the use of Singlish, as more
countries become aware of this unique language. ‘Singlish’ is a common informal
way of speaking between Singaporeans, and differs from Singapore Standard
English (SSE) in terms of grammar and vocabulary (Harada, 2009). The Singapore
government feels that “English
proficiency is a sine qua non of economic competitiveness” (Lee & Tan,
2011), and do not want other countries to view Singapore as inferior to them
because of the language used. They thus initiated the controversial
“Speak Good English Movement” in 2000 to help eliminate the issue at hand.
However, Singlish is still a common way of conversation up until today, showing
its ineffectiveness. Since Singlish is already adamant in the speaking
practices of many, the solution to this problem should not be to eradicate it, but
to preserve it as part of the Singaporean culture. There are many who view
Singlish as a symbol of the Singapore identity, but there are also the handful
of those who disapprove exceedingly (Ong, n.d). Thus, a balance needs to be
struck in order to please both sides. Primary schools could teach younger
pupils about when the appropriate occasions for Singaporeans to use Singlish
are, and when they are not. This would allow them to be clear about it at a
younger age so it helps foster a consciousness when using the two languages. Cultivating
such habits from a younger age deters them from straying in the future.
Overall, it is
important to educate the present generations on the history of Singapore
culture as well as to cultivate habits that can be passed down for generations
to come. It is difficult to exclude globalization from society in general, due
to the rapidly modernizing world. Thus it is important to find ways to
integrate it while still learning to appreciate the defining values of
cultures, Singapore in this case, so that erosion of such culture will not take
place.
References:
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Gupta, A. F.
(1994) The step-tongue: children's english in singapore, Clevedon,
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(n.d.). The roles of singapore standard
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Lee, K., & Tan, I. (2011, February 05). What is singlish
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