SINGAPORE and its Languages 

"Their food die die must try." LMAO

watching him break down singlish so academically was just hilarious lol. ive never seen it treated like a legitimate language before and im malaysian.

Singaporean here! (with a very long comment) At home, I speak either Singlish or 'Singdarin' - we don't use the word 'Singdarin' here and you'll definitely draw some confused looks if you ask Singaporeans about it. Even so, I'm fully able to write essays in standard English. It is true that Singaporean English is based off British English - notice that I spell words like 'colour' and 'programme' rather than 'color' and 'program'. As for Mandarin, people usually refer to it simply as 'Chinese'. Many students nowadays seem to dislike Mandarin for one reason or another, and so that means the Mandarin standard varies widely from person to person. My Mandarin is above average, so I'll definitely be able to understand Mandarin TV, radio, news etc. However, when it comes to other Chinese varieties, I only understand bits and pieces of Hokkien and Cantonese, and I'm unable to speak it. This is really common amongst youth because we simply don't have many chances to use non-Mandarin varieties. I also learn Malay as a third language in school - the third language scheme is not for all students, rather it's a programme offered to selective students based on their performance in a national exam. The Malay I'm taught is Standard Malay; the use of Melayu Pasar is discouraged but it is definitely understandable for a speaker of Standard Malay. Somewhat interestingly, I'm also a Peranakan - my first ancestor to leave China married a Malay woman in Melaka (in Malaysia), and further down the line my great-great-grandfather moved to Singapore. Baba Malay is, unfortunately, a dwindling language - as mentioned in the video, only the older generation use it. My grandmother and my father speak to each other in Baba Malay, but otherwise they won't use it. Baba Malay is really quite similar to Standard Malay, but has some vocabulary from Hokkien. A speaker of Standard Malay would hence largely be able to understand Baba Malay. Today, most young Singaporeans only speak 1.5 languages, as mentioned by somebody else below - English is no problem, but their mother tongue may leave much to be desired. Some hardcore fans of anime or K-Pop attempt to pick up Japanese or Korean, while others interested in foreign languages may also try to learn French, Spanish etc. I do hope that my sharing is interesting, so do feel free to reply with any questions you may have :)

Singapore! When l was there, everybody, but everybody, spoke good English, with one exception: ln a store owned by Chinese-Singaporeans, the lady didn't understand English; she called out to her seven-year-old daughter, who came running, and helped me, in fluent English!

It is fascintaing how what was once a fishing village is now a global trade centre where languages from all over the world are being spoken.

Hi everyone. Please don't post topic requests. Requests aren't feasible for a channel like this with videos that take so much time and effort to make. I try to filter out requests, so you don't see most of them. If I left them unfiltered, they would flood the entire comment section. I get thousands of them every month, with a big spike whenever I upload a new video. So, it may seem like yours is the only one, but there are LOTS. I'm afraid I just can't be responsive to requests. But I hope you enjoy this video and all my others. Thanks!

A well researched piece Paul, just a bit of feedback from a guy who spent 21 years growing up in Singapore. 1. Hokkien is pronounced as Hock-kien, you said it more like Hoe-kien. The first syllable Hok should rhyme with block, flock and mock. 2. Singlish has evolved a lot in the last 20 years or so, losing a lot of its more colourful features sadly! This is because I grew up in a Singapore where not everyone spoke English, I grew up speaking 6 languages (English, Hokkien, Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese, Teochew and that was NORMAL back then) - that meant that I was able to draw upon vocabulary from 5 languages to make my Singlish even more Singaporean. But good grief, the younger generation are hopeless when it comes to languages these days. Most speak 1.5 languages, we're talking typically a decent grasp of English + a half baked effort in Mandarin or Malay and virtually no knowledge of any other local languages. Thus if I used a loanword from Cantonese or Hokkien, I'd get a blank stare at the best of times. Their version of Singlish retains the accent and the awkward grammar (which is essentially Chinese grammar) but it has lost a lot of the rich vocabulary sadly. You can essentially get away with just English these days, which wasn't the case when I was a child. 3. You missed an important point about Singdarin - the pronunciation is extremely non-standard and most people from Beijing are appalled at how wrong and bad our pronunciation is! This is because of the adoption of a non-standard accent when people who spoke Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka etc started learning Mandarin and mispronounced a LOT of words - like a LOT of words, like I am not exaggerating how freaking wrong and bad our accent is. Like where do I even begin - you've heard the way we speak English, yeah we mess up Mandarin in pretty much the same way. However! A recent change has emerged thanks to the popularity of TV programmes from China in the last 10 years or so and it has made many Singaporeans adopt a far more standard Beijing accent when they speak Mandarin. In my father's time, nobody was there to tell him just how awful his mistakes were when it came to his pronunciation and if everyone made the same mistakes, then it comes a regional accent. Modern technology and media is changing that though. 4. A bizarre situation has arisen: there are a large number of Filipino migrant workers in Singapore and you often see signs in Tagalog in Singapore rather than in Tamil because there are far more Tagalog speakers in Singapore than real Tamil speakers (given that not all Singaporeans of Indian origin speak Tamil at all and many resent being forced to learn Tamil which is essentially a foreign language for them). But all in all, a well researched piece. Well done!!!

One of the titbits I like sharing is the signs that are written in all four official languages of Singapore. Since Malay was written in Jawi (Arabic script) in the past, some older signs still bear it. Then we have four languages from four language families (Indo-European, Sinitic, Austronesian, Dravidian) in four different scripts (Latin, Chinese, Arabic, Tamil) that are four different types of writing (alphabet, logograph, abjad, abugida) together. It's a beautifully rich mosaic of variety to behold.

தமிழ் | Thamizh is one of the official language 💕💕💕

Singaporean here: Singlish with my family and most friends Singdarin with Mandarin-oriented friends Standard English in schools, at work, or to foreigners Excellent video 10/10. I liked how you were cognizant of the fact that mother tongue may not correspond to language actually spoken at home. Also great job on getting a Singaporean to do the voiceover!

🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬 Singapore Singapura சிங்கப்பூர் 新加坡

I speak English. Malay and Tamil. Understand Mandarin but not conversant. Yes i am very comfortable with Singlish but you are right, most of us switch to proper English when the need arises. Singaporeans serve National Service (mostly police/Army) Thats where Singlish really comes in. Very well researched, thanks.

I'm singaporean and i speak English as my first language. Tho i am fluent in Mandarin and partially fluent in Malay (bazaar malay mostly). Your description of the language varieties and usage is actually extremely accurate! Kudos!

Woah, video I helped write! Incredibly proud to have contributed to this channel and very excited to continue to do so in the future!

I'm a Singaporean, born and raised (hey!) I regularly switch inbetween English, Mandarin, and Cantonese at home, sometimes within the same sentence. Singlish is discouraged because of little children who will pick it all up and whom my parents have an interest in properly educating. At work, I have mainly Filipino bosses and coworkers, so I use mostly standard English with them. However, since the cafe in which I work is located within an expat-dominated residential district, I increasingly get the chance to hone my German and Japanese skills with my customers, although more German since they make up like a large third of the European customer pool. Another third is taken up by British and Americans, and a quarter is taken up by French. The rest are diverse, but mostly Japanese. With my friends, we mostly speak Singlish, because generally Singaporean Chinese of higher education levels have very bad Chinese standards. In fact, once upon a time about 3 years ago everyone around me considered my German better than my Chinese, and so I was called a banana - yellow on the outside, white on the inside.

As someone from Hawaiʻi (which went through a similar phase of systematic suppression of both the Hawaiian language and our own creole "Pidgin" in the 20th century in favor of a standardized form of English), I must warn Singaporeans not to abandon Singlish. Language is integral to identity, and suppressing it is one of the most effective means of dismantling that identity.

I will start saying die die, must try

Wah ang moh finally make sg video wah so pro

Our drawing so simple, how to pass? 我们的画这么简单，怎么过啊？ 我们的--our 画--drawing 这么--so 简单--simple 怎么--how 过--pass This looks like a perfect Chinglish sentence which is word-to-word translated from Chinese, lol.

As a Singaporean it’s both fascinating and amusing to see you dissect our Singlish, and it’s spot on👍😄

Great timing - I'm a Canadian university student currently doing an exchange in Singapore, and I could most definitely use 15 minutes of linguistic education regarding the country I'm currently living in. But it's 3 AM and I should get to sleep, so I'll check this out tomorrow.

I'm Tamil from india....I support Singapore.. it's my dream City ❤️❤️❤️❤️

"Singdarin" So... Singaporean elvish?

All your videos are flawless, informative, entertaining; in short, they're perfect, and this one makes no exception. Grazie (thank you) from Italy. :)

Question of the day, I am an Indonesian citizen who lived in Singapore in the past for a couple of months. The language I speak the most there is Mandarin, mainly due to meeting mostly ethnic Chinese people, and second most is English. I do try to speak standard English, but Singlish is just so attractive that my accent got "transformed" magically, and all of a sudden, I'm sounding just like a Singaporean. Most likely due to my Hokkien family background that I'm very used to the accentuations of Singlish, since it sounds very similar to Hokkien. Speaking Indonesian natively, which is very close to Malay, might also contribute to this magical transformation.

It's amazing how Tamil is official at the national level in Singapore despite being spoken by 3+% of the population while in its birthplace India it's spoken by 7+% but isn't official at the national level. The same goes for all major Indian languages except hindi which has bipartisan political support from ruling elites.

I'm a Brazilian living in Singapore, since last year. I only use english here, but even the traditional english is different for me (it's more the british english, but with a very heavy accent). I was used to listen to the American english, so, when I got here it was a big challenge to understand their english.. And Singlish I cannot understand at all.. I'm sorry my fellow Singaporeans, but Singlish is very hard for me Lah!! Hahaha

Singaporean here. Speaks Malay at home and English and a mix of Tamil/Mandarin at work. Singlish, depending on certain group of people.

Was not expecting this! This is awesome!

Thanks for the video! Singaporean here and love all your videos

This was really fascinating. I have some friends from Singapore but don't know much about it. It was great to learn a little bit more. Always love your videos! Thanks for posting it.

Your Malay is really good, Paul. A noticeable foreign accent, but still very understandable. This video just makes me want to go to Singapore.

This channel is amazing! As a language lover I learnt a lot from you Paul!

Recently saw a newspaper article where someone observed how Chinese vocabulary education in Singapore is evolving to become more like that in mainland China, which has caused some debate of whether local culture could be undermined. For instance, using 市场 to mean 'market' in Chinese, instead of 巴刹 (which is transliterated from _pasar_ , the Malay word for 'market'). I think this might be an area to watch too in the near future.

Love love this detailed breakdown of our languages. Thanks for doing this!

I've just found your channel and I love it. Thank you very much, love from Argentina x

The language profiles of countries have been some of my favorite videos. Keep up the good work!

Thank you for doing a focus on Singapore!

I'm continually amazed by the quality of your videos. Big thanks from France🙂

Singdarin and Maladarin have so many interesting sayings and idioms that I as a Mainlander find amusing and oftentimes quite puzzling, like for example a common food in Singapore is the Teochew noodle dish known as Bak Chor Mee 肉挫麵, in Mandarin this makes no sense, but in Teochew Bak Chor mean minced meat, there's plenty of instances where something from a certain Chinese dialect is translated word for word into Mandarin and it come out sounding quite awkward.

I like how you are spot on with every topic. I know a lot about this, and I have lived in Singapore, so it was cool to see all of that information as if it was from someone who was living there.

The language situation in Singapore is truly complex and you've made a commendable effort in covering this topic. I learned a fair few things myself. I think that's the reason why its so hard to explain to foreigners what exactly we speak here. When I'm with my fellow Singaporean friends, we converse in Singlish or even in Proper English, but at a pace and accent that foreigners may mistake as another language altogether. So it becomes imperative to slow down and enunciate when speaking to them. Proficiency of any language (English, Mandarin, Malay etc.) also differs greatly amongst the population. For example, it is quite possible for someone to struggle in English classes in Singapore, and also struggle in their 'Mother Tongue' classes despite speaking a mix of both languages at home. Aiya, basically its very hard to answer the question 'What do you speak in Singapore' comprehensively.

I've been curious about this topic for a while now. Thanks for answering some of my questions! 😁

Thank you so much Paul for presenting everything in a concise and extremely accurate video! :D Well done !

Paul - as a sailor, I've been to Singapore so many times, I can't remember. But we were always very well treated - no problems with the Authorities whatsoever. Clearance of the Vessel was very Swift (as a Radio Operator it was one of my tasks). So Singapore AND that time Hongkong BCC which was equal easy rank among the easiest Ports to enter.

Yes!!!!! Finally a legit video trying to explain singlish!!!!! Many locals(esp younger generation) thinks hokkien=singlish when its not. As u have shown,there is a kind of sentence structure etc.

Lol I absolutely love Singlish it sounds so fun! It’s also not that hard to understand as long as it’s spoken a bit slower lol - Greetings from Toronto, Canada

Thanx Paul for another great video. Singapore always fascinates me and the singlish is something I find amusing. Your explanation on that was also very nicely done.

Decided to extend a trip in may to incude Singapore and the more I learn about it, the more unique I realize it is. Im super excited to go!

Wow, this guy is a genius! He will explained it in absolute details. Thank you so much!

very cool to see languages come together like this to form language varients such as singlish. You have sparked my interest and I want to learn more about it now. Such a cool way of speaking and a it's if I'm not mistaken a good link to how other language structures work.

your videos are always so well researched and informative. I really enjoy them

I am quite impressed. This video seems quite well-researched and well-presented.

Fascinating content as always!

3:50 - Singlish is an English dialect with Southbanvetian 閩南語 aka Hokkien, Cantonese, Teoswanese 潮汕語 aka Teochew, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil influenced (in vocabularies, grammar and accent).

Every time I get back hear, I see how good your content is and how this dialects (singlish and singdarin) are lit

I live in Singapore. I speak Singlish and Singdarin with my friends and colleagues but I do code-switch and speak a more standard form of English and Mandarin in more formal situations - just like what you've mentioned in the video. Thanks for making this video!

I'm from Singapore and have been following your channel for some time! I'm amazed at how accurate depiction of Singlish is! It's actually how i would switch into, when speaking with my local friends. On a side note, while working alot with china clients, i found that many times they would mistake my chinese accent to that of Taiwan. It has happen on many occasions.

Thanks for sharing Paul, I never thought that there are so many intriguing things in Singapore's language. I once been to Singapore when I was small, but didn't have the awareness of the complexity of it's languages and communications at that time, this video provided me a structure to understand them. And I also thought that Singlish is a form of incomplete English before, like it's a displaying of individuals' or groups' learning processes to master English starting from the context of their mother language and their (major societal culturally different) familial social circles, so it's a new and stimulating thing to me when seeing you compare Singlish with other formal language in the area.

Great video Paul! Very informative. I specially liked the historical background (however short it must be) to put in better perspective de lanugage diversity of Singapore. Keep up the good work!

Good job on the video, quite accurate! I can feel the amount of research put into this, definitely not an easy task to able to provide accurate info about another country's language. I laughed after watching the part on "Singdarin" and further realising how "unique" and "diverse" our different languages are! Damn zai sia we all LOL

Congratulations and well done Langfocus for the effort that you have placed in making this video. Your Malay pronunciation was also very good! You must also credit the phrase " lah" to the malays as it is the core phrase in Singlish.

Great video. Campbell's work is superb!

Wow!! Singlish is so cool! This video was so informative and easy to watch!!

The changing language environment and government policies has made inter-generational communication quite difficult, interestingly. My grandparents grew up in colonial period Singapore, where Hokkien is the lingua franca, and they learnt and speak Hokkien, Teochew fluently and some Mandarin. My parents grew up in the prospering 70s Singapore, where they spoke Mandarin in schools and the Chinese dialects at home. They mostly picked up English at work as the working environment changed to a more Western style with many foreign companies opening up offices here. I grew up in 2000s Singapore, speaking English in school, and 50/50 Mandarin and English at home (often heavy code switching). In fact, now it's more of 90/10 English to Mandarin, as my Mandarin skills are rather lacking and I never picked up Teochew, which was my ethnic Chinese dialect. It's a bit sad in family reunions when I can't really communicate well with my grandparents. They are far more comfortable speaking the language of their forefathers, the chinese dialects, while I'm more comfortable with English, and both of us have to speak Mandarin as the middle ground. In fact, often, the older generation become excited when a younger person speaks to them in dialect, as it's the language they are instantly familiar with. Unfortunately, I think the chinese dialects may die out with my generation, with its only remnants left as random vocabulary words in Singdarin and Singlish.

Awesome video!! As a Singaporean, I really appreciate your effort in making this video and showing interest in Singapore!!! :D thank you!! To answer your question: I'm a Singaporean living in Singapore. I speak English most of the time - at home, in school, to myself and it's the language i think in. Because my family does not have the habit of conversing in Mandarin other than the random Chinese phrases we insert into daily convos sometimes, I only speak Mandarin with my grandparents, while ordering food at hawker centres/coffeeshops/canteens (if the listener is Chinese), in school during Chinese lessons (which end after secondary school or junior college), and sometimes with my friends who switch between English and Mandarin, though only a little. I also use Singlish a lot, but I can switch between proper English and Singlish with ease :) I use Singlish more in casual conversations, but when you speak in class, you are expected to use proper English.

Visited Singapore several times. Always a pleasure. You definitely can get by only speaking English. It is awesome that they put so much respect for diverse cultural backgrounds into their policy and education. Everyone should have the opportunity to learn another language to understand a different perspective of those around them and further abroad.

I'm a Singaporean Malay. I can assure you, Bazaar Malay is not specific to older Malays. Both young and old use them daily, along with both Standard English and Singlish. With majority of Malays being educated in English, Standard Malay is sadly now only spoken in educational institutions and formal occasions. Malay TV, radio and newspaper still use the standard version.

Useful video for anyone who wants to learn more about Singapore from a Singaporean myself and im talking in a formal way right now but I can go singlish anytime

Great video! Incredible seeing how you are able to make such an interesting video about a topic so "small" like this! Complimenti, molto bravo come al solito! Come hai fatto a metterti in contatto con i tizi da Singapore che ti hanno fatto le registrazioni vocali?

For question of the day, I am Singapore PR (Malaysian), normally I talk with my cousin using English. However, I found myself speaks Chinese most of the time outside. (here comes the Singlish/Manglish part) Singlish is like Manglish lah, very easy only. You stay long time here then know already. Got one namewee video teach you how to use ‘mah’, ‘leh’ and ‘hah’, but a little offensive lah [Rough translation for the Singlish/Manglish] Singlish is similarly easy to learn like Manglish. If you live here for a while you will learn it gradually. There is a video by Namewee (A popular music creator from Malaysia) that teaches you how to use the word ‘mah’, ‘leh’ and ‘hah’ in your everyday speech. Although the video is quite offensive to some people.

Excellent research. Congratulations, laah!

As a native Singaporean, I thank you for your sibei tokong video; it is far more accurate than most other ones found on RU-vid, and the examples are some pretty common ones found in everyday life! It's damn shiok to see this video (although i downright cackled at some of the pronounciations and accent) spreading correct information with research to back it up. Keep up the good work :)

I'm a Singaporean and yes, in formal situations I use mostly SSE (Standard Singaporean English). I speak Singlish and Mandarin to those who may have difficulty understanding the formal version of English such as at hawker centre, etc.

i searched for singlish and singdarin. and you langfocus have excellent one. thx

Singaporean here. Code switching is definitely an important skill to have here, knowing the right social situation and context to mix and use the different forms of the different languages forms a key part in shaping the growth of a Singaporean (and our relatives the Malaysians as well). One thing that is worth emphasizing is the sentence modifiers in Singlish. They are a huge deal, and can change the entire meaning of sentences.

Very interesting video. I plan to visit Singapore later this year, or next year. Seems like a fascinating place. Added a subscription lah!

Wow I almost thought you're an expatriate that has lived in Singapore for a couple of years. Very well researched and well-explained.

Well done. I love Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. I liked your format, and can't wait to share your video with friends and family in the region and to get their feedback. FYI. The Caspian Report has a nice two part intro to SE Asia and explains some of the diversity found in SE Asia.

Thanks for the video! Was pleasantly surprised and found it amusing that our Creole languages could be analysed this way. To answer your question: I'm a Singaporean Ethnic Chinese of the Hokkien dialect group, with a smidgen of Zhejiangnese from my maternal grandmother (very rare, don't know any Singaporean as of now with any origins to that area in China). Was born after 1987. I grew up speaking English and Mandarin. My parents were both Chinese-educated way back when the language of instruction in schools were not standardised yet, but they both went to the University of Singapore (now known as National University of Singapore) where the language of instruction was in English. I was actually discouraged by my mother to learn Hokkien when I was young, though I wanted to learn it so I could converse with my paternal grandparents. In school, I learnt English and Mandarin as "first languages". English is taught as usual with an additional Higher Chinese subject, on top of Mother Tongue lessons in "Standard" Chinese. Did 2 Chinese subjects for 10 years. I mainly converse in Standard Singaporean English in most situations now. I speak a mixture of English and Chinese with my family and some friends who are comfortable with code-switching. Because I work with the elderly, I also converse in Mandarin and (very poor) Hokkien. I learnt basic Malay and am going to learn Hokkien soon to brush up. I'm hoping to pick up some Cantonese as well. I speak Singlish/Singdarin, but I don't do as much mixing and crossover of languages, unless it's to emphasise a point or when I absolutely can't find the right expression to describe certain things. My grammar and syntax are in the Singlish variety. For example: "Wah! Why she didn't finish her food? So wasteful sia!" -> "My goodness, why didn't she eat all of her food? That's really wasteful!" "She still haven't submitted her assignment yet? Tomorrow deadline liao leh. Jialat liao lah!" -> "Has she not submitted her assignment yet? The deadline is tomorrow! She's going to be in deep trouble! (Loose translation, but it doesn't sound quite right either lol)."

What a linguistically fascinating place! Based on your description of Singapore's linguistic environment, it sounds like a linguist's dream come true; it almost sounds like there is no end to the different variations of communication that a person could learn to use. I'm also quite impressed with the linguistic planning in the education system in the city state. In the United States, the matter of whether an child ought to receive instruction in their native or language of heritage in addition to or in replacement of the informal national language of English is still a very much open question insofar as I am aware; furthermore, that question has been known to provoke some rather passionate and emotionally charged responses. Singapore, based on your work, solves the problem by doing both. I frequently hear people around my area in rural NY passionately objecting to street signs appearing in languages other than English, citizenship tests being given in languages other than English, classes being given in languages other than English, etc. I find it quite remarkable that such comments are made in light of the fact that the state government publishes information on its' websites in multiple languages, signs and the like in NYC are in multiple languages in many cases, just over the boarder in Canada people get along just fine with two major dominate languages; my only conclusion currently is that people in my rural area have extremely limited exposure to different languages and people from various parts of the planet and perhaps react in such a manner because they possibly view linguistic diversity as a threat to their perceived identity. This tangent aside, what a fascinating video! Many thanks for creating and sharing!

I believe Singlish started off as a direct translation from Malay or Chinese (not sure about the latter because I'm not familiar with it) because, upon closer inspection, the structure of the imperative form of Singlish or any subject-less sentence is perfectly similar to Malay (or Chinese?). The same Singlish-like type of communication can also actually be found in Malaysia and Brunei as well, spoken by both the peoples of Malay and Chinese ethnicity. It is very apparent when two people from both races are conversing and all the standard English rules are instantly out of the window.

i’ve never heard of singdarin, i’ve always thought of it as just a mix of english and chinese. i use english on a day to day basis, wether it’s at school or when i go out. my two best friends are korean and many of my other classmates can’t speak chinese so we speak english all the time. i used to be in a sep school when i was younger which means everyone learned chinese but we still spoke in english. the english i speak on a day to day basis definitely has a bit of singlish in it but it’s mostly proper english. at home with my family i speak singadrin as my mother is an immigrant from china, my grandmother speaks little english and the other members of my family are pretty okay in chinese as well. an exception to this is when i speak to my helper who is from the philippines and cannot speak chinese. anyways great video, really enjoyed it!

@Langfocus, as a Singaporean I have to salute you for your excellent piece of work! Marvellously done. To answer your question, I use standard English, standard Mandarin and standard Cantonese for daily conversation. I don't really use creole (Singlish/Sindarin) unless it is really necessary, because I realise standard languages are fully comprehensible to creole speakers if you keep your spoken vocab relatively simple. In an official or multi-racial setting, English is the default language. Otherwise I'll try to accommodate my audience. Code switch seems automatic to me.

I dead at your Singlish explanation 💀💀💀💀 I literally laughed too hard in the middle of night.. can’t sleep now🥺

This was absolutely fascinating. :O

I'm Indian Tamil, but my grandma's side of the family were Tamil immigrants to Singapore and Malaysia, although my grandma moved back to India while her extended family stayed in Malaysia and Singapore. It's really interesting to hear about the linguistic diversity of Singapore! Thanks for making this video.

This is interesting and quite refreshing . Most other youtube videos tend to poke fun at Singlish.

I'm a local Singaporean. Born and raised here. Use Singapore English mostly at home. In most outside situation will use Singlish too, unless there's a formal setting then standard English will be required. Funny thing is conversing with people especially hawkers or just elder people providing services, I choose to use Mandarin instead. It's just very natural and don't have to think twice before using either languages.

Thanks for this video, I was always curious about what language was spoken in SG

Thanks for sharing the video. Very nice.

My wife is Singaporean, (first 30yrs SG, 20yrs Australia). She speaks Hakka to her direct family members, Mandarin to other Chinese people, was tertiary educated in formal English and therefore whilst she completely understands Singlish, a lot of it has never been spoken by her. I (Australian born) speak Singlish to her for fun in Australia (from what I learn on annual pilgrimage to the "Little Red Dot") and to keep her connected to her SG identity. I see Singlish in much the same way as an English speaking person in Australia whom extensively uses colloquialism. They struggle to express themselves in "educated" English which can be awkward in many situations. I enjoy speaking to her SG friends who have acquired their degree qualifications in English speaking countries abroad (because I don't have to strain to understand their words or pronunciation). Very interesting video, and I hope that I haven't appeared elitist or snobbish. Take care!

Singapore is very beautiful ❤️ Short time become richest developed country in the world. Indian Tamil is one of the national language in Singapore is very happy. It is one of the oldest language in world. சிங்கப்பூர் மிக அற்புதமான நாடு. குறுகிய காலத்தில் பணக்காரன் நாடாகவும் அதே சமயம் வளர்ச்சி அடைந்த நாடுகளில் ஒன்றாகவும் உள்ளது.

Love it Paul! Great stuff, I love Singapore and would like to go there some day. Have you been there before?

Thank you very much, this video was very informative !

This video sibeh tok kong. :D I'm Singaporean Chinese though I spent most of my childhood overseas. I primarily speak Hokkien and English at home, Mandarin/Sindarin to order food, English with some Singlish at work. By the way, the etymology of the word "die die" has Chinese origins. I'm not too sure but possibly Hokkien. My grandmother used to say it a lot but it had a more negative connotation in Hokkien. E.g. "Your exam is tomorrow? You must die die get an A!" It carries the meaning of "by any possible means" with a sense of urgency.

impressive, quite an in dept review and explanation of the languages used in singapore backed with information on historical background and governing policies. much better than other random foreign youtubers trying to explain singlish from their personal experience that lacks connection to singaporean roots.

Am writing this just before watching the video - am honestly quite surprised that you would find Singapore a worthy place to do a language video about...I'm intrigued to see what you'll talk about!

That's an extremely fresh cut you're rocking, Paul.

As a Singaporean, I must say this is a pretty interesting analysis of our languages. But as a Singaporean Chinese, come on, I've never heard of the term "Singdarin" in my entire life 😂 The way I see it, Singlish is simply the mash up of all languages and dialects found in Singapore. Rojak. But honestly, great job in trying to make sense of Singlish. This is one of those things that foreigners struggle with in Singapore. And you're right - it's our national pride.