My Strange Tongue
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
My Strange Tongue
Patriotism, nobody with the right state of mind is going to claim that about himself to the rest of the world, unless he is one of those pretentious politicians trying to run for presidency, or a terrorist taping a video to be sent to the White House. In the modern day context, patriotism is often seen as an old fashioned idea, and probably a good reason why the rest of your classmates are going to stare at you in wonder on National Days, as you sing those patriotic songs out loud. It is not 'cool' to be patriotic, to be passionate about your country and be willing to die for it, because it just feels like the kind of things you read only in history textbooks, or hear about in ancient epic movies which involve heavily bearded men and their giant swords. It is OK to cover yourself in your national flag if you win some kind of medal at an international sports event, but certainly not very fashionable to have a t-shirt worn to school with the very same design. The national anthem is probably the best song to sing during national days as well, but bobbing your head to it on a MRT train and then humming it under your breath is definitely not a 'cool' thing to do, either. Patriotism just isn't very cool, and nobody really shows it nowadays anymore - save for what happened last week and that minor uproar on the internet community.
Patriotism, nobody with the right state of mind is going to claim that about himself to the rest of the world, unless he is one of those pretentious politicians trying to run for presidency, or a terrorist taping a video to be sent to the White House. In the modern day context, patriotism is often seen as an old fashioned idea, and probably a good reason why the rest of your classmates are going to stare at you in wonder on National Days, as you sing those patriotic songs out loud. It is not 'cool' to be patriotic, to be passionate about your country and be willing to die for it, because it just feels like the kind of things you read only in history textbooks, or hear about in ancient epic movies which involve heavily bearded men and their giant swords. It is OK to cover yourself in your national flag if you win some kind of medal at an international sports event, but certainly not very fashionable to have a t-shirt worn to school with the very same design. The national anthem is probably the best song to sing during national days as well, but bobbing your head to it on a MRT train and then humming it under your breath is definitely not a 'cool' thing to do, either. Patriotism just isn't very cool, and nobody really shows it nowadays anymore - save for what happened last week and that minor uproar on the internet community.
The spirit of patriotism was ignited amongst the Singaporeans last week, when one of them saw a certain variety talk show in Taiwan which commented about how strange the Singaporean accent is. They were interviewing a few celebrities in Taiwan about their experiences studying overseas, and one of them told the hosts about his experiences in Singapore while visiting here for work, and then expressing his views on how strange the Singaporean accent is to him. The word 'strange' pierced the ears of a lot of viewers out there apparently got offended by it, especially the Singaporeans - which I find to be really strange and unreasonable to begin with. The anger was particularly directed at an English teacher who was invited onto the show, and her comment about the Singaporean accent was particularly annoying to the Singaporeans who were offended, claiming that she could not understand the accent when she first arrived in Singapore. A lot of Singaporeans wanted apologies from the celebrities on the show, and particularly that English teacher who made that remark about the accent. Suddenly, patriotism is a cool thing, and everybody is standing up to defend their countries for the dumbest reason - because somebody thinks your accent is hard to understand.
As a person who understands both the accents in Singapore and Taiwan, I think I am in the perfect position to judge whether or not the uproar in the internet community is rational or not. So here I am, telling you that most of the rage I have read about online concerning this matter has been both childish and irrational, completely without a point to begin with whatsoever. You hear a whole bunch of people complaining about how wrong it was for the guests to be commenting on the Singaporean accent like that, all the while in improper English and sentence structures that don't make half a sense whatsoever. With the grasp of a language that poor, it is kind of hard to argue your way through, especially when you are trying to argue that Singaporeans know decent English. Personally, I do not doubt that very much at all, and I think that most Singaporeans are able to write and speak decent enough English to express themselves, to understand somebody else from other countries. I don't think the guests of the show ever doubted that fact as well, never said anything about Singaporeans having bad English, or the inability to speak or write that way. All they said was that Singaporeans generally spoke in a way that they did not understand.
To tell you the truth, when somebody asks me how I've managed to learn English in Singapore, I can never tell them a very concrete answer myself. It just sort of happened one day in class, and communication between friends in English became a very natural thing to me all of a sudden. I cannot remember a particular period of time with extra efforts put into learning the language, which is how they always say that languages sneak into your head when you least expect it, especially when you are living in an environment dominated by the language, it becomes natural and almost seamless. But the learning process was not without its difficulties I am sure, because I remember not understanding a single word my classmates spoke when I first came to Singapore. I mean, Singlish is very interesting language, or dialect, in the sense that it mixes mandarin, English, malay, and every possible language that exists in Singapore. It's a language born out of the very diverse cultural background in Singapore, which is to say that it does not have a definite root in the British-type English or the American-type English. It has its own unique roots, and a very interesting one at that.
I couldn't understand what the Singaporeans were saying back then, and I naturally thought it to be strange. I mean, as a child, I took the standard in movies to be the right standard, which made everything else seem wrong, even the British accent or the Scottish accent. A better expression for the word 'strange' would be 'not used to', because I was only in Singapore for a few months at that time, and it certainly took me a while to get a good grasp of the language at all. For a foreigner, it is definitely going to sound very strange, because they have not been brought up to understand English in a way that we speak it. It is the same as throwing a Singaporean in the middle of Ireland, and then expecting him to understand the accent over there straight away. By the books, there is a certain way to pronounce a word, a right way to pronounce everything. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the Scottish pronounce everything wrong, and that the British pronounce everything right.
The ground of enraged people started bashing Taiwanese English as well, or their own Chinese accents being inaccurate themselves. I think this is just a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, and especially ridiculous for the fact that the kettle did not try to pick a fight with the pot either. The kettle merely stated a fact, and then the pot had to throw in a senseless rebuttal to say that the cattle was trying to make a negative remark. When you cannot defend yourself very well, you pick on the other person's own flaws and mistakes and exploits it, making sure that it somehow, indirectly, supports your point along the way. To be honest, I just feel that this issue has been blown severely out of proportions, whether or not it is on the Internet or in the newspapers. People have been asking the celebrities to apologize, and a lot of them have already done so over the past weeks, so what else are they asking for? It's not like they paraded the streets and burned the flag or anything, why the hatred towards a country that really hasn't done much harm to yours? It was a comment that you misquoted, so that really is just your problem.
When it comes to mandarin, people have commented that I have a 'strange' way of speaking as well. I guess when you are comfortable in speaking a language, it becomes habitual to sort of 'merge' the words together. It is difficult to explain, but let's just say that when you are fluent in a certain language, you are then not expect to drop your jaw when pronouncing every single word in proper, by the books. A few of my Singaporean friends have also commented that my Taiwanese accent is weird, and is hard to understand. I completely do not take offense in that, in fact I see it as a sort of compliment, which elevates my uniqueness amidst my friends. It gives me an identity in a way, that "Guy with the Taiwanese Accent", and I like that title very much, especially when all the paperwork in every government agency in Singapore points me to being a Singaporean. I'm happy to know that other than my blood, the way I speak is still very much a Taiwanese, and I didn't see the word 'strange' to be inappropriate at all. I just tell them that they are not used to the way that I speak, and then life goes on and we get along with one another just fine.
I just feel that a lot of these could have been prevented if the people actually realized our differences. Perhaps those celebrities could have rephrased the way they spoke, explained their words and not give people the wrong ideas. But still, here is the truth. We all speak in accents that we are comfortable with, and it is inevitable to feel that somebody else's accent is stranger than your own. It is only natural for us to think that, because we are not used to something, not accustomed to it at all. If you go to nudist beaches in Europe, you are probably going to think that it is strange of them to put everything out there in the eye of the public, but it really is a cultural thing, a habitual thing, and something that we have not yet understand fully.
I have no issues with someone commenting that my accent is strange or hard to understand, because I feel that that is what makes me, me. I don't see a right or a wrong in accents, just the right usage of words or the wrong one. I am very, and extremely proud of my strange tongue, and I think people in Singapore should be proud of their Singlish as well. I personally feel that Singlish is a really nice language, though it may be rough and unpolished when you first listen to it. But it does have a very nice homely feel to it, the kind of accent you would like to hear if you are coming back from a long trip overboard. It just has a very domestic feel to it, and you can imagine someone speaking in that accent while making a home-made dinner in the kitchen, the smell attacking your nose and you telling yourself that yes, you are finally back home. It's all about understanding, and crossing cultural borders to understand each other, not about one culture trying to attack the other. "I is Singaporean" is bad English, "I am a Singaporean lah!" certainly isn't. We are just people with our own comfortable tongues. Realize that, and stop with the bitching and the complaints, lah.
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on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 10:42 PM.
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