Does Singlish - Singaporean English - communicate?

The question is a general one. However, I am going to look at it through one particular, though in its way, not uncommon incident.

Singapore has, as anyone who has visited it will know, its own version of English, known as Singlish. This is a form of English that uses words that are derived from the other languages present in Singapore (ie. Mandarin and Malay) - and variations on basic grammatical structures that are far from standard English. In consequence, it can be difficult for a native speaker of English, who is not familiar with this variant, to understand a speaker of Singlish. I certainly had difficulty understanding speakers of Singlish, when I first came to Singapore (and still do from time to time, in the more extreme cases).

There is another problem, of course, but a lesser one. If a Singaporean speaks Singlish, but does not watch enough TV (which is mainly British and American English tv shows), they might not understand a native English speaker, when speaking to them. (Though they should understand standard written English, for all words should actually be familiar to them).

In recent years, Singapore mounted a "speak standard English" campaign - but it was rather a failure and, it seems, the government gave up on it, since I don't see any prolonged efforts to educate the population in English, as it should be.

What effect does this have on communication between Singaporeans and natives of other countries (who are native English speakers)?

Well, recently, I went into a supermarket. When I got to the checkout, I recognized the person who was serving. He looked exhausted, so I decided to enquire how he was.

“Are you tired this evening?” I said, gently, looking at his baggy eyes.

“No, I am just sleepy.”

I left it at that. Clearly, a conversation was not going to be possible: either he didn't understand the word "tired" - or he didn't understand my accent (a standard British accent). I gave up.

This kind of communication problem is not uncommon in Singapore. Usually, however, it is the other way around: it is I who cannot understand the native Singaporean. This occurs even in quite surprising contexts. I have met intelligent businessmen in Singapore, who cannot, who simply CANNOT communicate in English. Their sentences so defy the structures of English that they lose all intelligible meaning. I have to listen very hard and pretend that I understand. Somehow, these businessmen, who are successful in a Singaporean context (through speaking Mandarin, no doubt), cannot communicate their thoughts in English. What is the direct consequence of this? I have to find someone else to do business with. I cannot work with people I cannot understand. So, I move on.

No doubt, this story is repeated millions of times a year, when native speakers of English encounter Singaporeans who speak Singlish. No doubt, those native speakers of English go through the process of meeting and failing to understand the Singaporeans and then having to look around for others to relate to that they can understand. No doubt the business - or other benefit of international communication - goes to the Singaporeans who are able to speak English well enough to deal internationally.

I think the dimension of the problem is not really understood by Singaporeans themselves. They speak to each other in Singlish. To them, it is normal. It is only when they speak to outsiders that they might come to realize that there is a difficulty.

I believe the problem is under-played, here, in Singapore - partly because it is a problem that is quite difficult to fix. The teachers of English, here, speak Singlish. So, Singaporeans are themselves learning from people who speak English poorly. Perhaps, however, there lies a solution. In the days of Empire, I believe that the English teachers were English natives. It is time to return to those days. It is time that ALL English teachers in ALL Singaporean schools were English natives. Then, in one generation, Singaporeans would come to speak Standard English - and never again would natives of the English speaking world, perhaps here to do business, encounter the communication problems that are so common today.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Fintan on teaching reading.

The other day, Fintan, just turned four, took out his book, as he likes to do, and began to read aloud.

However, this day was a little more special than a preschooler reading for himself. He was sitting with his grandmother and he took it upon himself to teach her to read.

He took hold of his grandmother's finger and moved it across each word as he said them aloud carefully to her, to make sure that she understood. He was concerned that the lesson should be clear.

After he had read each line, he wanted his grandmother to repeat it. She did so. At one point, however, to tease him, she read, "Dog" as "Cat."

He paused. He looked at her and very patiently corrected her: "Dog, not cat...why did you say cat?"

"Because the dog looks like a cat.", she explained, inaccurately.

Fintan looked long at the dog, examining it for "cat-ness". After a while, he looked up and said, as if to reassure someone who wasn't quite all there: "It's OK...".

He was very nice about it - but I am sure it did plant some doubts in him about his grandmother's perceptions, eyesight or both. Yet, he was patient with her.

I think Fintan makes a good teacher.

(If you would like to read more of Fintan, four years and no months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and seven months, or Tiarnan, seventeen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The problem with Universities

Universities are often not the havens of academia that they are portrayed to be in movies and literature. There is a very profound problem with many of them.

A University may be of two kinds, in the pure sense: a teaching University and a research University. From what I have seen, it is often the latter kind of University that wins attention and praise and fame, and for which students all over the world compete for admission. I went to Cambridge University - a great research University. However, all research Universities suffer from a very human problem. The staff are researchers, not teachers.

At a research University, it is usual for the staff to have mixed duties: they have their research and they have their teaching duties. You might think that this could create a situation in which students benefit from "cutting-edge" thinking from their famous researcher/Professor. This is usually not the case. What is more common is that the famous researcher type is really only engaged by his research work and couldn't care less about his - or her - students. That was most certainly the impression left on me by my University. The research staff really were only concerned about their research: students were in most cases seemingly regarded as an inconvenience - a distraction from the purity of their research.

Thus, what is a student to do? Well, I would, if I had my life again, ignore all famous research Universities for an Undergraduate or First Degree. I would go somewhere that had, at its heart, a love of teaching (if such a University could be found). I would not even be tempted to attend somewhere famous for its research - for such a place would tend to ignore its student base, for its own inward looking research work.

Perhaps a new norm should be established. Students should attend specialized teaching Universities for their first degrees - and only later, should they go to a research University - when they are doing a research degree. No-one should have to suffer the experience of being ignored by research staff intent on their personal research, at the expense of their teaching duties. That is a terrible experience that usually destroys the student's love of learning. So many people that I know who went to famous research Universities were very disappointed with the experience. It often destroyed the lives they had planned, in a very profound way.

So, if you have a bright child, I would suggest that you look beyond the famed Universities. Sometimes the less famous, more teaching based institution may be a far more welcoming place, than a place that has built its reputation on research, but not on teaching.

In many ways, this is one of my more important posts.

(If you would like to read of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and no months, or Tiarnan, seventeen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

NUS High School: the academic staff

I have learnt something unusual about the National University of Singapore (NUS) High School. All of its staff are University Professors.

Now, clearly the intention in arranging for all of the staff at the school to be University academics, is that they would bring to bear a deeper knowledge of their subject to the benefit of their students. Gifted students would be less likely to bump into the knowledge ceilings of the staff - or at least, they would not be so readily reachable, as in the case with a typical teacher.

However, there is a problem, that I foresee. Would a staff of academics be well-equipped to teach to school age children? The needs of the children differ from those of student age, in that a different approach may be required to teach them. Academic staff may find it more difficult to relate to school age children than they would to the usual student they are accustomed to.

Yet, I don't yet know the situation in NUS High from experience. It might work very well. The Professors here, in Singapore, may actually be good teachers able to reach children of all ages. I don't know - but I hope so.

It wasn't the case when I went to Cambridge University, in the 1980s. There the academics were very good at their subject, but had neither training nor flair for teaching in general. It was a very rare Cambridge academic who had any interest or ability in teaching. It was almost universal to have lectures presented by academics whose real interest lay elsewhere: their research. The students appeared to be an inconvenience to them.

I was very disappointed in my experience of Cambridge University - and it all came down to the undeniable fact that the staff were specialized academics, not teachers, at heart. At the core of it, they simply didn't want to teach. At least, that is the impression that was left with me, after three years there.

There were exceptions. There were rare wonderful teachers with a passion for communicating their subject to others. Above all of these, in my memory, was Professor Sir Geoffrey Lloyd, a Classicist, working in the History of Science, in particular the Ancient Greeks. He was almost alone, in my experience, in making any effort to communicate directly with his students. He was warm, welcoming, engaging, interesting, and more importantly, interested. If the Professors at NUS High are like Professor Lloyd, it will be a great experience for Ainan and a great asset to Singapore. I hope, however, that they are not like so many other Professors were at Cambridge: uninterested, self-absorbed, poor communicators and, in some cases, frankly lazy.

My feeling is that the Professors at NUS High will take their teaching roles more seriously than those at Cambridge did. That is my hope. Should that not be the case, I will let you know. But, given the importance of education in Singapore, and the relatively high status of teaching, here, compared to its status in the UK, I rather think they will be more motivated to teach well, and more proud of doing so.

Here is a final thought. All of the staff at NUS High are Professors. Students at NUS High may take any number of University modules that they wish. Is that not, in effect, then, a University for kids?

(If you would like to read more about Ainan, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)