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People, foreigners especially, often talked about our local English – some criticised it, while others took an immediate liking to it. Some of them embraced our local language sooner or later, as they grew accustomed to the way we translate our thoughts cross-racially and cross-culturally. English, in Singapore, is used as a medium for effective communication. We want to get our message across in the shortest time possible.

I would, therefore, call our English a translated-English. You would be surprised by how our English is largely influenced by a mix of many languages and dialects.

For example, we used the word ‘handphone’ to refer to mobile phone (U.K. & Australia) and cellphone (U.S.). You would find the usage of ‘handphone’ in various official documents or forms, such as some registration form which requires you to fill in your ‘handphone’ number. While the term is widely used in Singapore, it was translated from Mandarin, which refers to mobile phone as 手机 (手: hand; 机: machine).

In Singapore, we used the terms ‘Uncle’ and ‘Auntie’ as an informal but respectful way to address someone older than us. For example, we call our friend’s parents ‘uncle’ and ‘auntie’. It was the way rural Malays greeted their elderly neighbours in the past. I recalled a few comical incidents, during my very fortunate homestay experience in a foreign country, where I confused the homestay family by calling my homestay parents ‘uncle’ and ‘auntie’.

There is another example, we used the phrase “Why you like that one?” to express “Why are you behaving in that way”. It was, in fact, a direct translation from the Cantonese phrase ‘點解你咁嘅’ (Dim gai nei gam ge) of a similar meaning.

Translation is everywhere in our daily life, as our thoughts were translated from our mother tongue into a verbal language comprehensible by the majority people.
Have you observed any of such examples today?