Singlish

Challenges with linguistic barriers

When I speak with some contacts from Sri Lanka, my old country, I go into a tailspin in trying to figure out what they mean. I must put my brain in another gear to process and comprehend when they speak.

There are words that they use intermittently, which stops the flow of communication for me. For them, it is natural. But for me, it is prohibitive. Then they have this habit of repeating the same thing using different words. Repetition makes my brain go to ‘switch-off mode, hearing the same point twice. Why they repeat is a big question for me.

They do not allow the other person to speak. They continue to speak without attempting to understand whether their words have been fully understood. Listening is a skill that Sri Lankans are bad at. The lack of that skill manifests from the top to the ordinary masses in my old country.

Many who migrate to the rest of the world carry this heritage with them with its quirks and continue to speak in the same style.

Singlish is speech or writing in English that shows the influence of the languages and culture of Sri Lanka. Singlish is a skill only Sri Lankans know. The toning of the words and the forming of sentences are derived and influenced mainly by the majority language Sinhala. Singlish becomes their pidgin English.

Here are a few examples:-

‘men’: a manner of addressing the other during conversation and not to men in general.

‘machan’: mate — only addresses males and not females.

‘aney’: please, or plead with the hopes of drawing kindness

‘no?’: nah!. not used in a negative context, said to show that one is listening. A direct translation of ‘නැ’ from Sinhala.

‘maara’: fine person — said with a twang of mockery

‘will you: a gentle way of demanding or requesting, eg ‘come will you?’

‘come and go’: Drop-in. A direct translation of ‘ඇවිල්ලා යන්න’ from Sinhala

‘come’: is used in many meanings. Go ahead is one of those meanings.

‘look here’: is used to draw attention in a conversation — direct translation of ‘මේ බලන්න’ from Sinhala, a local idiom.

Then there are media organisations and newspapers that still write in 1960s English in Sri Lanka. I call it the Daily News English. Daily News is one of the oldest newspapers in Sri Lanka yet produced in legacy English. Most of the Sri Lankan academia writes in arcade English that I cannot easily understand. Their writing style differs from the Economist or the New York Times. Many Lankan websites also carry this luggage from the past. They write in passive language. There are exceptions to this, like roar.media, a contemporary media outlet trying to transform my old country's media landscape.

In retrospect, I have wondered why I have this problem with Singlish. Is it because I left Sri Lanka before Singlish corrupted me?

I also wonder whether I still have any Singlish influences I may have picked up before I left Sri Lanka as a youngster. I have tried to catch myself on whether I use any Singlish words and phrases. Speaking is natural; perhaps e them when using such words. I should ask my non-Sri Lankan friends if they notice that coming from me.

What is my English now? I spent my early adult life in Dubai, where I was more exposed to English from the British and Desi English from Indian and Pakistani co-workers. Then from my mid-thirties, I lived in Australia, adopting Aussie English. The books, magazines, digital newsletters and podcasts I listen to come from multiple sources and destinations. Am I using a hotchpotch version of English now?

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Singlish

Sri Lanka