Ryu2.mind

Link courtesy of dchai and the JBB:

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2005/05/13/1038156-ap.html

Singapore turns to rap and hip-hop

SINGAPORE(AP) - Singapore's prime minister launched the country's latestbehaviour modification campaign on Friday, urging teachers to usehip-hop and rap music to teach proper English and warning thatcontinued use of the mutated local form of the language could makeSingaporeans unintelligible.

"Speak in a normal Singapore tone,which is neutral and intelligible," Lee Hsien Loong said. "But speak infull sentences, with proper sentence structure and cutting out all the'lahs' and 'lors' at the end of each sentence."

Lee was referring to two words commonly added to the end of sentences in "Singlish" - a mishmash of English and local dialects.

"Can or not? I think can," he said, using another commonly used phrase in Singlish.

Thecity-state is well known for its numerous social engineering campaigns,most of which are government-backed. Singapore in the past has urgedits citizens to wave at fellow motorists, flush public toilets, be moreromantic and arrive at wedding receptions on time.

Lee urged teachers to use "pop songs, hip-hop and rap as mediums for teaching good English."

"Ifour English becomes too mutated, then we become unintelligible toothers," he said. "If we speak in a dialect which only someSingaporeans can understand, then we are handicapping ourselves andcutting ourselves off from the rest of the world."

Theadministration began waging war on Singlish in 2000 and attacked thecountry's most popular TV character, Phua Chu Kang, blaming his use ofSinglish for a rise in bad grammar among citizens.

Critics have denounced the numerous behavioural campaigns as Orwellian and condescending.

My take:

Doesanyone think that, maybe, just maybe, most rap and hip-hop songs aren'texactly textbook examples of English grammar and eloquency themselves?=P

Mindyou, I love Singapore, Singaporeans and Singlish,really. My uncle and aunt are Chinese-Singaporean and I've had a chanceto visit that city-state 6 times so far in my life.  A previousjob of mine involved some consulting/contract work there. During my collegeyears, I befriended quite a few Singaporeans. And, I've met quite a fewof them here in SH as well; I'm guessing that next to Americans,Singaporeans are the 2nd most represented nationality at theinternational church here. Most of all, G's doing some great things inthat country and I have no doubt it will be a springboard for His workin the years to come.

My Singaporean friends from school are perfectlycapable of speaking the Queen's English in the classroom, and yetwhenever I go to Singapore and meet up with them, those same folks --graduates of Stanford, the Ivies, etc. -- lapse into Singlish just likethat.

I suppose it's just like people speaking Shanghainese here-- taking pride linguistically and embracing something that's one moreexpression of unique identity, even though they're perfectly capable ofcommunicating in the common language. So, if they want to speakSinglish by themselves in informal settings, I say more power to them,as long as they're teaching proper English as well.

But towards the latter end, are the Singaporeans so kiasu (enthusiastic about doing something, to a fault) that they don't realize that the cure may be worse than the disease? =)