Samuel Garcia, NUS Exchange, Fall 2014
I open the door to the dorm common room and am immediately relieved to have finally found what I was searching for: air conditioning. It is my first day in Singapore, and after moving into my dorm room and realizing that I do need things like, you know, sheets, I am exhausted. And hot. Relieved to have found a place close to my room with air conditioning, I lay back on a couch in the common room and hope I might be able to make some friends.
As I tune in to the conversation next to me, I discover that I don’t understand it at all. I thought I was prepared, after studying Chinese for two years and growing up in America, I thought I would be fine in a country where English and Chinese are spoken as the main languages. Feeling shy and out of place, I retreated to my room.
The next day on the subway, I see the usual signs saying “mind the gap,” “don’t lean against the doors,” etc, except that they are translated into four different languages. Not only English and Chinese, but also Malay and Tamil. When announcements are made, I hear the same four languages.
Despite the fact that about 70% of Singapore’s population is Chinese, the country has four national languages, all of which are commonly used and spoken. Nearly everyone speaks English, but they also speak their mother tongue, whether that is Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay, or Tamil. Furthermore, both English and Chinese are taught to students from a young age. It is incredibly rare to meet someone from Singapore who does not speak at least two languages. Singapore is truly a melting pot of different Asian cultures, ethnicities, and languages.
America also calls itself a melting pot, but as a country we lag behind in regards to diversity of languages. Why do students not begin learning a foreign language until middle or high school? Why do so many Americans only speak English? It is lucky if a sign in the US is in Spanish as well as English, not to mention French or Chinese. As a place full of people from all over the world, I think we need to take a leaf out of Singapore’s book and improve our language diversity.
Despite some language struggles, being able to speak both English and Chinese has served me well here. And what a beautiful city.
