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Student exchange life in Singapore
I would like to talk about my impressions of Singapore since my arrival here in early July.
Singapore is famous for “Singapore English”. In short, it is called “Singlish”. In the first two weeks in Singapore, I had great trouble understanding Singlish. This is a common problem shared by the other foreign exchange students here.
Singaporeans like to end their sentences with “lar”, “lor” or “ar”, and the last sound of the word often goes up. For example, some of my Singaporean friends call me “Sa-lee” instead of “Sal-ly”. I have to say Singaporeans generally have a good command of written English. This is especially obvious with their use of a wide range of vocabulary. But on the other hand, their spoken English is surprisingly weird. Hopefully, I will not pick up their accent by the end of my stay here.
Singapore is a truly multinational city. In Hong Kong, most people are Chinese and you can hear only Cantonese and English most of the time. But in Singapore, there are Chinese, Malays, Indians, Indonesians and a fair amount of Westerners. Just take a train and you can see different kinds of nationalities speaking different languages.
This multinational culture may help explain why Singaporeans are generally communicative and competitive. They know how to interact with people from all walks of life well. This is what we Hong Kongers need to improve. Arguably, Hong Kongers do not communicate as well as Singaporeans.
The education system in Singapore is well- known for its tight schedule and tough demand on students. This is very true. Singaporean students from kindergarten to university levels are all extremely diligent. Just like my Singaporean roommate, each time when I go back to my room, she is studying. When asked about her activities during the weekends, she said, “I spend most of the time on projects and revisions, and sometimes on my volunteer work. I have been like that since my days in junior college. I do not play much.”
She is a typical example of Singaporean students.
Yes, I do agree with my roommate’s self-criticism: “We (Singaporean students) study hard. But we do not study smart.”
Sometimes I feel that there is not much energy in the city. Probably this is one of the reasons.
Sally Yip
Singapore
Ms. Yip, a journalism major at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, is a former chief editor of Varsity. She currently is an exchange students in Singapore. — The Editors