CY@CY Says Welcome to my dreamscape. Where a Lim is also a Ling.
Colloquial Singaporean English, widely known as Singlish, is an English-based creole language spoken in Singapore. With Singapore’s multi-racial background, it's not surprising that 'Singlish' borrows from the many different languages spoken in Singapore.
First-time visitors often find themselves confounded by the Singlish colloquialisms that pepper Singaporeans' speech.
Sinful English, a three-minute "how-to-speak-Singlish" video shot by a group of Americans and their Singaporean friends, is going viral on YouTube with about 250,000 views since it was uploaded on November 30.
The video starts in dramatic fashion where a fill-in President Obama proclaims, "Every day thousands of Americans fall victim to FWCP, also known as first world communication problems".
Americans are then shown going about their daily lives but lose out when proper English communication gets too lengthy. The tongue-in-cheek video then shows them how to make themselves understood by using Singlish.
US-based Singaporeans Shawn Tan and Leandro Siow are behind the hilarious video,.
Tan, 24, who is working in the film industry as a production crew member, and Siow, 26, who is studying film and television at California State University, said they were feeling homesick when they came up with the idea of shooting a "guide-to-Singlish" video.
"Singlish is not something to be embarrassed about. In fact it's just the way we Singaporeans speak to bring our meanings across emotionally and efficiently", said Tan.
Okay, it is time to learn Singlish:
