One whole month of extra classes awaits the young Singaporeans as they enter the month of June. Without the excuse of school, parents can now torment their children with stacks of additional work whilst the victims put off their holiday homework to the end of the illusion that is the holidays. 

I recently came across a video on Facebook which glimpsed the life of a regular 12-year-old girl in Singapore. The video depicted briefly her daily routine of going to school and the onslaught of extra classes that awaited her after the mandatory ordeal. The slippery slope idea of not doing well in the PSLE which would lead to not being able to enter a "prestigious secondary school" which would mean not being able to enter a "good JC" and hence not being able to enter a "good local university" which would lead to not being able to find a good career and thus failing in life is etched in the minds of parents especially in Singapore as many of them have gone through a similar system. A 12-year-old can now be "stressed" as long as the parents and schools apply such ideals to the children under their tutelage. Being afraid that their children will not meet the ever demanding standards of society, parents view tuition and extra classes as almost mandatory. Now now, this doesn't mean that the current system does not work. Take the girl in the video for example, while she is stressed out, at least she is able to articulate in decent sentence structures!

The English language is very interesting but occasionally also very confusing. Read could be read as read or read as read (ifyouknowwhatImean). Singapore did not start out as a primarily English-speaking society but it has over the years been slowly molded to be as such. While the learning of the language itself is often neglected due to the prioritization of other subjects such as Mathematics or the Sciences (because Asian parents want their children to be doctors), it is crucial to note of the importance of English even in the learning of these other subjects. Questions like "John's age is one-third lesser the age of his brother, Sam, 5 years ago. In how many years time will John's age be 25% less than his brother given that Sam may or may not be the name of a boy?" (I know this isn't a very good example. hahaha! I made it up as I went along. Is the question solvable though?) plague Mathematics questions and by the time the students reached the end of the question, the language would have gotten to them before the Mathematics does. I too once had such an issue in a primary school science paper because the word "interval" was not in my 9-year-old vocabulary (the examiner had trouble explaining the term to me without blatantly pointing the answer out to me).

Over the years, my vocabulary has improved to that of a 16-year-old girl who has read all the Harry Potter books but what I found more important in the English language for effective communication is grammar. Grammar is basically the syntax that English is built upon. Without syntax, only miscommunication would remain. The importance of syntax is crucial in not only expression of oneself but also in the understanding of other people and their ideas. Miss out a colon in some programming languages and your program would not compile, pretty much the same for English.

About slightly more than a week back, the Oxford English Dictionary announced its acceptance of 19 new "Singlish" words into their dictionary. It is true that as a society we have used most of this words on a daily basis (except Chinese Helicopter LOL). The acceptance of the new words drew mixed response with some people fortifying the fallacy that the acceptance would almost without a doubt impede the ability or Singaporeans to grasps proper English syntax. Yes, while the acceptance does seem to promote the creole of Singaporeans, it is important that we educate Singaporeans on the correct usage of said "new words". The education o the 19 new words could not only allow the correct usage of the words, it could also be an opportunity to emphasize the law and nature of words that govern the English language. It is not my personal preference to use these 19 words in written form but if students in Singapore would desire to use them, they should be taught the proper way of using them in proper sentence structures.

While Singaporeans are overly concerned of the 19 words that were accepted, most might have missed the new Hong Kong English words that were accepted. We should instead be more worried of the usage of words like "compensated dating" and "dai pai dong". I am unable to speak for the rest of the population but I have certainly never used these words in my life, but like a new mobile application, it is my duty to understand the words and their nature if I were to use them in a proper English sentence.

It is unwise to think the English language as one that is pure. With root words from various languages, English is a melting pot of languages. With Singapore being a melting pot of cultures, it is not surprising that a few words from a diverse society such as ours would be accepted officially. The acceptance of the words should be seen not as a recognition of the Singlish language itself but as a broadening of an exchange of cultures and understanding. Language is a tool that we each have to use in proper manner to exude the desired message.

Just like C programming and C++, whilst both might be used to carry out the same function, it is important that we educate ourselves on the difference in syntax between Singlsh and (more importantly) the English language.

Tight lines and smiley face :) Time to go #jalanjalan. (This is how it should be used.)