Wary of competition, Singapore renews push for good English 擔心競爭力，新加坡再度推行正確英語運動

Wary of competition, Singapore renews push for good English
擔心競爭力，新加坡再度推行正確英語運動
2014-07-13◎俞智敏

Singapore has enlisted a drag queen comedian to give its people grammar lessons, as part of a long-running drive to encourage the correct use of English, for fear that weak language skills could dent its reputation as a business hub.

新加坡請來一位變裝女王喜劇演員教導民眾英文文法，這是星國政府鼓勵民眾使用正確英語的長期政策一環，當局擔心人民語言能力降低，恐損及新加坡身為商業樞紐的聲譽。

Foreigners visiting the tiny affluent Southeast Asian island occasionally find themselves bemused in conversation with Singaporeans, many of whom speak in a mishmash of broken English, Chinese dialect and Malay, popularly known as Singlish.

造訪這個東南亞富裕小島的外國人，在和星國人對話時，偶爾會感到困惑，因為許多星國人講的是混雜了英語、華語方言及馬來語等元素的星式英語。

Despite a 15-year-long campaign to improve the use of English in the city-state, most of its population of around 5.4 million has stayed resistant to what they see as curbs on an integral element of their culture.

儘管星國政府推動正確英語運動已長達15年，但全國540萬人口中的大多數人仍持抗拒立場，並視其為刻意遏制星國文化中所不可或缺的部分。

Singlish evolved from the speech of the diverse ethnic groups that make up modern Singapore and is often seen as a common patois that unites its citizens. Its best-known uses include tags such as 'lah' or 'leh' to add emphasis at the end of sentence.

星式英語是由組成現代新加坡的多元族裔語言演化而來，通常被視為能讓所有公民團結一致的通用土語。星式英語最為人熟知的用法，包括在句尾加上「啦」或「哩」等字，用以加強語氣。

While Singaporeans in the central business district mostly speak standard English in order to be understood by foreigners, Singlish is still the main dialect in use across the rest of the island, and many nationals object to being told how to speak.

雖然在市中心商業區工作的星國人多半會說標準英語，以利和外國人溝通，但在星國其他地區，星式英語依然是最主要的語言，許多星國人更反對由政府來指導他們如何說話。

新聞辭典

enlist：動詞，指請求某人的協助，如 They're enlisting volunteers for an experiment.（他們正徵求志願者參加實驗。）

dent：動詞，指破壞某人的信心或名譽等，如 The team's confidence has been dented by a recent series of losses.（該隊的信心因近來連續輸球而大受影響。）

mishmash：名詞，單數，非正式用語，指混雜物、大雜燴，如 The collection is a mishmash of different styles.（這個系列是不同風格的大雜燴。）