English Language In Singapore : The Importance Of English

In this research, I’m going to focusing on the English as a language is being taught in many countries oversea today including Thailand. In fact, you’ll be surprising to know that English is required for many of the students in many countries. Unfortunately, it is not necessarily taught as well as it could be because of heavy teaching load, class sizes and adequate technology. Learning an English today still's has been challenging for many countries and specifically in Thailand. In Thailand, the student often gets too overwhelmed with English and mentally tune out in the classroom because English was their least favorite subjects. On the other hand, the students don’t have a resource at school or they don’t have it enough. Furthermore, many students just go to English class and switch back to Thai as soon as they out of school. English isn't used locally in Thailand. Although, there still a lot students continue care about English language because English has been the most ordinarily utilized language internationally and the language of traffic control and the majority of academic journals. It’s the most common language on the internet and the language that travelers use to communicate with different native speakers.

English has become the most widespread and powerful language on Earth. The imperial English Empire spread English across the globe; from America to Asia. English’s position in the world was cemented by US cultural and diplomatic dominance; evident in American movies, fast food, and clothing. English has proven it is not moving anywhere anytime soon, as English only grows in use over time. Thus a debate has arisen: Should English be the official Universal Language? On one hand, English can harm other cultures, international relations, and scientific development; however, English is very flexible and widely used, making it the perfect candidate for a global language.

As I have already mentioned, Singapore has four official languages: English, Tamil, Mandarin and Malay. It was so historically formed that the official language of Singapore is Malay and the national anthem is also written in Malay language. English is the administration language of Singapore and it is mainly British English, but also contain some American English influences. English remains the first language medium in schools and colleges of the country, and is also the most widespread language in the literature. All signs and official publications are written in English, but there are also versions translated into other official languages. But the population doesn’t speak English, but so-called Singlish with Creole characteristics, Chinese dialects, and Indian and Malay languages.

Before we begin, it is very important to understand the difference between an official language and a standard language. An official languages is one that is adopted by the government for document and business purposes, this would be most native people’s second language; one that the government sees as advantageous and necessary. Most of the time a standard language could also be referred to as the native language; a common language that the high majority of citizens use to converse outside of the government. Currently there is a major push to be bilingual, to the point where countries are adding or changing the official language(s). Countries that were presented and are using English because of government ordained laws are Kenya, Zambia, The Bahamas, Jamaica, New Zealand, Ireland; an extremely minimalistic representation the total amount of countries with English as an official language. Almost every other country, especially China and India, have their students studying English. It is advantageous for further education, business, and

Schools around the world teach English to their students. In Europe especially 85 percent of students learn English as their second language (Source B). Why spend time learning another’s language while they already speak your own? There is no concrete justification. English is already one of the most spoken languages around the world and it continues to grow diminishing the value of other languages. Responses to this may include that while English is very widespread the future of languages is unpredictable, English may not in fact become the ‘global language’ it aspires to be(Source F). Mandarin is a language spoken by many people, it’s reach isn’t as far but China is an emerging superpower so who’s to say Mandarin won't become the ‘global language’. But, for now we must live in the present and not be ignorant of the fact that here and now English is the one at an upward

English language plays an important role in Malaysians daily life. Hence, the learning of English language becomes compulsory in the current primary schools. English language has been adopted as one of the subjects in schools (Education Act,

Nowadays we are living in the age of globalization and as a result anything produced or invented in any part of the world gets global character very rapidly. To keep pace with globalization, it is very much essential to learn the global language English. English has a grip as the language of the global world, and being so it has become the most commonly learnt second language amongst foreign language speakers. English is the most commonly taught second language in foreign schools, as English is the collective language spoken by 1.8 billion people world wide, 27% of the world’s population. (Lona Glenn & Maria Castle, 2011).A vast majority of non-native English learners study a wide variety of school subjects using a language that is not their

No doubt that more and more people want to be a part of this international community by using English as a global language, language that can help people from different countries to understand each other. Therefore, English also affects educational system and educational policies around the world and its role is growing very fast in higher

Due to the important of English language in communication, English has becomes global language, and important on countless aspects. Each country has different main language and even in one country, there are several mother tongues for each race and ethnic. As the solution, English has become the first pick language in communication for most of progressive countries. At the same time, English is the only one medium of communication for worldwide to communicate with each other. The importance of learning English in communication is undeniable, as someone needs to speak in English when he or she communicates with foreign people. Mastery of English language does not only can improve global communication but also contribute to a good relationship among each country so that keep close.

English is the international language around the globe and they need to learn it to communicate with other and other countries. Learning English is very important to help them find job opportunities in the biggest companies because the biggest companies has their system and employees speak English so they can help other people through the international language. Considering English is being taught in almost every school nowadays, it is only natural for companies to hire English speaking employees because most people speak English everywhere. English can help students who are learning English to develop their relationships with people everywhere. Building relationships with people around the world helps us to obtain unity. Currently, there are almost 75 territories which speak English as a first language or a second language in most fields such as education, government and law. It is difficult to establish the right number of Englishes in the world as it is almost developing new varieties of English and new things are being discovered. Other than that, the internet and the media needed a shared language and that language was English. English is also the language of diplomacy and educated elites which made the English language even more popular in these domains and with people. Seeing that all the important domains and all the popular people in all different domains can speak English, that made people want to know learn it even more so they can understand what is going on around them and to help them grow in so many ways. That’s why English should be offered in all countries and be learned by people all over the world as it is a dominant language. As statistics show, English is the most leaned language all over the world in all different countries and schools, even some schools have English as a mandatory language where it is not even a first language in the

On one hand, it gives rise to the usage of a universal language, English language, for the most pragmatic and economic purposes. However, because of the nature of our society which is multicultural and multiracial, the government will keep on pushing for policies that are desirable and necessary for our economic survival to keep up with the pace and scale for growth. One of these policies include the Speak Good English Movement launched in 2000. This policy, aimed at reducing the use of Singlish and promoting the use of good English (Sim, 2015), will ultimately erode any morsel of Singaporean-ness in us. Hence, this double-edged sword of multiculturalism and multiracialism remains a necessary evil and it is imperative for the ruling government to strike a balance. This kicks in the need to forge a national identity while still respecting our diverse heritage and satiating economic

Then, in 1987, to foster unity across Singapore’s three major ethnic groups, Chinese, Indian and Malay, English became the main method of instruction in all schools. Today, almost all instruction is in English except for a class in the student’s native tongue: Tamil and Malay for ethnic Indians and Malays, and Mandarin for ethnic Chinese.

Since before the country independence, English was made compulsory in all schools in Malaysia except vernacular schools such as Malay, Chinese and Tamil medium school (Foo, 2004). But with the implementation of the Language Act 1967, the status of the English language was replaced by Bahasa Melayu. Nonetheless, English is still widely used by the government and other private institution in Malaysia. Even every government official documents and reports will be printed out in Bahasa Malaysia as well as English (Omar, 1982). This change in Language Act 1967 resulted with the deterioration of the

Specifically, the historical background concerning the use of English in the two countries, the political landscape involving the role of English, the mentality towards English and lastly the teaching of English. In the past English was the language of the Singaporean government when Singapore was a British colony. Since then it has been a wellspring of economic resource. Meanwhile English has never held official status in Japan and the citizens of japan can make a comfortable living for themselves without the need for English in daily activities. English interestingly is very prominent in Singapore but has little use in Japan. Touching on attitudes, Singaporeans are fully embracing English while in contrast Japanese people still have lingering doubts. Certainly English education in Japan is heavily criticised however English education in Singapore is commensurate to other English speaking developed nations.

     “In the world were over seven thousand languages have exisisted, one language had become dominate. This dominant language is English.” “In the majority of countries throughout the world speak English as their second or first language, no longer just America or England.” English has taken many forms, American English, the Queen’s English, Australian, Canadian English, and several others. Even American English has taken several types of English, Jersey English, East Coast English, West Coast English, Southern English, slang English, and Ebonics. All of these languages have major variants between them, but are all of them are still understood aboard. Without English the world couldn’t operate,