The country with 4 official languages.
Video transcript adapted as a blog post below.
Watch the video above containing maps, graphics, illustrations for better immersion.
There is a wealthy country in the world with 4 official languages.
You might be thinking of Switzerland, and you’re not wrong, because Switzerland is a wealthy country with 4 official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh, but that is not the country we are going to discuss in this video.
The country that we’re going to talk about is:
Singapore.
Before we dive into the official languages of Singapore, it would make sense to look at the demographic makeup of the city-state.
Singapore has a population of over 6 million people, where:
Around 75% of its population are of Chinese descent,
Around 15% are of Malay descent,
Around 8% are of Indian descent, and
Around 2% are of Eurasian descent and other ethnic groups.
With these numbers, you might have a general idea of the official languages of the country, but maybe they’re not precise enough.
That’s why this video is here, and we’re gonna start off with one of the four official languages of Singapore that is also a global lingua franca.
1. English
English is the language of government, business, education, and daily communication in Singapore. That was a strategic decision made by the leaders of the country after its independence in 1965 to position Singapore as a global economic hub.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of English spoken in Singapore:
The first type is Standard English, spoken in various tints of Singaporean accents, easily understandable for English speakers around the world.
The second type is Singlish, a unique, informal form of English mixed with local slangs and sentence structures influenced by other languages in Singapore. Singlish might confuse those outside Singapore, but are warmly familiar to locals. Malaysians and Indonesians to some extent, should have less of a problem understanding Singlish compared to other English speakers outside of these 3 countries. If you’re curious, I would suggest going online and look for videos on how it sounds like.
One thing to note is that some older generations of Singaporeans, who were born before Singapore was an independent country, may not be as fluent in English compared to younger generations of Singaporeans who grew up with English as the main medium of instruction in schools.
2. Mandarin Chinese
For those of you outside of Asia or Southeast Asia, you would do well to understand that Mandarin Chinese is only one out many Chinese languages that originated from China. Historically, people of Chinese descent in Singapore spoke various Chinese languages that was not Mandarin, such as Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, and more.
However, Mandarin was chosen as the official Chinese language for both practical and strategic reasons. Much like English, Mandarin represents a unifying lingua franca between Chinese communities in Singapore. This choice also connects Singapore with China’s rising influence, making Mandarin a valuable skill for trade and cultural ties.
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Back to Singapore.
3. Malay
From 1963 to 1965, Singapore was briefly known as the State of Singapore, one of the fourteen states of Malaysia at the time. In 1965, it became its own sovereign, independent country. Suffice to say, the history of Singapore is intertwined with the history of Malaysia. The lyrics of Singapore’s national anthem, “Majulah Singapura”, meaning “Onward Singapore” is originally in the Malay language.
Today, Malay continues to be used in Singaporean official ceremonies, road signs, and the military.
4. Tamil
There are numerous Indian languages spoken in Singapore, such as Bengali, Malayalam, Punjabi, and Hindi. However, historically, the majority of Singaporeans of Indian descent in Singapore speak Tamil. Singapore is one of only three countries in the world to recognize it as an official language—the other two being India and Sri Lanka.
Now, you might wonder:
Do all Singaporeans speak all four official languages?
The answer is, no, generally speaking.
If you look at the Singaporean education system, English is the default language and the medium of instruction. However, most students in Singaporean schools will also learn their Mother Tongue Language throughout their childhood. This will usually be either Mandarin Chinese, Malay, Tamil, but there are additional options as well.
At home, some Singaporean households speak primarily English, but many would also speak their Mother Tongue Language.
As a result, most Singaporeans usually speak two out of the four the official languages: English and their Mother Tongue Language based on their ethnicity. Singaporeans who speak three official languages are somewhat uncommon, and knowing how to speak all four is definitely rare.