Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in Singapore

Multilingualism and Culture

The policy of Bilingualism

Does Singapore have a distinctive culture?

Multilingualism and Culture <<<

What is the relationship between multilingualism and culture ? In the 1978 National Day Rally Speech, the Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew said :

"A person who gets decultarized - and I nearly was, so I know this danger - loses his self-confidence, He suffers from a sense of deprivation. For optimum performance a man must know himself and the world. He must know what he stands for. I may speak the English language better than the Chinese language because I learnt English early in life. But I will never be an Englishman in a thousand generations and I have not got the Western value system inside; mine is an Eastern value system. Nevertheless I use Western concepts, Western words because I understand them. But I also have a different system in my mind. "

 

This speech is of great social-linguistic interest : it contains a theory of language learning and a theory of the relationship between language and culture. A person can have a mixed culture, or a culture that is weak compared to others, but he will always have a culture. The theory that the two system of values can coexist - one can have an Eastern value system, but still use the Western value system , is purely instrumental.

The policy of Bilingualism <<<

Embedded here is a general theory which provides a great deal of justification for the policy of national bilingualism or multilingualism in Singapore : English is seen as the language of technology and management, and the Asian languages as the carriers of cultural values. In a speech by Dr. Lee Chiaw Meng, the following statement was made :

"Bilingualism will serve to inoculate our young people against the epidemic of unwholesome fads and fetishes and make them understand that they are they and we are ourselves."

We can draw from this a conclusion that the official policy of bilingualism will lead to a special kind of ‘multiculture’ in Singapore. In fact, it needs to be reversed : a correct cultural policy, will in fact create multilingualism. Indeed, factually this makes sense - Singaporeans have always been multilingual, but have not been so because of any government policy, but because they perceived good cultural reasons for being multilingual - social, economical, artistic and religious. We may derive from this principle that no amount of official bilingualism would create the desired form of multiculturalism : this would be to place the cart in front of the horse. Only by creating a kind of society in which genuine bilingualism is actually perceived to be desirable and necessary will this come about. The present trend towards English in all sectors of society of major importance - science, commerce, education etc. - is against this coming about because it is systematically undermining the need for genuine bilingualism. The rationale for much of this is that English is a more viable language in the struggle for economic survival thus becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Does Singapore have a distinctive culture ? <<<

The answer is of course, yes. Singapore has a culture unlike that of any other nation-state in the world. It is anthropological nonsense to say a society has no culture. It may have a complex culture, or a transitional one, but it has one. What kind of culture is the Singapore culture? Clearly it is not monocultural, but on the contrary it contains a high degree of pluralism. Nor is it a culture which is assimilating its members to the model exposed by one of its subgroups. For example, not everyone is becoming Chinese although the Chinese are by far the largest ethnic and cultural group. Nor is the culture segregationist, for while people may for many purposes remain within their own ethnic group cultures, they also cross boundaries frequently in habits of food, dress, language, occupations, places of residence, and in numerous other respects. A better term for the general configuration is that of integration : a situation in which there is cultural pluralism, but that the different units coexist harmoniously, cross boundaries on occasion, respect each others’ differences, but do not attempt to be like one another, although contained within a bigger national unit.