Uniquely Singapore, Uniquely Singlish and the absence of Grammar Police (OFW Series Part 5)

I love Singapore, I do. I could cite a lot of reasons why (primarily its low crime rates, cleanliness and super efficient transportation system)but I have a "more personal" reason.

I love Singapore because people here don't judge you because you couldn't speak proper English. People don't judge you because you have a wrong subject-verb agreement. People don't judge you if you have misspelled a word, or use a wrong verb tense in sentences or because you don't know the correct pronunciation of a certain word.

I know, it's a good thing and a bad thing. But admit it, Filipinos could be very annoying "grammar police" sometimes. I would know. I am guilty of being a grammar police, too, but I know I'm not as annoying as other people.

For someone who graduated with a Journalism degree, I noticed that people expect me to have perfect grammar all the time. While I was working in a magazine, people expect me to be articulate and have perfect grammar all the time (grammar police out there, the repetition of the last phrase is intentional, thank you very much for noticing). It's a good thing. But when people have high expectations of you, and you don't meet them, the resulting disappointment (on their part) is never easily forgotten.

I know of someone who could speak about other people's English mistakes but fails to notice his. He always criticises people for their wrong grammar but he himself couldn't distinguish when to use "they're" and "their". That's irritating!

Singaporeans are not so kan cheong about their grammar. It may not be the best way to perfect English, but for someone who has been exposed to irritating grammar police in the Philippines, it's refreshing to be in an environment where people wouldn't bat an eyelash when you commit some really minor grammatical errors.

To my kan cheong friends or professors who think I'm losing my command of the English language, don't worry, I'm still using and practising proper English here (though British instead of American English). I may use 'lah' and 'can' 'cannot' but I know I still have a good grasp of the language. I don't know if I could say the same for my Tagalog though (particularly the "writing" part).