“I don’t understand Singlish!” — Singapore PR woman educates her American friends on how to speak SG English

SINGAPORE: Is Singlish so very different from English? According to Ms KK, whenever she has visitors from the United States, they always say they don’t understand it when locals speak English, or perhaps more accurately, Singlish.

Ms KK, known as the Krazy Koala on YouTube and whom we first introduced to readers of The Independent Singapore here, said in a recent video titled ‘I Don’t Understand Singlish! | Singapore vs. American English’ that she’s always been asked to translate the interactions between the two.

“Are you serious? They are speaking English. You’re asking me to translate English into English for you?” she said.

Since the vlogger, who is also a model, businesswoman, and writer, is a Permanent Resident of Singapore, she said it also took her many years to understand what the locals are saying, whether in interactions at hawker centres or in corporate settings.

In her video, she invited viewers to “have some fun” with the examples she provided.

Her first example concerns differences in addresses and postal codes. A Singapore delivery guy asks for an address from a US customer.

There are differences in pronouncing “address,” as stress can be placed on the first (Singaporean) or the second (American) syllable.

And if the address is in Potong Pasir, good luck because Singaporeans say “Pasay” for Pasir, which, of course, poor Americans or other foreigners, for that matter, have no idea.

Finally, there’s the “postal code” because if you tell the delivery guy your “zip code,” he’ll have no clue what you’re talking about.

“What zip code ah? You think this is US ah? Go back to your country lah,” she imagines the now irate SG delivery guy saying.

Her second example has to do with dining. When a Singaporean invites an American to eat “al fresco,” this is also apparently, not understandable, as Americans usually just say, “outdoor dining.”

She then cited several more examples, including ordering “black or white” chicken rice, “take away or having here,” whether the day or month goes first when writing dates, and temperature written in Celsius vs Fahrenheit.

These are all examples from her actual experiences, though perhaps they were confusing and funny in real life. PS: The vlogger lightheartedly said that she’ll let everyone know if she ever does open-mic comedy.  /TISG

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