Episode 7: No. 1, Campaigns, Singlish
First aired: Thursday, July 28, 2005, 7:30 pm
Episode summary by Singapore TV
TO BE NO. 1 -- the first segment looks at Singapore's drive to be the first and best in everything, e.g. airport, airline, green city, etc. This drive to be the best has filtered down to our everyday lives, e.g. exam scores, professional goals, etc. Ang Peng Siong was formerly the world's fastest swimmer, but failed to capture the elusive Olympic gold medal. He said that failure is what drives people to do their best, and he tries to instil that in his students. Abigail Sin has been hailed by Time magazine as one of Asia's best child prodigies due to her gift in piano. She admits that she has to sacrifice a lot of her personal life to excel in music, yet she manages to balance school and music successfully.
CAMPAIGN CITY -- whenever the government needs to teach the people something, it embarks on a campaign, e.g. Stop At Two, Stop Spitting, Speak Mandarin, etc. In particular, campaigns have to change as the population becomes more mature, e.g. the Speak Mandarin campaign has moved towards depicting Mandarin as "cool". Outwardly, this has resulted in a country that is well-known for its orderliness and discipline. Inwardly, it is unclear if people have truly learned from this. An experiment is done to see if passers-by will share their umbrellas with Yu Beng on a rainy day. In another experiment, passers-by are asked to help an intern hold his things while he struggles to answer his phone. Only one passer-by stops for him.
SINGLISH OR ENGLISH -- if there is one thing that is truly uniquely Singaporeans, it is Singlish. As a result of our multiracial culture, we have evolved our own unique blend of English, which has even spawned a dictionary. Colin Goh, editor of TalkingCock.com and the Singlish dictionary, says that there is nothing shameful about Singlish and that it is easy for Singaporeans to switch easily between Singlish and English. But the Speak Good English organisers believe that Singlish degrades the image of Singaporeans and it is not easily understood by English-speaking foreigners. Schools are now reinforcing the importance and correctness of the language in our young students.
CAMPAIGN CITY -- whenever the government needs to teach the people something, it embarks on a campaign, e.g. Stop At Two, Stop Spitting, Speak Mandarin, etc. In particular, campaigns have to change as the population becomes more mature, e.g. the Speak Mandarin campaign has moved towards depicting Mandarin as "cool". Outwardly, this has resulted in a country that is well-known for its orderliness and discipline. Inwardly, it is unclear if people have truly learned from this. An experiment is done to see if passers-by will share their umbrellas with Yu Beng on a rainy day. In another experiment, passers-by are asked to help an intern hold his things while he struggles to answer his phone. Only one passer-by stops for him.
SINGLISH OR ENGLISH -- if there is one thing that is truly uniquely Singaporeans, it is Singlish. As a result of our multiracial culture, we have evolved our own unique blend of English, which has even spawned a dictionary. Colin Goh, editor of TalkingCock.com and the Singlish dictionary, says that there is nothing shameful about Singlish and that it is easy for Singaporeans to switch easily between Singlish and English. But the Speak Good English organisers believe that Singlish degrades the image of Singaporeans and it is not easily understood by English-speaking foreigners. Schools are now reinforcing the importance and correctness of the language in our young students.
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