Do You Speak Singlish?
By GWEE LI SUIMAY
May 13, 2016
Is the government’s war on Singlish finally over? Our wacky, singsong creole may seem like the poor cousin to the island’s four official languages, but years of state efforts to quash it have only made it flourish. Now even politicians and officials are using it.
Vocabulary:
1. wacky = adjektiva. edan; funny or amusing in a slightly odd or peculiar way.
- edan = crazy, wacky, screwy, insane, mad, ridiculous
- sinting = crazy, twisted, wacky, eccentric, crank, screwy
- bloon = whacky, stupid, dumb, wacky, idiotic, idiotical
- sendeng = slanting, eccentric, wacky, whacky
- singit = whacky, sacred, wacky
2. creole = a mother tongue formed from the contact of two languages through an earlier pidgin stage.
3. quash = membatalkan ; reject or void, especially by legal procedure.
4. flourish = (verb) (of a person, animal, or other living organism) grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment
- (noun) a bold or extravagant gesture or action, made especially to attract the attention of others;
- an instance of suddenly performing or developing in an impressively successful way;
- a fanfare played by brass instruments.
verba
- berkembang = evolve, thrive, flourish, progress, bloom, unfold
- menghiasi = decorate, adorn, embellish, garnish, caparison, flourish
- membiak = flourish, multiply
- berbiak = breed, multiply, flourish
- melambaikan = wave, whisk, flourish, brandish, flap
- mengayunkan = swing, brandish, flourish
Trending at the moment is “ownself check ownself,” which was popularized by Pritam Singh, a member of Parliament from the opposition Workers’ Party. He was mocking the ruling People’s Action Party (P.A.P.) for saying that the government was clean and honest enough to act as its own guardian.
5. Trending = Sedang tren
Singlish is a patchwork patois of Singapore’s state languages — English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil — as well as Hokkien, Cantonese, Bengali and a few other tongues. Its syntax is drawn partly from Chinese, partly from South Asian languages.
6. patchwork = tambal sulam
nomina
- campur aduk = jumble, hodgepodge, patchwork, muddle, hotchpotch, higgledy-piggledy
- penjahitan kain perca = patchwork
- kain tampal seribu = patchwork
- campur baur = jumble, hodgepodge, muddle, hotchpotch, patchwork
- potongan kecil-kecil = patchwork
“Steady poon pee pee,” from the Hokkien, means to be so poised as to deserve an admiring whistle. A snooty person is “yaya papaya”: with yaya perhaps originating from yang-yang (god of gods in ancient Malay) or jâjâ (father in old Javanese), and the “papaya” thrown in for the derisive rhyme. “Blur like sotong” means to be clueless: Sotong is Malay for squid.
7. Steady = Stabil
verba
- menenangkan = calm, soothe, appease, quiet, pacify, compose
- memegang = hold, take, keep, have, handle, take hold of
8. snooty = sombong
adjektiva
- sombong = arrogant, overbearing, proud, cocky, pompous, snooty
- angkuh = arrogant, haughty, proud, imperious, cavalier, snooty
- congkak = arrogant, supercilious, conceited, cocky, cavalier, snooty
- lekas marah = irritable, crotchety, irascible, cranky, petulant, snooty
- bengkeng = testy, irascible, touchy, nagging, spleenful, snooty
9. derisive = bersifat mengejek
adjektiva
- bersifat mengejek = derisive
- bersifat olok-olok = burlesque, derisive
Singlish is nimble, practical and dynamic — everyone who speaks it shapes it. Which may explain why, after emerging from obscurity half a century ago like an accidental byproduct of decolonization, over the years it has become Singapore’s most political language.
10. nimble = gesit
adjektiva
- gesit = agile, nimble, mobile, adroit, spry, active
- cekatan = deft, nimble, workmanlike, agile, handy, skillful
- cepat = fast, quick, rapid, prompt, speedy, nimble
- tangkas = agile, swift, dexterous, nimble, competent, deft
- jeraus = nimble, sprightly
- galir = loose, fluent, glib, articulate, agile, nimble
11. obscurity = ketidakjelasan
nomina
- ketidakjelasan = obscurity, vagueness, fuzziness
- kekaburan = blur, obscurity, haziness, opaqueness, fuzziness, haze
- keadaan tdk terkenal = obscurity
- sesuatu yg tdk dimengerti = obscurity
During British colonial times, English was the language of administration, while street talk was carried out in pasar Malay, or market Malay. English continued to be the preferred means of instruction and governance even after the island became fully independent in 1965, partly because its global currency seemed to advance the young government’s modernization agenda.
12. agenda = Jadwal acara
nomina
- agenda = agenda, order paper
- acara = program, agenda, schedule, ceremonial, calendar, bill
- rencana = plan, purpose, scheme, program, project, agenda
All of Singapore’s citizens had to learn English, and also Malay, Mandarin or Tamil. In particular, the government took nation-building to mean harmonizing what was spoken by the ethnic Chinese, a majority of the population. From 1979, the authorities aggressively pursued the Speak Mandarin Campaign, requiring every ethnic Chinese to abandon other forms of Chinese, like Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and Hakka.
13. harmonizing = menyelaraskan
But the more the state pushed its purist bilingual policy, the more the territory’s languages met and mingled in Singlish. Through playful, day-to-day conversations, the unofficial composite quickly became a formidable cultural phenomenon. Sylvia Toh Paik Choo’s humor books celebrating Singlish in the 1980s — “Eh, Goondu!” (“Hey, Stupid!”) and “Lagi Goondu!” (“Even More Stupid!”) — were rare national bestsellers and the defining books of the era.
14. purist = murni
15. mingled = bercampur
adjektiva
- bercampur = mixed, mingled, jumbled, amalgamated
- campur = mixed, mingled
- bercampur aduk = mixed, jumbled, mingled, amalgamated
- campur aduk = mixed, confused, upset, mingled, promiscuous
Demikian, Semoga bermanfaat..
Source: The New York Times
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