新國筆記 Singapore Journal — 語言與族群 Language and Groups

新國筆記 — 語言與族群

圖：土生文化館

　　一次午休我上網查著旅遊攻略，想找找有沒有能在下班後方便去觀光或覓食的地方，便在某篇文章上看到的一句「看到華人小孩在落著英語聊天」。當時心想，作者的母語是中文，因此對於長得跟自己相似卻使用不同語言的孩子們感到新奇有趣，所以才會用「落」這個字吧？加上這次參觀土生文化館，我有了跟各位分享一些關於語言與族群的所見所聞的念頭。

　　新加坡除了中國、印度、馬來西亞、印度尼西亞移民之外其實也有很多所謂的「混血兒」。其中不乏從荷蘭東印度公司及英國東印度公司時期就有的歐亞、印度馬來、中國馬來所生的子女。許多外表看似中國人的新加坡人可能只會說英語或馬來語，他們的生活中或許還保有一些中國傳統文化，但東南亞或西方文化在他們的生活中也扮演著極為重要的腳色。從家中擺放著聖母聖嬰畫像的傳統木雕神壇，到只使用英語的佛教寺廟，再到繡有金剛鸚鵡以及東南亞花果的布疋中，或許都會發現在這個國度，我們不需要過度去用以往的經驗來判斷或理解一件事情。

　　每個人都會有先入為主的觀念，這是正常的，我自己也是。對於不熟悉或不理解事物，有些人感到恐懼排斥，有些人則感到新奇興奮。或許下次來到新加坡的時候，先不急著判斷這是哪裡人、這是哪國傳進來的佳餚，別讓貼標籤的習慣抹殺了認識新文化的機會，才更能度過一個充實的假期也說不定呢！

Singapore Journal – Language and Groups

Pic: Peranakan Museum

Where did “Singapore Journal – Language and Groups” came into my mind?

There was once on a lunch break I was googling trip advices to see where I could go after work, and bumped into this sentence “saw a Chinese kid showing off* his English when chatting” from a Taiwanese blogger. I thought, the writer’s first language is Mandarin so it’s interesting for her when she saw a kid whose appearance looks like her but talking in English instead, and maybe that’s why she used the word “showing off”. With this in mind, and a visit to the Peranakan Museum on the other day, I begin to think about language and groups and wanted to share with you guys.

In Singapore, despite Mandarin, Indian, Malaysian and other immigrants there are also people whose parents are of different ancestries. There are Europeans and Asians coming to Singapore since the East India Company and earlier, people around the world had settled down and had marriage with local people. Here in Singapore, people who appears to be a Chinese might not be able to speak Mandarin but English or Malay instead. Their life style might still in heritage some of the Chinese traditions but at the same time deeply influenced by the South East Asian culture.

From the Chinese shrine cabinet with a painting of Saint Mary holding the Christ Child on top, to English speaking only Buddhist temple and to silk with embroideries of things that belongs to the western or South East Asian world, you might notice that in this nation, there’s no need to stick to your past experience that much to judge or explain things.

It’s absolutely normal for everyone to have preconceived notions and I have them too. For things unknown, some might say no, some might be afraid and some might just feel excited. Maybe when you visit Singapore next time, don’t try to figure out everything first, don’t let putting tags on things stop you from a new adventure! Good adventure for everyone!

*showing off: actually I’m not sure how to translate the word she used in Mandarin so I used this word to express the feeling.