talk

there seems to be a small commotion in Singapore about speaking good English and accents

i beg to differ. No offense but unlike German has German culture in general, Japan has Japanese culture in general. Singapore doesn't really have cultural roots: all roots are passed down from migrants all over the world. Compared to those countries they have an identity, Singapore doesn't - it's Singlish, its accent and Singaporean broken English that creates a Singapore identity - when u tour around the world, a Singaporean can recognise another by the Singlish accent (besides the mountain-piling-food competition among one another) or the broken English that Singaporeans usually use. Call it ironic or not but it is comforting to find a fellow countrywo/man miles away from home

just like any language in any part of the world - rule of the thumb: you learn the standard language in school, u use slang "outside school". Even English citizens - the country of the system of which Singapore's 'N' 'O' 'A' levels are based on - have their own slangs! I'm not surprised that the students in England slang in schools

the thing is: generally the younger generation know when to use standard English and when not to - lah: we don't "Singlish" in formal occasions, eg first introductions, formal speeches, formal report, in exams etc.  They speak, write and learn standard English in schools and use Singlish and broken English during break-time in schools, after-school, at home, among fellow countrywo/men. It's thrilling to hear foreigners trying out their first "lah" X3

Singlish and broken English ironically play an important part in the younger generation's lives now - sadly - cos a huge percentage of them do not know how to speak dialects anymore - Singlish and broken English is the best way to let the young to stick and be aware of our multi-cultural roots. Dialect is our ethnic root culture and promotes racial tolerance and harmony, and even a good conversational topic! Long gone are the days like the 1960's Singapore where Malays n Indian can speak Mandarin, its dialects and vice-versa - now that's what i call progressive 60's!

thus please let us retain the only cultural identity that makes us uniquely Singaporean - Singlish, its accent and Singaporean-broken English