When I was a child, I always found myself being more interested in our local Channel 8 serial dramas than American Hollywood movies. I remember being frequently scolded for watching too much television but this was the avenue where I picked up Mandarin from a young age. I would even memorise the theme songs of different dramas by heart and sing them with my sister! I feel that watching these local dramas helped me become a better bilingual because I could match the Mandarin audio I heard to the English subtitles appearing on the screen and from there, I started to understand and learn how to use certain phrases or idioms in both Mandarin and English. On top of that, there was a natural ‘language divide’ in my family whereby I would usually speak to my mother in English and to my father in Mandarin and this gave me more practice in the two languages.

However, growing up in multilingual Singapore meant that not only was I exposed to English and Mandarin, but I also heard dialects being spoken by those around me. In particular, my parents typically conversed with each other in Hokkien while my mother and aunt frequently spoke to each other in Hainanese. When I was younger, I was often frustrated that I could not understand what they were saying and I think that partially motivated me to subconsciously pick up these dialects just by observing and listening to them. Now, I understand and speak Hokkien much better than Hainanese and I think it is because Hokkien resembles Mandarin more and is thus more intuitive for me. I am still working on learning Hainanese and while partly it is because I wish to be able to speak more languages, it is also because speaking Hainanese brings joy to my mother as she considers it a less common dialect here in Singapore – many people know of Hainanese chicken rice but not many know how to speak the dialect…                                                   

Aside from learning language through incidental exposure, I am currently trying to learn a new language (Korean) by myself using the Internet! I find this to be more difficult and I guess it is due to my age and partly because of the language itself.

Overall, be it learning from exposure or not, I find language learning to be a magical thing. When we learn a particular language, suddenly what used to sound like gibberish becomes intelligible and this experience of finding meaning and making sense of these previously meaningless words is incredible to me. 😊

This piece was written by our #SGUnited intern, Kelly. Kelly is a third-year psychology and linguistics major.

Click here to read more of our Multilingual Memories!

I have fond memories of my time in secondary school, where I went through a whole host of new experiences: failing a test for the first time, trying competitive sports for the first time (where I fell in love with volleyball), and getting a job for the first time. One of these transformative experiences took place in my classroom in Secondary One, where my classmate innocently asked me: “Have you ever watched anime?”

That was my gateway into the Japanese language – it was so radically different from anything I’ve ever known or learned in my own cookie-cutter bilingual experience as a Singaporean, and therefore it made for a very thrilling subject to explore. From then on, I watched much more anime, read even more manga, and even made friends with likeminded people with whom I could engage in simple (albeit stunted) Japanese conversation.

As I grew older and developed a healthy appreciation for linguistics, I began to understand what exactly made Japanese so different from English or Mandarin. From its grammar to its syntax to its unique orthographic system, every turn and corner provided a new and exciting tidbit for me to discover. Even linguistic expressions for similar concepts vary greatly because of their distinctly different history and culture. My first genuine experience with the language came in 2019, where my family’s trip to Japan gave me a realistic view on everyday, conversational Japanese as compared to the textbook words or phrases I learned. I went on to take an introductory course on Japanese in university, where I eagerly devoured all the learning material and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Learning a new language is like going on a vacation at no cost. So much of a society and its culture is represented through its local language, dialect, or slang terms. It’s a rich, vicarious experience that any other medium would be hard-pressed to replicate perfectly. However, much like coming home from a vacation, my native languages provide me with a certain sense of safety and comfort that no foreign language can ever provide, as the cornerstone of my linguistic and personal identity.

This picture was taken in Japan on Dec 2019, before COVID-19 measures were implemented.

This piece was written by our #SGUnited intern, Symantha. Symantha is a Psychology major and will be in her third year this August.

Click here to read more of our Multilingual Memories!

There is a common misapprehension that there is a universal sign language. That, regardless of where you grew up in, every genesis of a signed language will magically converge into a single, unanimously agreed upon system of sords (sign equivalent for ‘words’) and syntactic structure. The myth starts to collapse when one tries to imagine this hypothetical situation. That being said, Deaf communities around the world have a unique way of navigating through new linguistic environments despite what most of us would normally refer to as a ‘language barrier’.

I had the pleasure of flying to Nepal along with a group of hearing and Deaf volunteers as part of an overseas community project to contribute to the building of classrooms to one of the few Deaf schools in the country, and the only one in the city of Dhulikhel. Being the only Deaf school that conducts all its classes in Nepal Sign Language (NSL) in the entire city, some children travel for hours on foot while some others opt to stay in the few lodging areas to have the opportunity to partake in a syllabus taught in NSL.

When we arrived at the school on our first day, we were warmly welcomed by smiles and excited faces from the students and teachers. We were then divided into two groups: one assisted on the classroom construction work and the other interacted with the students in their respective classrooms in smaller subgroups. I was part of the latter. Since it was the first day, we wanted to kick things off with icebreakers and just spending some time to get to know each other. Unsurprisingly, this turned out to be a herculean task given the difference in the languages we use. Our volunteering team communicated through Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) whereas the Deaf school students used NSL.

We started with names which was easy. Deaf individuals tend to have a strong inkling when a sign name is being introduced in a sentence, regardless of the signed language one uses. After a few rounds of introduction and simple games, we kind of ran out of ideas. So we started sharing some of our own stories. I tried to explain the word weird to tease one of my teammates. First, I signed the sord weird but obviously this didn’t work because that sord was only intelligible in SgSL (and some other signed languages, just not NSL). For some reason, my natural instinct went into fingerspelling w-e-i-r-d. This is the equivalent of going to a foreign country, asking for directions and when they give you a puzzled look, you speak slower in the hopes that they will somehow understand whatever it is you’re asking. One of the Deaf volunteers stepped in and did something absolutely amazing. In a metaphorical sense, he painted a picture of what weird is. This was beyond language and gestures. He distilled the essence of the word and the students nodded their head and laughed – the message got through to them! I was astounded because here I was struggling to explain a word in the most methodological way for me but it came so naturally for the Deaf volunteer. He didn’t know any NSL, mind you. He simply constructed a string of commonly understood facial expressions and gestures to convey a piece of information. So perhaps there may not be a universal sign language, but in this illustration, it’s clear to see that there may be a universal element that signed languages have that transcends beyond a communication system. The Deaf volunteer referred to this as the Deaf experience. I’m not personally Deaf but learning SgSL has afforded me this wonderful opportunity to immerse in a rich and beautiful culture. The more I interact with members of the local Deaf community, the more I stand in awe at this culture and language. Perhaps one day, I’ll understand what it is that Deaf volunteer did and how he did it. Perhaps.

This piece was written by our #SGUnited intern, Jan Paolo (on the far left!). Jan Paolo is a Psychology major and will be in his final year this August.

Click here to read more of our Multilingual Memories!

I did not realise it back then, but the day I got back my PSLE results was probably the day I started my journey in Linguistics. Or perhaps it started when I was much younger, and it was each step taken unknowingly that led me to where I am today.

My results qualified me a place in the MOE Language Centre, to study a language of my choice – Japanese, German or French. Back then, I loved reading Beauty and the Beast. I was a huge Beauty and the Beast fan! I knew the lyrics to all the songs. So naturally, I chose French. My intention was to learn this language for a few years, then drop it when it starts to become too overwhelming.

But I loved it! I loved the people and the places this language brought me to… Once, pre-COVID-19, MOE paid for our trip to study French and the culture, right in Brest, Brittany!

This photo was taken when I was in Brest! It was probably the most defining point of my language journey. Years later, because of my love for French and learning language, I decided to take on a second major in Linguistics.

This piece was written by our #SGUnited intern, Raye Fion. Raye Fion is a 3rd-year Psychology and Linguistics major.

Click here to read more of our Multilingual Memories!

Language learning has always been something fun since my childhood and it would not have been made possible if not for my mum. As an ex-preschool teacher, she played a huge role in creating amusing ways of teaching English and Mandarin. For example, when I was still in kindergarten, I recall vividly how she made a hawker push-kart out of painted cardboard for my younger sister and me to role-play as hawkers at home. We would learn the vocabulary of the different kinds of “food” (plastic toys) in Mandarin and sell them by talking to “customers” in Mandarin.

At night, my mum would read bedtime stories to us. One of my favourites was the Mr Men series by Roger Hargreaves. Each book in the series introduced a different character with a single dominant personality trait conveying a simple moral lesson. It helped me expand my vocabulary of adjectives in an entertaining way.

Other than through books and role-play, I learnt languages from watching TV. In primary school, we would watch Hong Kong dramas over dinner. When I encountered phrases or idioms that I did not understand, I would learn their meanings through the English subtitles. It was also my mum who piqued my interest in the Japanese language when she introduced us to an anime called Inuyasha which aired on Arts Central (now called Okto).

My mum instilled a love for languages in me which continued even as I grew older. When travelling to other countries and interacting with the locals there, I was able to appreciate how languages are influenced by culture. During an overseas exchange programme, I remember being intrigued by how people in Beijing described spoons as 勺子 whereas, in Singapore, the very same spoon is known as 汤匙 in Mandarin.

At NTU, I was excited at being able to take up foreign language courses as elective modules. Over the past 3 years, I have taken Japanese levels 1 to 3 and Malay level 1 and I look forward to learning another new language in my remaining year in NTU. I am thankful for having grown up in a supportive environment where language learning is not just a compulsory subject in the education system, but rather, a fascinating and fun-filled activity.

This piece was written by our #SGUnited intern, Jerald Chew. Jerald is a fourth-year Psychology major.

This week, we’re sharing our interns’ experiences and memories of learning language. Click here to read more of BLIP Lab’s Multilingual Memories!

We’ll also be posting interesting  and useful resources and bite-sized research about brain and language development on our news page here, or you can follow us on Facebook to stay updated about BLIP Lab’s activities 

Since I was young, friends and family described the way I speak my Mother Tongue, Malay, as pelat. I had trouble pronouncing words like air (water) and articulated in an unnatural accent. I remember my first day of Malay class in primary school, I introduced myself to Cikgu using the informal pronoun “nama aku Nadia” instead of “saya”. That may come across as rude to your elders, and I was not aware of the proper form until my classmate informed me.

I naturally felt more comfortable conversing in English as mostly everyone around me did, except for my grandma. I grew up living with my grandparents, where we listened to 70s Malay songs, sang along while on car rides and watched P. Ramlee movies together. During Hari Raya Aidilfitri, my grandma would cook her scrumptious ayam masak merah that I would not miss to indulge in. I acquired the taste for spicy food, thanks to her cooking of traditional Malay dishes. The Malay language encompasses my heritage and identity, which I am proud of, despite sounding pelat.

With my fondness for languages, I enrolled into Japanese, Korean and Singapore Sign Language classes. My goal has always been to expand my abilities to interact with more people and learn about other cultures. My most memorable experience was a school trip in Japan, and we accommodated in a homestay. The host family was an elderly couple and we called them おばさん (‘obasan’ for grandmother) and おじいさん (‘ojiisan’ for grandfather).

Photo of Japan by Chris Fowler on Unsplash

As a welcome gesture, they prepared dinner for us on our first night. With my basic Japanese skills, I asked them whether the meal contained pork and it did. So, I explained that I am a Muslim. Fortunately, they understood and apologised for the misunderstanding. The next morning, they laid out a breakfast spread that was freshly picked from their own farm and reassured me. I was truly delighted by their respectful and considerate manner. This encounter brought me insight that the differences in cultures or languages do not impose barriers. There are limitless opportunities where we can learn from one another.

This piece was written by our #SGUnited intern, Nadia Alya. Nadia Alya is a third-year Linguistics and Multilingual Studies major.

Starting from this week, we’ll be sharing our interns’ experiences and memories of learning language. Click here to read more of BLIP Lab’s Multilingual Memories!

We’ll also keep posting interesting  and useful resources and bite-sized research about brain and language development on our news page here, or you can follow us on Facebook to stay updated about BLIP Lab’s activities 😀