I tried translating words of wisdom from a renowned monk into Singlish. Here’s what happened.
What would spiritual leader Thich Naht Hanh’s passage on Mindfulness sound like in Singlish?
Most of us, millennials or not, are constantly in search of meaning in our lives. I tried explaining mine to a friend over our garlic naan.
“You know? It’s like Ikigai. When you find joy in occupying yourself with meaningful work.”
Meeting her blank stare, I quickly summarized it, “Basically, your life purpose lah.”
Maybe the nuances of Ikigai got lost in ‘translation’, but her lively reaction caused a spill of curry over our plates.
“Liddat can dream on la! Here how to get ikigai? Icky guys, maybe!”, she exclaims.
Without going into the details of the curry spill or resulting spiel over the #MeToo movement, I write this as I reflect upon how effective (and amusing) it might be to simplify a difficult philosophical passage using relatable terms, without changing much of its meaning.
What if it were Singlish?
Chop chop Karipok!
Being in Singapore where code-switching from British English to Singlish can be a norm, Singlish can often be the more direct, effective and practical way of communicating our thoughts.
For example,
English: Why is she behaving like that?
Singlish: Why she liddat?
Everything is fast and choppy, and straight to the point. We instantly get our message across. Yet even with its immediacy, we find time to embellish our words:
English: She’s so fashionable but can be quite arrogant.
Singlish: That girl so stylo milo but aiyah very the yaya papaya one.
It’s become part of Singapore’s identity, and while it was announced as a “handicap we must not wish upon Singaporeans” by the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, it’s hard to prohibit the natural evolution and use of a language by its people. Singlish is still endearingly and widely used amongst Singaporeans — and not always at the expense of English, as feared by some.
In fact, some Singlish terms like kiasu have been accepted into the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Even Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE) has jumped on the bandwagon by embracing Singlish in local English composition writing — though reminding students that “Singlish words should be used only appropriately, usually in direct speech”.
What if Singlish was the lingua franca, however appropriate or inappropriate it may be? Can we make a seemingly serious text more relatable?
Sui. Challenge Accepted.
Reminded of my conversation with my friend (a millennial whose first language is Singlish), and our search for our life’s purpose, I felt the itch to translate a meaningful passage such as renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh’s words of wisdom on mindfulness. Into Singlish.
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist who has published more than 100 books and was at one point exiled from Vietnam.
In “Peace is Every Step,” he talks about optimism and how we can turn our situations into more positive ones.
Would I be able to keep the nuances of Thich Nhat Hanh’s message in Singlish?
Can try anot? Okay lah, can lah, I’ll just whack it lah:
[English] When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce.
[Singlish] When you plant lettuce hor, if it doesn’t grow well, you never go and blame it right.
You look for reasons it is not doing well.
Sure go look-see why it’s like that.
It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce.
Maybe got need fertilizer, or more water, or it didn’t kena enough sun one. You don’t go and hentam the lettuce right?
Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person.
But hor, when we got problems with our kakis or family, is it we some more want to scold other people?
But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce.
But if we know how to jaga them, they sure grow ok one, like the lettuce lah.
Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument.
Aiyo, this blaming-blaming not good lah, some more you want to go and use logic and argue, for what?
That is my experience.
Don’t say I bluff but this one from experience ok.
No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change.
No blame, no reasoning, no argument, wahlau just understand lah. If you understand, and you show you understand, you can love, and the situation confirm got hope lah, otherwise CMI one.
Breaking It Down
While translating a text like this into a colloquial language like Singlish has its challenges, it didn’t turn out to be the nightmare I expected.
Colloquial languages help convey particular meanings from the original text and incorporate words or phrases which are language-specific.
So translating the above text is not merely about simplifying it, but it involves a real task of translating — and making the text understandable in that colloquial language, and in that particular context.
There are many ways that translators use to translate colloquial languages, and just to name a few:
- Softening Method
Where it takes into account who the reader is and aims to make sense to the target reader, causing some slang terms to be softened/omitted so as to not be offensive. - Literal Translation
Translated word for word — but this is where some colloquial words may lose its meaning. - Stylistic Compensation
Using similar-meaning phrases and words that may take the place of the original terms.
Still, it was a fun experience that resulted in fits of laughter, as I hope it is for all of you reading this.
Not a Singlish speaker and find yourself cross-eyed from reading the above text?
Here’s just a sprinkling of Singlish words explained:
- Hentam
Sometimes spelled ‘hantam’, in Malay it means ‘to hit’ or ‘slap’ and it is used in the same way in Singlish, though it also means ‘to criticise’, ‘find fault with’. It may even be used to mean ‘doing something by guesswork’. - Kaki
‘Kaki’ actually means ‘leg’ in Malay, while in Hokkien it means ‘mine/my own’. Yet it has somehow been used to mean ‘friends’ or ‘buddies’. - Look-see
Usually repeated twice (‘look-see look-see’), it simply means what it sounds like: to have a quick look around.
Then there are the seemingly English words that are used in a uniquely Singlish way:
- Confirm
Like in English, it means what it is but is often used like the word ‘definitely’ or as an adjective. E.g. ‘I confirm get this job one’ (‘I will definitely get this job’). - Some more
Used to mean ‘furthermore’, ‘additionally’ or ‘and then’.
And the Singlish tags or sentence breakers that end some words or sentences. Often they have no meaning when used on its own:
- Hor
Used often to imply ‘you know’. - Lah
The famed ‘lah’ can change based on how you stress it, but often it is used to assert a particular statement. It acts almost like a full stop.
And abbreviations:
- CMI : Cannot Make It
Abbreviations are fun and common especially in the texting/social media world (lol). In this context, it means to try but fail in the endeavor in accordance to the general standard.
“No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding”: Is Singlish more effective then?
Whether you love it or ‘buay tahan’, Singlish is an extremely important part of Singapore’s social fabric. Smatterings of ‘lahs’, ‘mehs’, and ‘hors’ are just the tip of the iceberg.
Riding on this year’s NDP (National Day Parade) theme of “Our Singapore” where we seek to own that Singaporean identity, Singlish shouldn’t be something we shy away from, but embrace as an endearing and relatable part of being Singaporean.
Perhaps what makes a language like Singlish ‘effective’ can really be up to us speakers.
Written by Liani MK
References:
Colin Goh & Y. Y. Woo (2011), “The Coxford Singlish Dictionary,” Singapore: Angsana Books.
Héctor García and Francesc Miralles (2017), “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life,” New York: Penguin Books.
Thich Nhat Hanh (1992), “Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life,” New York: Bantam Books, p. 78.
“A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English”. Retrieved from http://www.singlishdictionary.com
“Translating Slang Terms and Colloquialisms Part 2”. Retreived from https://www.matinee.co.uk/blog/translating-slang-terms-and-colloquialisms-part-2/
