I love meeting people,  period. 

And it’s a special treat when someone who shares a different perspective or view you weren’t aware of.  This could be anything from how they tie their shoes to why they think that GMOs are the future.

One of my close friends was raised in Singapore. I thought It would be interesting to hear her perspective on what she thinks people generally don’t know about her home country.

1.It’s very humid.

It’s frequently monsoon season, heavy rain and humid all the time. She described the common weather as coming out of any building or air-conditioned place and walking into an oven. Within 5 minutes of being outside you’re wet from the heat, so it’s very hot. 

2. Lack of natural resources.

The country is literally a tiny island so they’re very strategic with how they provide value. The country has collected and grown very wealthy because of their focus on tourism and refining petroleum. They don’t export a lot of little things but export fewer high-value things.

3. Where do you see Singapore in 10 years?

It’s possible that they can’t compete very well because China is creating a “one road” to dominate the commerce and trading away from Singapore and towards China. China is a big competitor to Singapore.

4. There is a Singapore accent.

Although English is the official language there’s a kind of slang spoken. It’s called Singlish, and yes you’re probably as surprised as I am. (Hear it spoken here)

It’s borrowed from other Mandarin dialects, however, there are no set rules. She described it as “Whatever is not proper, you can categorize under Singlish” it’s a combination of speaking however you want to say it.

Common Singlish practices is to shorten your sentences by droping a “t” or “d” at the end of a word, e.g. act = ac, word = wor. 

Other examples are: “excuse me” = scuse, “lah” = equivalent to “yo”, aiyoh = wow (but not positive), “siao” = crazy, “sian” = boring or restless or defeated, “wah lau eh” = disbelief or shock. 

5. Durian is one of the primary fruits of Singapore.

I found this to be especially interesting because durian is such a novelty and in general a very interesting fruit that not very common in the U.S.

You don’t have to come from another country to share a different perspective. But I hope this presented some interesting information you may not have been aware of before.