Speaking Singapore: Language, Culture and Identity

It was full house on 5 September 2015 as approximately 250 participants filled the venue of the School of Arts and Social Sciences' Speaking Singapore: Language, Culture and Identity forum – this year's edition of the biennial Language in Singapore forums.

This half-day event saw Guest-of-Honour Ms Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Law and Ministry of Education, and speakers Prof Goh Yeng Seng (National Institute of Education), Dr Azhar bin Ibrahim (National University of Singapore), Ms Josephine Gan (Business China, Singapore), Dr Jack Lee (Singapore Management University) and Mr Azhagiya Pandiyan (Tamil Murasu) speak about the roles of Chinese, Malay, Tamil, English, and even Singlish in Singapore, as well as innovations in translation. Prominent international and local publishers – namely Marshall Cavendish, Select Books, Epigram Books, Alam Cahaya and Union Book Co. – were also specially invited to showcase a wide array of books. 

From the importance of customising language pedagogy to the needs of the local population to the vast potential of machines to do translations, the event highlighted many important issues and gave participants a glimpse into the ever-changing landscape of language in Singapore.