Language in Singapore The four official languages of Singapore are Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and English.

Chinese is the most commonly spoken home language in singapore, spoken by 51% of the population.

Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin Chinese is generally spoken as the lingua franca among the Chinese community in Singapore.[23] Known simply as Chinese, it is the designated mother tongue or 'ethnic language' ofChinese Singaporeans, at the expense of the other Chinese languages. It was introduced to Singapore during the time that it was a British colony in the 1920s, when Chinese schools in Singapore using Mandarin as the teaching language began to grow in number.[24]

Malay languages
13% of Singaporeans speak Malay as their home language. Malay is termed the "national language" of Singapore, and is written in the Latin script.[1] To reflect Singapore's Malay heritage, Malay is used in the Singapore national anthem[30] and in military footdrill commands. Malay is generally spoken by the Malays in Singapore, the indigenous people of Singapore. Linguistically, most Malays in Singapore speak the Johore-Riau variant of Malay similar to that spoken in the west Malaysian peninsula & Riau Islands. A few older Chinese, Indian and Eurasian Singaporeans can also speak Malay, while some speak "Singlay" which is to Malay what "Singlish" is to English.

Indian languages
Main article: Indian languages in Singapore

[edit]Tamil
As of 2010, Indians make up 9.2% of Singapore's total population.[33] About two-thirds of the of the Indian population are Tamil speakers from the India's southeastern state of Tamil Nadu.[34] As of 2005, about 38.8% of Singapore's Indian population speaks Tamil frequently at home.[29] This is a drop from 2000, when 45.3% of the Singapore Indian population spoke Tamil at home.[35] Tamil is taught in schools as a mother tongue, but there are schools which do not provide Tamil classes due to low percentage of Tamil students in that particular school. Students from such schools attend classes at the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre (UPTLC) which offers Tamil (TL), Basic Tamil (BTL), Tamil Literature (TLL) and Higher Tamil (HTL) outside curriculum time to pupils of secondary schools which do not have a Tamil Language Programme.[36] UPTLC was once known as the St. George's Tamil Primary School which was closed down in 1975 and later began to function fully as a Tamil Language Centre. [37]

Singapore language English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil are the official languages in Singapore, though English remains the most widely spoken since the various ethnic groups find it easier to communicate with each other in English. However, the dialect popularity known as 'Singlish' (a fascinating mix of English with dialects of Singapore thrown in for good measure) is being widely used in Singapore. Interestingly the colloquial English spoken in Singapore borrows heavily on Malay words!

Bilingualism and multilingualism

Quadrilingual warning sign written in Singapore's four official languages; English,Chinese (Simplified), Tamil and Malay.

The majority of Singaporeans are bilingual in English and one of the other three official languages. For instance, most Chinese Singaporeans can speak English and Mandarin Chinese. Some, especially the older generation, can speak Malay and additional Chinese languages such as Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, and/or Hainanese. While the Singapore government states that bilingualism in English and Mandarin is increasing, in reality, multilingualism is in decline.

Malaysia

The National Language is Malaysian Language (Bahasa Malaysia) or formerly known as Malay(Melayu). English is the official second language.