Enlighten me if your country also has nation-wide language campaigns. The Speak Good English Movement (SGEM) was launched in Singapore in 2000 by our PM Gok Chok Tong to encourage Singaporeans to speak grammatically correct English. ( http://www.goodenglish.org.sg/ )
I'm not sure how effective this campaign has been doing but at least, it has perhaps raise the awareness among some.
Yes it is important to speak Good English but at the same time, Singlish is something that makes us Singaporeans unique. Anywhere u go, just by hearing the English spoken by a Singaporean u'll recognise immediately your fellow country man. It's something i don't think we should feel ashame of. On the other hand, i must admit that there must be a balance. I sat before on the bus, in the toilet, standing in queue and hearing how our young and working people communicate with one another, compared to English spoken perfectly by some foreigner, somehow it seems more comfortable hearing Good English being spoken.
Well, i don't wish to see banning of 'use of singlish' but i think locals should also know when to use, and when to speak Good English. If usage of singlish goes out of hand, i think it'll reach a point where one can't even recognised if it's English anymore. And this isn't going to do us any good if we're going global with English as our main spoken language in communication.
I am surprised to learn that the Speak Mandarin Campaign was launched as early as 1979 by our then PM Lee Kuan Yew. ( http://www.mandarin.org.sg/site/ )It was only recently that i'm aware of the 'Huayu Cool' raising awareness on speaking mandarin. With China coming up and more and more Singaporeans venturing to China for work, Mandarin is getting it's attention increasingly.
I'm not aware of other countries having language campaigns. Singapore is truely a country where government really looked into the well-being of the people and the country. Even educating people on languages. Well, a nanny-state? u have your own take.
