Reflections | How China and Singapore’s official languages came into being, after Trump’s English decree
China did not have an official language in the modern sense before the 20th century, while Singapore’s is different to its national language
When US President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month making English the official language of the country, many – including myself – were surprised.
It was not Trump’s barely concealed dog whistle to his anti-immigrant constituents that surprised me, but the fact that the US had had no designated official language at the national level in the 249 years of the country’s existence. I had always assumed, wrongly, that the official language of the US was English.
Many people also assume that English is the official language of Singapore. They are not wrong, but English is only one of the city state’s four official languages. The other three are Malay, Mandarin Chinese and the southern Indian language of Tamil.
English, however, is the language of government, business and law. Bequeathed to us by over 140 years of British colonial rule, English was intended as a linguistically and politically neutral platform on which the diverse communities in Singapore could communicate with one another.
That English happens to be the de facto international language of our time, the world’s lingua franca, is a historical fluke that has greatly benefited Singapore and its citizens.