In Singapore most
people have good English. Everything in public areas is kept in 4 languages
(Tamil, Malay, Hokkien and English), but English is the lingua franca. In
normal conversation most people will use Singlish, a version of English with
oversimplified grammar and sentence order with slang words. It is common for
even your supervisor to ask “Can?”, to which the reply is “Can.” Or “Cannot”. I
found the pronunciation and slang quite endearing and will miss it a bit. I did
not take any language courses.
Culturally there were of course some differences. In the working environment
there are bigger differences between supervisor and student than in Sweden.
This can be very extreme in the case of the PI. I was lucky, to have a more
relaxed PI, but you will be talked over. I recommend choosing a supervisor that
has some experience from abroad, so they accept and can understand when you
speak up.
Singaporeans I found
very pleasant to talk to. In the public they are open, friendly and respect one
another. Most are properly and well dressed, so I preferred to look the part as
well. It is very easy to make friends and to meet for food. I found that food
is the one thing Singaporeans really can talk about forever and it is a great
conversation starter. This is not a surprise, as there are many excellent food
cultures present in Singapore (make sure to get invited to a Chinese New Year
celebration with steam boat!).
There are many
different festivities (Thaipusam, Chinese New Year, …) to be held by the
various communities, as well as Singapore specific events like the chingay
parade. I could go on forever, but I think I will start to swoon then. It really is worth experiencing it by yourself!