Mandarin in Singapore – What’s the Deal?

Singapore is an incredibly interesting part of the world, where cultures clash in all kinds of ways. So what better experience than to study Mandarin in Singapore and take in the sights and lifestyle of one of the worlds newer countries.

Singapore, unbeknown to many, actually has FOUR official languages. They are:

English, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and Malay.

English is the primary language of the country, with road signs and the like all in English but Mandarin Chinese is growing and growing fast. The other three languages, bar English, were chosen to correspond with the most common ethnic groups based in Singapore.

So let’s learn a little more on Chinese in Singapore and how it’s growing.

Mandarin in Singapore – The Lowdown

This is now more relaxed but the fact is Mandarin/Putonghua/普通话 is far widely used than any other Chinese dialect.

Due to the country having FOUR official languages, most Singaporeans are indeed bi-lingual.

Mandarin in Singapore – Singlish

Ever heard of Chinglish? If not, you’ll want to check this out our Guide to Chinglish!

OK, now you know what Chinglish is, take a wild stab at the meaning of Singlish?

You got it, the equation is simple. Singlish = Singaporean + English

It’s worth noting this is not an official language, but more a mark of a true, native Singaporean. The vocabulary used is a mix of slang, grammar and words meaning that when a Singaporean speaks English, you know they are from Singapore. The grammar is not perfect English, but that’s OK, because this is Singlish, not English!

If you want to get clued up on your Singlish, this guide is quite handy.

So is Singapore really a good place to learn Mandarin?

Despite the strong presence of English (alongside Tamil and Malay) we found Singapore to be a great place to learn Chinese.

We wouldn’t open a school here otherwise, right?! let’s give you some quickfire reasons why we think Mandarin in Singapore is the way to go:

• Very high quality of life
• Incredibly safe, low crime rates
• Chinese is actually widely spoken on the streets
• Singapore is ranked in the TOP 3 student cities in the world
• Super clean
• A clash of food cultures from throughout Asia
• Lots of tourist things to tick off

Out of the eight cities we offer Mandarin courses in, Singapore is perhaps one that brings together cultures moreso than any other. This makes some rather incredible street food and the chance to make friends from every corner of Asia.

Singapore is very easy to navigate on the underground and is so clean. Even chewing gum is ILLEGAL in Singapore!

Learning Mandarin in Singapore with LTL

You have plenty of options when coming to learn Mandarin in Singapore with LTL!

In Singapore you can learn Mandarin in a group class or individually. The latter will propel your Mandarin in Singapore to higher levels, faster, but ultimately, both are a great way to learn Chinese.

You can even mix the two if you wish.

You can sign up for full time courses from 4-6 hours a day.

Six hours is truly intensive but you’ll be amazed how much you can learn in a short space of time.

For an idea check out Exhibit A, Martin from the UK. He spent two weeks studying Chinese in Beijing on his business trip. He was absolutely delighted, as were we, with his progress.

You can do exactly that as well!

If you want to discover Asia further we have some exciting programs to match – a gap year, multi city courses, semester programs. You can learn Traditional or Simplified Mandarin… you can even tailor your own course.

We really make sure every single individual gets exactly what THEY want from their course here at LTL.

Check out the 8 exciting cities we offer Mandarin courses in…