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Hii everyone, I'm harshini (she/her). I was born in Singapore, a tiny island in South East Asia known to be a 'melting pot' of languages. In school, I learnt English as a first language and Tamil as a second language. I am a linguistics major from Nanyang Technological University and I am an exchange student in Bryn Mawr.

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I think I speak a Singaporean kind of English but when I am speaking in formal settings I will code-switch to what I think is more professional.

I wish I didn't have to do that but we have to sadly meet some societal expectations to be perceived as well-spoken.

Also after coming to the US, I realised how my English vocabulary has more British English than American English. This is probably because we do the Cambridge 'O' and 'A' level certifications hahaha.

some words:
I use - what people have corrected me use
lift - elevator
plaster - bandaid
aircon - AC
carpark - parking lot
timetable - schedule
shoes - sneakers
pavement - sidewalk
boot - trunk

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My dad's side is from Malaysia and my mum's side is from Singapore. I am a fourth/third generation immigrant of South Indian descent.

In my early years, I could only speak Tamil. On the first day of nursery, I came back crying because I was unable to understand anyone but I became fluent in English after 2/3 months. Children are amazing.

I would consider Tamil my first language because I learnt it first. However I am definitely more proficient in English and I also consider myself a native English Speaker.

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Tamil is a minority language in South India but its regarded as one of the 4 main languages in Singapore (most early immigrants form the diaspora spoke Tamil). There is a growing expat population in Singapore and the percentage of people who speak Tamil is decreasing. Most of my mother's family is fluent in writing/reading and speaking Tamil. I consumed lots of Tamil media growing up and I think that helped me maintain interest in the language but the proficiency has reduced since I've stopped learning it in school (around 16 years old). Also Singaporean Tamil is definitely different from other versions of Tamil. However, I would say that the different types of Tamil are mutually intelligible in most scenarios!

p.s. I couldn't get this song out of my head!

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Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal - Dippam Dappam Lyric| Vijay Sethupathi, Anirudh, Vignesh Shivan

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Last semester, I did a module on Singapore's Languages where a big part of it was about Singlish.
Singlish has a morpho-syntax system, a set of vocabulary, as well as certain rules in creating semantics in a utterance. With this strand of thought, I personally would consider Singlish a separate language.
Hence the name Singlish = Singapore + English is quite misleading.
I also tend to speak Singlish to Singaporeans when I meet them overseas to create a sense of camaraderie.

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Why Singlish Is The Most Efficient Language In The World - TSL Comedy

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English
Tamil
Singlish
In college i kind of explored languages so:
Korean (I'm one mod away from a minor)
German (basic)
Thai (basic)
Malay (basic)
I also know bits and pieces of Chinese and Japanese.
In the future, i want to learn more south indian languages (hopefully its easier to learn) and unexpectedly, I have to learn Python 🥲.