Thanks to a publisher friend from Marshall Cavendish, finally got a chance to attend a private book launch event this evening. The book in question is entitled Spiaking Singlish - A companion to how Singaporeans communicate, by Dr Gwee Li Sui.
It's a new leap (experience) for me! Hooray!
What is the different between a private book launch event vs a public one? For the former, it's by invitation only and most of the attendees are friends or associates with the author/publisher. Hence it is usually organized at an event hall with a smaller crowd. As for the latter, it is usually organized at the bookstore and anyone can attend the event, buy the book and get autograph.
OK, back to the book. First, let me share a little bit about the author, Dr Gwee Li Sui. He is a doctor (vet) and a Phd holder, so he can definitely spiak good England as well as Singlish. It is no wonder that "code switch" was famously coined after him in 2016. In fact, he authored more books in poetry than Singlish and the idea of this book came to fruition by chance. Heng ah!
Why I said this book is the "most ambitious"?
Besides detailing the history of Singlish since "last time mata wear shorts" time, Dr Gwee also defense the importance of Singlish in terms of its efficiency (use "your smart meh?" [Singlish] instead of "Do you think that you're that smart?" [English]) and multi-culturalism. He also shared about how Singlish (as a language) evolved over time, for example, instead of "agak", we use "agakration" now; instead of "cheem", we use "cheemology" now.
Lastly, his aim is to protect and preserved Singlish as a unique language of Singapore (and not a rojak English) for generations to come. Hence this book.
Why I said this book is the "most serious"?
This is a book about Singlish in Singlish. High percentage of the content are written in "proper" and "formal" Singlish words, so, if you are Singaporean, you will connect with it immediately and feel really shiok about it. I foresee that non-Singaporean readers might need some time to apprehend the content fully.
There is even a test (50 questions) at the end of the book to test your Singlish air-level and also an index of 600+ Singlish entries for readers to quickly find out the meaning.
Seriously, this is a book for serious readers who are serious about Singlish but want to enjoy/learn it in a fun way (all the 45 chapters are accompanied by Dr Gwee's hand-drawn comic strips). Hence the motto of the book : READ, LEARN, & ENJOY!
The book Spiaking Singlish is currently available in the major bookstores near you and a public book launch event will be held somewhere in December 2017 at Kinokuniya Orchard.
Last but not least, sharing some photos taken from the event:
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| Dr Gwee starting to warm-up |
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| Dr Gwee starting to get into the origin of the book - Spiaking Singligh |
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| Dr Gwee and me |
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| The autograph |
Cheers!
Category of leap: Mind
Note:
1. Some of the words used in this article are Singlish, to blend in with the review better :-)
2. This is not a sponsored post.
Richard, I is surprised and happy to chance on your post! Glad you suka my book. 2 things: I'm not a vet lah. Although sometimes I teach monkeys, my PhD is in literature. Other thing is, I deen coin the term "code-switch". Linguists got use it for a long time liao. If I anyhow claim credit, later they beat me. Thanks for blogging! :)
ReplyDeleteOops!Sorri ah Gwee, given salah info.. anyway, i suka reading the book so far.
DeleteAll the best to your upcoming public book launch event