Singapore Languages

National Languages
There are four official languages in Singapore: English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese and Tamil. English is used for governmental affairs, commerce, and education. Upon independence from Britain in 1965 Malay was selected as an official language to facilitate relations with Indonesia and Malaysia.

Other Languages
Mandarin is increasingly encouraged as the lingua franca for the Chinese in place of dialects like Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, Hainanese and Foochow. Among the Indian community, apart from Tamil, other languages spoken are Malayalam, Punjabi, Telegu, Hindi and Bengali. Most of the literate population is bi-lingual, and domestically English and Mandarin are the most commonly used languages. In parliamentary debates, members may speak Malay, Mandarin, Tamil or English and simultaneous oral translations are provided.