“To sink deep roots,The English language needs to be to our youth more than just a necessity for their education and a skill to help them navigate business and work. It needs, more importantly, to be a form of communication,” said RAdm (NS) Lui.

In its seventh year, the Speak Good English Movement is encouraging Singaporeans to make speaking good English a lifestyle choice and to express themselves in good English. This year, the Speak Good English Movement moves into the realm of the language of the heart. The human experience of life, of people, of relationships is the language of the heart. The tagline, Rock Your World! Express Yourself calls for expression in good English that will enable people to use the right words to build relationships and reach out to other people instead of using words just for pragmatic purposes.

In his speech, RAdm (NS) Lui emphasised that giving our youth the ability to speak good English to build people up and foster relationships, becomes an important element in their development and growth into happy, well-adjusted, enthusiastic and expressive adults.

To emphasise the element of fun and “heart” in speaking good English, all guests came prepared with the words of a line from their favourite song, poem or book. RAdm (NS) Lui, Members of Parliament Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Mrs Josephine Teo, Dr Lam Pin Min and Mr Hri Kumar Nair as well as Dr N Varaprasad, Chief Executive of the National Library Board, and Professor Koh Tai Ann, Chairperson of the Speak Good English Movement Committee, went on stage to share their favourite lines with the audience and why they chose it. The lines shared by the stellar personalities present will be put up in Timbre.

The Speak Good English Movement is making youth their target this year, with programmes and activities planned to attract, engage and stimulate the Gen-Y crowd. The launch, held at Timbre Music Bistro, gave a precursor of things to come, including music performances by Shirlyn Tan, Jack and Rai of EIC and West Grand Boulevard, as well as oratorical contests called The Art of Persuasion.

As part of their sustainable programmes to encourage youth to speak up and speak out, the Speak Good English Movement has planned a year-long host of activities titled Rock Your World! Express Yourself. Starting tomorrow, there will be weekly programmes held at Timbre Music Bistro, organised in collaboration with STOMP! and 987FM. Wednesday programmes at Timbre include live music, drama performances and oratorical contests to promote and showcase the use of good English through music and performance art.

Two books were launched today in conjunction with the launch of the Speak Good English Movement. The first, entitled English as It Is Broken, is a compilation of the Speak Good English Movement’s regular column in The Straits Times and STOMP! of the same title. The popular column addresses queries from the public on the correct use of English, and serves as a witty resource guide for students and members of the public.

The second book is Speak Well, Sell Well: A Retailer’s Guide to Good English, an easy-to-use guide book that the Workforce Development Agency has put together with the support of the Speak Good English Movement. It will help retail staff in Singapore use the appropriate phrases in the retail sales process, and can be used as a reference or training material for service staff.

Sharing plans and programmes for this year’s movement, Professor Koh Tai Ann also elaborated on the importance of speaking Standard English. She explained that it allows Singaporeans to have a better grasp of the language and in effect, makes it easier for Singaporeans to comprehend and communicate with anybody, in any variant of English, anywhere in the world.

About the Speak Good English Movement

The Speak Good English Movement was established to encourage Singaporeans to speak Standard English. This means using grammatically correct English in conversations where rules for constructing sentences are adhered to. It is not about accent, although the pronunciation should be accurate.

For media queries, please contact:

Speak Good English Movement 2007
Jeanine Tan
DID: 6342 4073 
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Porter Novelli
Melissa Tan
DID: 6539 9295
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Official Speech - Professor Koh (794.02 KB)

Official Speech - Rear Admiral Lui (994.56 KB)