HKLNA Project - Singaporean's First Language in Home by Age

data collection index (data | graphs | tables)

English or languish - Probing the ramifications
of Hong Kong's language policy

Quality Assessment
Section four
Language and Society

Hong Kong's Neighbors
Singapore's Population Census
First Languages Spoken in the Home by Age and Large Ethnic Group

Graph 69a - Proportion of Singapore residents claiming English as their most frequently spoken language in the home. By age and large ethnic group in 2000.
graph 69b | graphs 70a and 70b | graphs 71a, 71b, and 71c | collection index (graphs)

English as First Language in Home by Ethnic Group in 2000 (Line Graph)

Note 1: English is the first second of two second languages acquired in school by most Singaporean children. All Singaporean primary and secondary students are required to study English and a so-called mother tongue (see graph 69b below). English is the medium of instruction for all subjects not related to a mother tongue language.

Note 2: This graph is best read from right to left, in so far as the longer you have been in the system the less you are affected by its newness.

Data Source: Singapore Government. Department of Statistics. Singapore Census of Population 2000. Advance Data Release No.3. Literacy and Language. Table 4 - Resident population by languages most frequently spoken at home and age group, p.6 [online document] Statistics Singapore/Papers and analyses/Social analysis/Advanced data release. (March 2004) [EARTH's online copy - PDF 24 KB]. Copy of data in EXCEL format also available upon special request.

Graph 69b - Proportion of Singapore residents claiming a "mother tongue" as their most frequently spoken language in the home. By age and large ethnic group in 2000.
graph 69a | graphs 70a and 70b | graphs 71a, 71b, and 71c | collection index (graphs)

Singporeans Claiming "Mother Tongue" as First Language in Home by Age in 2000 (Line Graph)

Note: Mother tongue is defined here as one of three languages designated by the Singapore government as necessary for passage through Singapore's primary and secondary education system. For most Singaporeans these so-called mother tongues are little more than second languages. The mother tongues corresponding to each of the three large ethnic groups indicated above are Malay (Malay), Tamil (South Asian), and Mandarin (Chinese).

top