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Tuesday 6 October 2009
Faith groups use English to draw devotees
Changing times have forced religious leaders in traditionally non-English-speaking faith groups to reconsider how best to reach new devotees, many of whom are young and English-speaking.
Traditionally non-English-speaking religions turning bilingual to woo youth
By Yen Feng 05 October 2009
Changing times have forced religious leaders in traditionally non-English-speaking faith groups to reconsider how best to reach new devotees, many of whom are young and English-speaking.
The speed of such religions adopting the use of the English language has picked up, as devotees become increasingly wired and English-educated.
Most eager to adapt among the faith groups are Taoists, who have the most to lose if they stay monolingual. Since 1980, the number of followers fell from 30 per cent to 9 per cent of that of all faiths here, according to the 2000 population census.
To extend the faith’s reach, Mr. Tan Thiam Lye, president of the Taoist Federation, has begun promoting the religion as English-friendly.
Today, all of its publications are printed in both Chinese and English.
Its newly launched Taoist College in Bedok, which trains aspiring priests, also requires students to be bilingual.
And by year-end, the federation’s Chinese language-only website will be re-designed to include an English version with explanations of the religion’s beliefs and scriptures.
At Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery off Sin Ming Avenue, ‘Gum’, an English-language magazine launched in April, is the Buddhist temple’s latest initiative to connect older, Hokkien-speaking devotees with English-speaking youth.
Explaining the magazine’s name, the temple’s youth ministry executive Cell Tono Lim said: ‘In English, we want our devotees to ‘stick together’, but it’s also a word our older followers can understand - ‘gum’, as in the Hokkien term to mean ‘get along’.’
Young Buddhists are also using the Internet to attract English-speaking newcomers.
Youth leaders who organise gatherings in their schools - such as the Nanyang Polytechnic Buddhist Society and the Singapore Institute of Management Buddhist Bhavana Club - regularly blog, post and tweet about their events in English.
Venerable Guang Ping, the Singapore Buddhist Federation’s secretary-general, however, acknowledged that more can be done to improve the standard of English in temples.
The Buddhist federation provides English-language services for its member temples, ‘but they don’t always reach out to us for help’, leading to some problems with translation, he said.
‘Using English isn’t just for the youth, but also for the Buddhists here who are from Thailand, Cambodia, Australia and other countries, who don’t speak any Mandarin,’ he added.
And with more urban professionals turning to Buddhist ‘lifestyle’ concepts like yoga and meditation, the federation wants to reach out to those who may develop a deeper interest in the religion.
In December, it will conduct - for the first time - a public workshop on the Heart Sutra, a passage that explains the Buddhist concept of emptiness, entirely in English.
Muslim groups, too, have felt the need to adopt English alongside mother-tongue traditions as devotees travel here from different parts of the world, for work or as tourists.
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) said the frequency of English-language sermons at mosques has gone up 10 per cent each year since 2007.
More mosques are also projecting English-language translations onto screens during Friday prayers.
‘With more foreigners here, there are now many Muslims who are not necessarily Malay,’ said Mr. Zaini Osman of Muis’ Mosque Policy and Planning Division.
Other faith groups interviewed - the Hindus, Christians, Zoroastrians and Baha’is - said their religious sessions and printed material have always largely been in English, and so had not had the need for new translations.
Said Mr. S. Nallathamby, chief executive officer of the Hindu Endowments Board, which oversees the Sri Mariamman Temple in South Bridge Road: ‘Walk into any of our temples and you’ll see - from signs to notices to programme schedules - everything is translated into English.
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Faith groups use English to draw devotees
Traditionally non-English-speaking religions turning bilingual to woo youth
By Yen Feng
05 October 2009
Changing times have forced religious leaders in traditionally non-English-speaking faith groups to reconsider how best to reach new devotees, many of whom are young and English-speaking.
The speed of such religions adopting the use of the English language has picked up, as devotees become increasingly wired and English-educated.
Most eager to adapt among the faith groups are Taoists, who have the most to lose if they stay monolingual. Since 1980, the number of followers fell from 30 per cent to 9 per cent of that of all faiths here, according to the 2000 population census.
To extend the faith’s reach, Mr. Tan Thiam Lye, president of the Taoist Federation, has begun promoting the religion as English-friendly.
Today, all of its publications are printed in both Chinese and English.
Its newly launched Taoist College in Bedok, which trains aspiring priests, also requires students to be bilingual.
And by year-end, the federation’s Chinese language-only website will be re-designed to include an English version with explanations of the religion’s beliefs and scriptures.
At Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery off Sin Ming Avenue, ‘Gum’, an English-language magazine launched in April, is the Buddhist temple’s latest initiative to connect older, Hokkien-speaking devotees with English-speaking youth.
Explaining the magazine’s name, the temple’s youth ministry executive Cell Tono Lim said: ‘In English, we want our devotees to ‘stick together’, but it’s also a word our older followers can understand - ‘gum’, as in the Hokkien term to mean ‘get along’.’
Young Buddhists are also using the Internet to attract English-speaking newcomers.
Youth leaders who organise gatherings in their schools - such as the Nanyang Polytechnic Buddhist Society and the Singapore Institute of Management Buddhist Bhavana Club - regularly blog, post and tweet about their events in English.
Venerable Guang Ping, the Singapore Buddhist Federation’s secretary-general, however, acknowledged that more can be done to improve the standard of English in temples.
The Buddhist federation provides English-language services for its member temples, ‘but they don’t always reach out to us for help’, leading to some problems with translation, he said.
‘Using English isn’t just for the youth, but also for the Buddhists here who are from Thailand, Cambodia, Australia and other countries, who don’t speak any Mandarin,’ he added.
And with more urban professionals turning to Buddhist ‘lifestyle’ concepts like yoga and meditation, the federation wants to reach out to those who may develop a deeper interest in the religion.
In December, it will conduct - for the first time - a public workshop on the Heart Sutra, a passage that explains the Buddhist concept of emptiness, entirely in English.
Muslim groups, too, have felt the need to adopt English alongside mother-tongue traditions as devotees travel here from different parts of the world, for work or as tourists.
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) said the frequency of English-language sermons at mosques has gone up 10 per cent each year since 2007.
More mosques are also projecting English-language translations onto screens during Friday prayers.
‘With more foreigners here, there are now many Muslims who are not necessarily Malay,’ said Mr. Zaini Osman of Muis’ Mosque Policy and Planning Division.
Other faith groups interviewed - the Hindus, Christians, Zoroastrians and Baha’is - said their religious sessions and printed material have always largely been in English, and so had not had the need for new translations.
Said Mr. S. Nallathamby, chief executive officer of the Hindu Endowments Board, which oversees the Sri Mariamman Temple in South Bridge Road: ‘Walk into any of our temples and you’ll see - from signs to notices to programme schedules - everything is translated into English.
‘This has always been a must for us.’
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