Singapore is pretty multi cultural, but the predominant unifying language spoken between all parties is English. I worked with clients all over Asia and would sometimes hear colleagues speaking to our Taiwanese clients in Chinese Mandarin. The only other time I saw them speaking Chinese Mandarin to Singapore clients, was due to their IT teams being based in China. For China, HK, Thailand, Japan and Korea, you must know the local language. Either a senior individual that is fluent in English would be present or they would prove us a translator. For Singapore, Malaysia and Phillipines, most of the workforce speaks English.

(editiert)

Oh it's extremely multi-cultural! Travelled there +throughout Asia many times actually (including for BCG). But the original Q&A poster tied Arabic to UAE and Mandarin to Singapore, which indicated and assumption that Mandarin is to Singapore as Arabic is to UAE. Which is not the case. Malay would be the closest comparison. I am making sure the poster understands Singapore as a country (because they need to in order to do well in the application + networking + interview)

Understood. Working in Singapore or Malaysia was always pretty nice for English speaking natives. HK was a bit more mixed, most people leaned to speaking Cantonese over English, and now its transitioning more to Mandarin/Cantonese.

Agreed! Actually caught up with a Singaporean friend 2 days ago and was surprised to learn Mandarin is spoken more than Malay even if Malay is the national language. Fascinating!

The amount of confidence you had when saying Malay is the national language is funny for a foreigner. The country has FOUR national languages: Tamil, English, Mandarin, and Malay. English is used the most and Mandarin gives an edge for business. Malay is great for Malayisa-Singapore cross-border business.

Malay is indeed the national language of Singapore, while Chinese is not. I was mistaken in the extent to which Chinese is spoken in Singapore, and that’s the joy of learning! Lots of countries out there. If you’d like to go un-anonymous I’m more than happy to have a discussion on all 200 odd countries out there to see our comparative knowledge levels! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Singapore

I respectfully agree. You're right! Looks like national ≠ official. SIngapore has one national language, but does indeed have four official languages. But to be fair, the official languages Chinese (as 75% of population is Chinese and lots of Chinese trade/investment) and English (for global trade) are the ones used for business, so I think that is what is most relevant to the poster of the Question. Can only think of Malay being helpful for Singapore-Malaysia work.

(editiert)

Ah! I'm so glad when online debates/arguments turn out positive. Thanks :) Yes, I was totally (admittedly) shocked by the % speaking Chinese. I had no idea! Totally agree Chinese more likely to helpful in Singapore, but I suppose I was just "double-checking" that they also knew of the presence of Malay. Appreciate the discussion + learning!