Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

PERSPECTIVE: Jack Bohm is a 18-year-old Singapore permanent resident (PR) who has been living in Singapore since he was three years old.

He went viral on TikTok in Dec. 2020 after he posted a video of himself spouting a stream of Hokkien swear words as a response to a video that asked, "If you speak more than one language, tell me, what language do you switch to when you're mad?"

Many people were floored by the fact that Bohm knew some Hokkien and spoke Singlish, but for Bohm, he sees that as part of who he is, as someone who was raised in Singapore and went to local schools. 

We spoke with Bohm to learn more about his experience growing up here and why he has been quite surprised by the massive response his TikToks have gotten, because, in his own words, "I don't know what's so interesting about me."

---

As told to Jane Zhang

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

I'm German. My mom is half-German and half-Czech. It's just too confusing to explain everything to everyone, so I just say I'm German.

I was born in KL (Kuala Lumpur), and I moved to Singapore when I was like three with my mom, my dad, and sister. And dogs.

I often go back to Germany, like every year, during the holidays. And I go back to Czech Republic every now and then, because my grandma lives there.

For primary school, I went to Opera Estate Primary — it's like a neighbourhood school. And then secondary school, I went to St. Pat's (St. Patrick's School).

After secondary school, I went to ITE East for like six months, and then I dropped out.

Do you know why your parents chose to enrol you in local schools rather than international schools?

I think they just wanted me to be more with the culture, I guess. Like, all my international friends don't really mix with my local friends.

So, I guess I just got lucky. I'm happy I went to local school. Like, I get local jokes more than I get all the international kids' jokes.

Let's say I went to local primary and then if I were to go to international school after that, I'd be an outsider, like, with my [Singaporean] accent.

What was your experience growing up here like?

There were some white kids, but obviously less than any other minority group. But there wasn't really much difference.

I always had good friends. There's nothing much that went on that was like racism or whatever, at all. Even in army or anywhere.

Of course, there's the bullsh*t with friends, like "shut up lah, ang moh," something like that, but that's just banter.

Growing up, did you know that you were different than other people, or is that something you only realised when you were older?

Yeah. I only realised that when I was, I think, Sec 2.

'Cause the whole way, nobody treated me differently or anything, so growing up, I just thought I was like, Asian, I guess? Like, Singaporean.

How many languages do you speak fluently?

Fluently? English. *laughs* Well, barely, since I haven't gone to school in so long.

I can hold a conversation, kind of, in Mandarin. I took primary and secondary school mother tongue.

Hawker uncles especially, they love me. I go and say, "Yi ge chicken rice, dabao" or something like that, and they're like, "Wah, ke yi jiang hua yu ah! (He can speak Mandarin!)"

They freak out. It's the best.

And I can speak Czech. I never studied it, I just talked to people [when visiting the Czech Republic]. And after a while, I slowly learned words.

So the Hokkien you spoke in your TikTok, do you only know swear words?

Oh yeah, only swear words. That's called going to local school.

Even though my mom has sort of a Russian, European accent, I still never got the accent. The whole way I was speaking Singlish.

My mom loves my accent. Sometimes she says it to me too!

She'll be like, *imitating mum's accent* "Ch**-bye. Ch**-bye. Go clean your room," liddat. It'll be really funny.

When she tries to say "knn", it's the funniest thing in the world. Like, "ka na na!"

She'll always message me, asking me questions. Like, "what is hong kan?"

I also saw a video of yours in which you spoke Tamil also. Is that something you know, or just certain words that you learned?

Certain words that I know, just from BMT. Because my bunkmates were all Tamil. It was like the best experience I could have gotten from army. It was so much fun.

What are assumptions that other people — both Singaporeans and other ang mohs — make about you when they see you?

Everyone thinks I'm faking it. Even when I went to camp the first time, they knew it was my real accent, but they were all like, "Dude, I still cannot believe you speak liddat."

I have some [international] friends who speak Singlish, but that's not their original accent. They'll say something like, "Stop it, *heavily emphasises* LAH" or they misuse the words like leh, lor, lah. Like, "Stop it, lor."

Like, you know that it's wrong. It should be "Stop it, lah."

What annoys me sometimes is when the international kids, they do this thing when they try to speak in the local accent just to mock me.

And they assume that I'm dumber just because I went to a local school, which is completely wrong, because the education system in the local school is kind of insane.

I went to Clarke Quay one time, and there were these white kids there. And I started talking like this, and they were all like, "What are you doing?" And they were making fun of my accent.

And I was like, okay... so then I just left.

Do you find that you code switch between accents when speaking with different groups of people — your international friends, your family, and your local friends?

No. I don't care where you're from, I'm still gonna speak the way I speak, because I don't really care.

I guess sometimes it changes a little bit depending on what I'm trying to say or who I'm talking to.

If I were talking to some high-ranking military officer, I'm not gonna be like, "Hey, c*bai!" I'm not going to say something like that. I'd be like, "Good morning, sir."

I've been rejected by girls when I spoke this way [in Singlish]. Once, when I was out, I spoke in an American accent, and the girl was all over me.

And then one of my friends came over and I was like, *switches back into Singlish* "C*bai, you f**king— oh, sh*t", and then she looked at me like, what the f**k? I never talked to her again.

How do you think the people around you see you? As local or foreign?

My friends now, they [think of me] like I'm German, but I've lived here my whole life. So I'm just adapting, I guess. That's what they would say.

I think my army bunkmates see me as just Singaporean. Like, I'm white... but I'm also 'Singaporean'.

I feel like international kids think I'm white. Because sometimes I don't talk a lot, so they don't get the accent. So it's me just there. Then when I talk, they're like 'What the f**k?'

How do you see yourself?

Good question... *thinks* I feel like I'm more local than I am international, like German.

I'm not that interesting of a person. I'm just a normal guy.

That's why, I didn't know why you wanted to interview me at first, because I see myself as Singaporean, so you're gonna get the normal answers, like every other kid.

Are there any like quintessential Singapore habits that you partake in? Like using tissue packets to chope tables or seeing a long queue and not knowing what it's for, and then joining it.

No, I don't do that. I don't put tissue paper, I don't join a queue.

I guess the most... hm... I don't know what would be the most local thing I do.

Because, to international people, if they do that local thing, like if they put the tissue paper, they'd be like, "Ooh I put the tissue! I did it!"

But, like, to me, stuff like that is normal. So I don't know what's different, because I've never done anything else.

To them, they're like, "I took public transport in Singapore, it's amazing!" I mean, I wake up every day, I take the bus. Normal, what.

I can't point it out, because I don't even know if it's a local thing or not, or if it's different from other countries.

But I definitely don't do the tissue paper thing or the queue thing. I hate standing up.

How did this whole TikTok thing take off?

My sister was doing TikToks and I got a message from a friend in a group chat saying he got 30k views on a TikTok.

And I thought, how hard can it really be? So I went on TikTok and said some Hokkien swear words, and the next day I woke up with 1.3 million views. I was so confused.

Why do you think your video went so viral?

I think just the face and the voice, and not expecting it. There's no other explanation. Ang moh speaking Hokkien, everyone goes crazy.

Had you experienced that kind of reaction in real life too?

That one was weird, because like everywhere I go, no matter who I talk to, they seem unfazed by my accent.

It's only when I speak Chinese or something, then people go crazy. But like, when I speak to people they don't really care.

And then on TikTok they care a lot, and I don't know why. It's still surprising that people watch my sh*t. I don't know what's so interesting about me.

And even the comments are like, "His accent is so insane!" and "How is he so good at it?". And when I said the Tamil swear words, like, "Oh, that's spot on!"

I'm always like, okay... why do they care so much?

But if I go out and say that sh*t, nobody would care. Like, they'd laugh because they'd think it's a joke, but then, I actually speak like that.

There are a couple TikTok videos where people were asking you to speak with an ang moh accent. What was that like for you?

So weird!

As a PR, you had the option to rescind your PR, if you didn't want to do NS. Is that something you ever considered?

I was feeling really like, ah sh*t. I don't want to go to NS. Should I just get rid of my PR and just go do something in, like, Czech Republic or Germany, and just go back?

And then I was like, screw it. It's just two years. I'll just save up, see what I do after that.

And now I'm in, I love the army. I love it so much. I'm so happy that I went.

It's the feeling that you're doing something. Because in army, everything has a reason. And there's the whole brotherhood thing, like helping one another.

That's what I like a lot.

And the structure. Waking up at a certain time, getting things done. And you feel so good about yourself at the end of the day.

What are your plans after NS?

I want to continue school after NS. I really want to do A-Levels.

It's gonna be a really hard jump, but I'm gonna already start studying halfway through my NS, like in my free time, or when I'm in bunk doing nothing. I'm just gonna study, so it won't be that difficult.

But I have to get back up. I can't be with only N-Level education. I'm not saying it's a bad thing — some of my friends, they're earning a lot of money, and they have, like, PSLE.

But the job that I want needs more education.

I want to be a fighter pilot. Ever since I was younger, when I saw the movie "Top Gun", that's all I've ever wanted to do.

I tried to sign on as a pilot. Like, I put interest in the 10-year sign-on thing, but then I don't have the right education, so they didn't get back to me at all.

After A-Levels, uni.

Have you thought about getting Singaporean citizenship?

Yeah, and that's what I'm really scared about. Because after NS, they give you the option to stay a PR or take up citizenship.

So I have no idea what I wanna do for that. I'm still just thinking about it.

Because living in Singapore, it's awesome. It's small, so you can get everywhere within a few hours.

But like at the same time, going back to where I'm from, or being somewhere else, it'll be a nice experience. But not forever. I want to come back.

I always feel like, how am I going to adapt there when I'm so 'Asian' already?

I dunno, it's just like, I've been living in Singapore for so long, it's like home already. So if I go somewhere else, especially like if I go there when I'm 20 or something, it's gonna feel so weird.

That's why I'm only thinking of going back for a few years, and then coming back here, or something like that.

I'm not sure yet.

Totally unrelated but follow and listen to our podcast here

Top photos courtesy of Jack Bohm. Some quotes have been edited for clarity and flow.