It's been going on for some time. Not a particularly new topic in any case, but the fact that parents and teachers and the Education Ministry are still at each other's throats for the changing of the medium of language in schools to Malay from English then to English again only to be changed back to Malay once again. It's pathetic really. What 'some' people don't seem to see is the quality of English in the country is, like, totally bad. I'm not saying that Malaysian's are totally incompetent when it comes to speaking in English but the fact that we seem to overlook the small errors when speaking to each other is fascinating.
Malaysian's are famous for their adapted version of English, Manglish and like the Singaporeans with their Singlish? Which begs you to wonder, does the Indian version become Inglish? Anyway, the Manglish is a fine way to communicate amongst fellow Malaysian's but PLEASE guy's don't use it when in a place of business or when talking to a foreign person. Its hard enough for a person to understand a foreigner let alone him not understanding you. With all the 'lah's and got o' not and sure wan ah, it is one sure fire way of leaving a person not familiar to the creole to be left in a daze wondering what in the name of blue blazes were you talking about in the first place. But see, the fact still remains that despite the creole being there at all, other people have actually learned to write in English properly.
Many people will argue that National Pride is absent in me. I am promoting the language of the conquerors that have suppressed the fine progress of the country by conquering it and then looting it. My dear mugwumps, English is the most widely spoken language in the world. Why are we being so blinded by the 'pride' of our own language that we forget to look beyond. The lingua fanca olden days was in fact Bahasa Malaysia but realise, that we are not anymore during the 10th century where the Malacca sultanate was at its prime. That was years ago people. Thing's change. we should learn to go with the flow of things. English is top, so learn it. How do we expect the country to flourish if we don't grasp the medium to which we can communicate, which is perhaps the most vital thing in the world. Even sign language is based on a LANGUAGE. Can we really expect people who trade with us to learn BM when other's are more than happy to learn English.
The standard of English levels is amazingly low.Me being a school leaver not more than a year now, I can without a doubt say that English test's in this country has a standard so low its frightening. In total contrast BM is tough and it is a compulsory subject to pass whereas English is not. There are questions that my little cousin who is 9 can answer and we are talking Form Five exams here. Yet, amazingly, there are a lot of people who can not even manage to get a 'B' for the exams. These people are mostly the lot who come from schools of different mediums. Chinese schools, Tamil schools, religious schools have educations systems that base their syllabus on their mother-tongue (Chinese and Tamil medium). I can't say about religious schools. Never been to one. I am all for learning your mother tongue, I can speak my own and hopefully once I get the time I can start to write. But when you are learning English, set the bar high and TEACH the student's to reach that bar. What is the use of a teacher if he/she is not dedicated to helping a student reach a high bar. I know its not easy and as for the students, buck up you useless lot and learn on your own. Don't expect to be spoon fed.
There...I said it...
Malaysian's are famous for their adapted version of English, Manglish and like the Singaporeans with their Singlish? Which begs you to wonder, does the Indian version become Inglish? Anyway, the Manglish is a fine way to communicate amongst fellow Malaysian's but PLEASE guy's don't use it when in a place of business or when talking to a foreign person. Its hard enough for a person to understand a foreigner let alone him not understanding you. With all the 'lah's and got o' not and sure wan ah, it is one sure fire way of leaving a person not familiar to the creole to be left in a daze wondering what in the name of blue blazes were you talking about in the first place. But see, the fact still remains that despite the creole being there at all, other people have actually learned to write in English properly.
Many people will argue that National Pride is absent in me. I am promoting the language of the conquerors that have suppressed the fine progress of the country by conquering it and then looting it. My dear mugwumps, English is the most widely spoken language in the world. Why are we being so blinded by the 'pride' of our own language that we forget to look beyond. The lingua fanca olden days was in fact Bahasa Malaysia but realise, that we are not anymore during the 10th century where the Malacca sultanate was at its prime. That was years ago people. Thing's change. we should learn to go with the flow of things. English is top, so learn it. How do we expect the country to flourish if we don't grasp the medium to which we can communicate, which is perhaps the most vital thing in the world. Even sign language is based on a LANGUAGE. Can we really expect people who trade with us to learn BM when other's are more than happy to learn English.
The standard of English levels is amazingly low.Me being a school leaver not more than a year now, I can without a doubt say that English test's in this country has a standard so low its frightening. In total contrast BM is tough and it is a compulsory subject to pass whereas English is not. There are questions that my little cousin who is 9 can answer and we are talking Form Five exams here. Yet, amazingly, there are a lot of people who can not even manage to get a 'B' for the exams. These people are mostly the lot who come from schools of different mediums. Chinese schools, Tamil schools, religious schools have educations systems that base their syllabus on their mother-tongue (Chinese and Tamil medium). I can't say about religious schools. Never been to one. I am all for learning your mother tongue, I can speak my own and hopefully once I get the time I can start to write. But when you are learning English, set the bar high and TEACH the student's to reach that bar. What is the use of a teacher if he/she is not dedicated to helping a student reach a high bar. I know its not easy and as for the students, buck up you useless lot and learn on your own. Don't expect to be spoon fed.
There...I said it...
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