why can't the english?

Many days ago, on the frontpage of a local newspaper, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was shown trying his hand at grinding rice at the national level Gawai Dayak celebrations in Kuching. Apart from that, Little Izzat gets Chelsea invite and Ahmadinejad wins a troubled polls. These are, however, unrelated to this post.

Compulsory English would mean
130,000 without SPM

Cool!

Our country's education system has always been so controversial.

Anyway, I do believe that this is a necessary step, I mean, it's going to happen anyway so might as well just start now. True, lots of things need to be considered. English proficiency isn't something that you can master overnight.

For me, when I was young, my dad would open up this book that has lots of words and pictures and he would teach me how to pronounce those words. I guess that's how I got early exposure of English. It's not just that, watching cartoons like Power Rangers or Bugs Bunny definitely help me in learning. Plus, subtitles are so helpful. The problem is most children would just read the subtitles without hearing the conversations. Well, you need to do both if you want to improve unless you're already good and subtitles would just be annoying.

As I grew older, music, movies, novels, comics, magazines and television series became new aids for my English proficiency. During primary school, people actually say that I have this "slang" when I speak. Yeah, it's weird. How could I get it if I have been in Malaysia after all these years? I probably picked it up from the tv or the radio. And some would be flabbergasted when I tell them that I converse in Malay with my family members (we do use English at times); okay "flabbergasted" is a strong word, more like "surprised".

When I entered KMB last 2 years, I was somehow excited because it seems like everyone is conversing in English. I mean I've never been to a place like this. The funny thing is by the end of Semester 1, the population of English-speaking KMBians was somehow significantly curtailed and I find myself using Malay more often. It's okay though, I still use English with some of my friends ;)

To all Malaysians, English (the language not the people) is like everywhere. It doesn't mean Malay is forgotten. Be good in both languages. Master English and you'll see the benefits. If you need some convincing, watch My Fair Lady. As for me, I do believe that my proficiency has improved after 2 years in IB. I have wider vocab and I am more fluent now. See, you just have to keep practising. It's a skill too. Just like cooking, playing frisbee, photography, video-editing, swimming, pen-spinning or any other skills which you'd like to learn. And by the way, I'm still learning too...