After conducting countless interviews and trainings with Malaysian fresh graduates, I have come to a grave conclusion. There is something really wrong with the English of our graduates today. The majority of them cannot speak or express themselves in English. If they can’t do any of this, how are they to get a job in this globalized environment?
The three major languages spoken in the world are Mandarin, Spanish and English, in that order. However English is the lingua-franca of Business, Science and Technology industry.
As a proud Malaysian we can scream and shout as much as we want on the importance of Bahasa Malaysia for the purpose of cultural and nationalistic identity but look at the statistics, we are only a population of 25 million. The world has a population of 6.6B people, so that is a world population ratio of less than 0.004% speaking Bahasa Malaysia. Insignificant.
According to the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008, we are the 21st most competitive nation in the world. Based on the quality of English that I am hearing and seeing, I sincerely hope that we can maintain our level of competitiveness in the years to come.
As a Malaysian, I truly understand the uniqueness of Malaysia. I love this country but I also realize the need to be practical. We need to ensure more Malaysians pick up good English fast, we are building the next generation, the old is gone. Malaysia can no longer be a big fish in a small pond. We need to be a small fish in a BIG POND. Only by being in the big pond can we grow to become a bigger fish. Change WE MUST.
The three major languages spoken in the world are Mandarin, Spanish and English, in that order. However English is the lingua-franca of Business, Science and Technology industry.
As a proud Malaysian we can scream and shout as much as we want on the importance of Bahasa Malaysia for the purpose of cultural and nationalistic identity but look at the statistics, we are only a population of 25 million. The world has a population of 6.6B people, so that is a world population ratio of less than 0.004% speaking Bahasa Malaysia. Insignificant.
According to the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008, we are the 21st most competitive nation in the world. Based on the quality of English that I am hearing and seeing, I sincerely hope that we can maintain our level of competitiveness in the years to come.
As a Malaysian, I truly understand the uniqueness of Malaysia. I love this country but I also realize the need to be practical. We need to ensure more Malaysians pick up good English fast, we are building the next generation, the old is gone. Malaysia can no longer be a big fish in a small pond. We need to be a small fish in a BIG POND. Only by being in the big pond can we grow to become a bigger fish. Change WE MUST.
10 comments:
Agree. The world is changing. So must we. We can't survive outside Malaysia if we continue to stay the same.
Malaysia is definitely a small country in a globalized world. What's worse is that we we are not doing enough to get out of it as the General Malaysian is still getting too comfortable with what's happenning around us.
When I was young, my parents spoke English all the time at home. I never had to pay attention in English classes because I was always the top student. However, all that changed when one day another student came to my class. She was from the US. And everytime the results came out, even though both of us would get the same scores, when it came down to talking with the teacher, or speaking up in class, I would always shy away. She, on the other hand, would volunteer every single chance she could. I was pissed that she stole the limelight from me, so I started speaking up to. Turns out, it was a good thing, because now I'm not afraid to speak up. It's all about the system, we are taught to write & read, emphasis on speaking is minimal. So even though Malaysian students can express themselves in written English, they would find it difficult to do the same when it comes to spoken English.
I'm one of the graduates with the same problem.but the greatest problem is that i wasn't practice to speak english during my study time.i believe that practice make perfect. so now, i'm practicing this to improve my english
i agree with wasabi...we are more focus on reading and writing. even for spm, speaking skill is not really important at all...i think... as long as you do well on written, you gonna pass the english 1119 subject. i think if the exam includes us to explain our understanding of the literature works that we learn, verbally...english 1119 subject gonna be tougher...and its better to improve the speaking skill.
Now things are very different. the teachers in schools just refused to speak in english and some even couldn't understand.
with the quality in our education system, how can we help the next generation to improve?
Just to shared my personal experience. When I were studying my Degree in one of the Malaysia University 2 years ago, we have to study in BM & English. If our lecturers were foreigners, then we will learn the subject in English. If the lecturers were from local, then we will learn the subject in BM. Most of the reference books in library are in English. So we've to always translate to Bahasa Malaysia when come to doing reports and in exam as well. Sometimes, there were 2 lecturers teach a same subject (one lecturer was local & another lecturer was foreigner) in different areas. During exam, we've to answer 1 part in English & another part in BM. We've to separate our mind into 2 language for a paper. Ultimately, they produce the new generation to speak the "Rojak" Language.
The education system in Malaysia definitely has to be reviewed and make the necessary changes. However, personally, we have to take the effort to improve our English if you care about your future.
From my personal exeperienced, I learnt A-Z when i was in standard three. Imagine the kids recently start to learn that from 1 or 2 years old.
I don't dare to speak English when I was studying in college. I never speak in a complete sentece with my friends or lecturer. I felt weird when heard myself to speak English. English is issue for me when I need to communicate with it. I understand that if i don't open my mouth and start to speak and overcome it, i will never learn to improve.
When I was studying in US. I saw a 60 years old Japanese lady learnt her English in my University. This is really impressed me. Age is not a big deal. Never think we are too old or too late to learn. People will laugh at you and said your English is "suck" at the beginning. Definitely you need time to improve, if you never give up, everything is possible.
My collage friends are all hopeless as they always avoiding giving presentation in English and after graduating they complain why is it hard for them to get placement..Hmmm wonder why?
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