Tibbits: Malaysian life to forgo mother tongue

Interesting article of self-confession but sad to know that this trend of giving up mother tongue language in Malaysia is nothing new.



From the colonial days of British till now, many Malaysians, especially Chinese and Indians believe that English is the passport to success. They gave up their mother tongue education and starting their children with non mother tongue education and these children pride the colonial language with their heads and nose high in the air when you talked to them and said, ' My English is not good.'

The lady's article saddened me:

For the record, I am not Malay but Dusun. I grew up with my father speaking to me in English and my mother speaking to me in Malay because they firmly believed my success in life depended on being fluent in both languages.

English would help me get ahead in school and in the workplace. Malay helped me strike up conversations with cabbies, officials, teachers and well, other Malaysians.

I will never be fluent enough in Malay to write a novel, play or poetry in Malay. But I know, should the cops stop me for no good reason, I will have no need to speak English to them just to try and make them look stupid.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/why-wont-you-speak-malay/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Do yout want to tell her about Esperanto, the UNESCO recommended language that is to protect mother tongue language ? Her blog is here.

http://ernamahyuni.com/