My recent experiences have shown me that the average white-collar
educated Filipino speaks and writes far better English (by that, I mean
both in terms of wider vocabulary and more accurate grammar) than
his/her Malaysian counterpart. The random government and corporate
circulars that I have browsed through thus far have all been written in
English to a standard that I can barely fault. And yet, these same
white-collar professional Filipinos continue to speak and write Tagalog in their daily lives, and in all its glory.
To the untrained Malaysian ear, a Filipino speaking English may sound
weird (and I have witnessed my Malaysian colleagues sometimes wrongfully
dismissing our Filipino counterparts’ English as “not so good” just
because they cannot comprehend what they are saying). But if they were
to just listen more carefully, and even transcribe the words ad
verbatim, they would be surprised to discover that the spoken English
employed is far better than most of our average Malaysians. I can tell
you, we are not qualified to judge their English.
The Philippines and Malaysia both have a common history of having once been colonised by an English-speaking Western country - the United States and Great Britain, respectively - until the middle of the last century. Both countries inherited the language of their colonial masters. The key difference lies in their respective ability to maintain the standard of the inherited language in their education systems and public life.
My point: I do not see the Filipinos getting all up-in-arms and paranoid about Tagalog being marginalised and Filipino culture and identity being threatened, just because their education system produces a strong English-speaking nation (and the same analogy would apply for Hindi vs. English in India). I wonder, then (quite rhetorically), why that should be the case in Malaysia, where English as taught as a “Second Language” in school, has to be watered down to “second-class language” standard, so that it will sit at a level below that of the national language just to be politically-correct. The Pinoys would laugh themselves shitless if they ever saw the standard of our SPM 355 “Bahasa Inggeris” examination paper, deeming it fit only for their primary school children.
Malaysia inherited the Queen’s English along with the Cambridge-based education system (to my mind, the one good thing the Pommies left behind after departing our shores). And within two generations, the powers-that-be, under the banner of “patriotism”, have completely balls’ed it up. Sometimes, I am tempted to just tell my Filipino guests and friends with a tinge of embarrassment, “You know... this may surprise you, but we don’t actually speak English in Malaysia.”
The Philippines and Malaysia both have a common history of having once been colonised by an English-speaking Western country - the United States and Great Britain, respectively - until the middle of the last century. Both countries inherited the language of their colonial masters. The key difference lies in their respective ability to maintain the standard of the inherited language in their education systems and public life.
My point: I do not see the Filipinos getting all up-in-arms and paranoid about Tagalog being marginalised and Filipino culture and identity being threatened, just because their education system produces a strong English-speaking nation (and the same analogy would apply for Hindi vs. English in India). I wonder, then (quite rhetorically), why that should be the case in Malaysia, where English as taught as a “Second Language” in school, has to be watered down to “second-class language” standard, so that it will sit at a level below that of the national language just to be politically-correct. The Pinoys would laugh themselves shitless if they ever saw the standard of our SPM 355 “Bahasa Inggeris” examination paper, deeming it fit only for their primary school children.
Malaysia inherited the Queen’s English along with the Cambridge-based education system (to my mind, the one good thing the Pommies left behind after departing our shores). And within two generations, the powers-that-be, under the banner of “patriotism”, have completely balls’ed it up. Sometimes, I am tempted to just tell my Filipino guests and friends with a tinge of embarrassment, “You know... this may surprise you, but we don’t actually speak English in Malaysia.”
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