English Language

English Language

 
Today as I was driving to work, I was listenin to Mix FM Perfect match. Today's contestant was a chinese couple and I was lookin forward to it as it is seldom you get a chinese couple playin it for some reason.
 
Anyway it was decided that the female half was to answer the questions first so I was like tryin to anticipate the questions. Ok when she was asked the question, I was horrified to hear her reply, OK maybe not her reply but the way she used her English. It was full of lah's and leh's and ah's and mah's.
 
I'm not trying to say that I don't use those words or that my English is superb but why can't she speak in a proper way. I know kids who talk better than her. If she had used the words sparingly I would be able to accept it but she was like emphasising the words in every sentence. ie 'Cause he is a fun guy mahhhh!!' or 'Of course a diamond ring lahhhh!'.
 
How did Malaysian English come to this state? For goodness sake, we used to be under the rule of the British who invented English. I know that the Government has heard the cries of the nation on the degrading state of our languege and decided that enough is enough, but how would it help if they have only decided to put more emphasise on teaching in the English language for Science subjects.
 
Before that, I think they should consider lookin for teachers with better qualifications and maybe introduce English Literature as a core subject. A lot of the teachers teachin English Language did't come out of college with a diploma with it. I know of teachers who are asked to teach Math when obviously they are not qualified to do so and this goes the same for English. Considering all this, how can they hope that the state of the nations English will rise to be on par or maybe even better than the Brits. Come on Malaysian, show the world that we are not only good at constructing the tallest buildings or have the best ICT infrastructure but we also put emphasise on good language skills.
 
Once again, before people who knows me start to cry foul on my writing today, I'm just like to state that my English is not the best in the world but acceptable and with the occasional lah's and mah's that we all tend to add in at the end of the sentence. I hope something can be done about it and soon before things get out of control.