Learn one language well
I REFER to the letter “Give Education Minister room to continue reforms” ( Views, The Star, Dec 27; online at tinyurl.com/starreforms), and I can only conclude that the new Education Minister must have turned out to be too expensive for the taste of those who have put him there.
His latest exhortation that Malaysians should learn a third language is certainly far-reaching and well above the capability of the average citizen. “Expensive” refers not only to the monetary amount needed but also the time, energy and physical and emotional investment that learning naturally requires.
Malaysians pride themselves on being multilingual, yet many consider the ability to hold a simple conversation in a language equal to “speaking” that language. They are not to blame because many schools teach so.
When I was training to become an English language teacher, one of the prescribed textbook readings stated that if you know a basic 100 words, that will be sufficient for you to communicate in English. In Malaysia, people probably think the same goes for every language. So, if you just learn 100 words of Arabic, Chinese, Malay, and Urdu, you actually are multilingual. That way, one can learn lots of languages too.
Alas, over the years I have leaned that language learning is a life-long endeavour and true language proficiency requires years of dedicated and careful study.
Language is the essence of the person. Without language, a person cannot think, and therefore he or she cannot be. Language is required first and foremost to know yourself, who you really are, what is your mission and how to achieve it. Language is also indispensable in communicating with others, be it for personal needs, career, business, social, or whatever else one may need.
Much public costs and many social problems could be avoided if people are proficient in just one language. For example, the first doctor I went to for an ailment told me that I have a curved back. Only after three years and several doctors and therapists later did I find a lady doctor who finally told me that I suffer from scoliosis. Do you think that to say that someone has “a curved back” or scoliosis is the same thing?
Surveys have been conducted, people interviewed, reports written, all kind of opinions offered, and I think by now the new minister should have everything set out on his desk in front of him and, after a quick perusal of the data, be able to make the right decision, the best decision, and the most economical decision.
This decision should be to ensure that everyone in the country speaks one language with full proficiency. To know yourself, to get a good job, to earn more money, to enter into a satisfactory career, to engage in profitable personal relationships, and have a deeper understanding of religion and know God, one must read, speak, and write at least one language proficiently.
For the good of every Malaysian and the country as a whole, I sincerely hope the Education Ministry will channel all the available funds into teaching students at all levels of the education ladder the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, and that in order to guarantee the best possible future for Malaysia, the choice of official language should be between English and Bahasa Malaysia.
After you are proficient in one language, you may start looking at others. If the government is rich, it may provide assistance to interested students to learn more languages, otherwise people who want to learn another language will have to pay specialist teachers to teach them. MARISA DEMORI Putrajaya