Fluency In English Defines Us In Many Ways...

IT is heartwarming to hear that the Education Ministry is going to study having two languages for the teaching of Science and Maths.

This is a win-win move to champion both English and Bahasa Malaysia among Malay-sians.

Language defines a person in many ways. Hence being fluent in the world’s language, English, can define one in academic, science development, job market, international relations, science and travel.

In an academic setting, especially in universities, English is extremely important.

References are always in English, be it books or online sources. Activities in innovating, patenting, and publishing in international journals, the toasts of academic toil, are always conducted in English.

So do presenting at international conferences, applying for research grants, reporting research, and writing academically on the Internet. Writing assignments and publications in universities have to be in English for international recognition.

Science is flourishing and its language is English.

A report by the Royal Society says that the world’s number one scientific paper publisher is the United States, of which all papers are in English.

China, who was at number six a decade ago ,is now catching up to be the world’s number two as a scientific superpower.

Chinese scientists are trying hard to publish papers in English.

If Malaysians are to flourish, and to be on a level playing field in science, it is important we are fluent in English.

In the job market, if a person speaks good English he is likely to be employed.

If we were to scrutinise job advertisements, most of them require candidates to speak English. Certain careers require the absolute use of English.

One such example is the aviation industry. A pilot trainee said that nothing in his training is conducted in Bahasa Malaysia and friends who are not good in English faced lots of difficulties. The same is with medicine and law.

In international relations, almost everything is in English.

Employers, too ,want workers who can converse and write in English.

To apply for jobs, our children have to write letters and display their resume in English. When travelling, for example to Mecca to perform the Umrah or Haj, signs are not confined to Arabic; they are also in English, and French, but not Bahasa Malaysia.

Thus to be on an international level playing field, Malaysians should not be deprived of learning English from primary school.

English is complex since its sentences can be built in many ways, structures can be formal and less formal, parts of speech are interchangeable, and vocabulary is very large.

It is especially more complicated for second language speakers, and worse if the speaker begins learning it when he or she enters university at the age of 17.

Thus to be an English-fluent nation, our children need to be exposed to the language very early, as young as six years old.

Exposing children as they enter school to more than one language in classrooms is not burdening, in fact it is a gain.

There is a prevalent belief that a child is a clean slate, born with an innate disposition for language. Studies show that a child absorbs any language almost automatically.

We do not have to look further. It is so self-evident in our multi-ethnic society where most of us speak two languages out of early exposure to Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Indian dialects and English.

In sum, using two languages, native and English, in classrooms is a win-win situation for all.