Language: Bring back British English
HUSSAINI ABDUL KARIM, Shah Alamletters@nst.com.my
2010/04/15
I HAVE a friend, Prof Dr Gerhard Leitner -- an honorary member of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, the Free University Berlin, and the Department of English Language and Literature, Habelschwerdter, Berlin, Germany -- who has been following the current development on the study and teaching of the English language in Malaysia.
He noted that "Malaysians should be proud of their English heritage".
"What I have seen is that the Malaysian government is calling for a return to British norms and that they want to bring in native teachers, including Australian ones.
"That doesn't make much sense since they (Australians) don't speak British English," said Prof Leitner, who will be speaking at University Malaya in July this year.
There must be a lot of confusion about the access to all sorts of English in Malaysia, such as American English and Australian English.
We have also developed our very own local forms. At the same time, we need to meet the demands of English for international participation.
We, therefore, should, as Malaysians, go back to our original source and develop our English based purely on British English.
Says Prof Leitner: "I see similarities with Europe, where the direction of going for forms or not is difficult. But we don't have local forms that would request legitimacy.
"However, there is a lot of talk about European English (in the EU institutions that are reaching out into the business world) and when I listen to our students in Berlin who come from Spain, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Africa, the Middle East and also from Britain and US, there is diversity.
"So the fight for good and against bad English is hard, to say the least. Lingua franca English may indeed be a way to go."
I agree. Lingua franca is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic history or structure of the language: though pidgins and creole often function as lingua francas, many lingua franca are neither pidgin nor creole. Synonyms for lingua franca are "vehicular language" and "bridge language".
Whereas a vernacular language is used as a native language in a single speaker community, a vehicular language goes beyond the boundaries of its original community, and is used as a second language for communication between communities.
For example, English is a vernacular in the United Kingdom, but is used as a vehicular language (lingua franca) in the Philippines.
Therefore, the best, most practical and cheapest way to teach or re-teach our students English language at primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, would be to bring back our retired British-trained English teachers. They understand our culture and, most importantly, the needs of our students much better.
"What I have seen is that the Malaysian government is calling for a return to British norms and that they want to bring in native teachers, including Australian ones.
"That doesn't make much sense since they (Australians) don't speak British English," said Prof Leitner, who will be speaking at University Malaya in July this year.
There must be a lot of confusion about the access to all sorts of English in Malaysia, such as American English and Australian English.
We have also developed our very own local forms. At the same time, we need to meet the demands of English for international participation.
We, therefore, should, as Malaysians, go back to our original source and develop our English based purely on British English.
Says Prof Leitner: "I see similarities with Europe, where the direction of going for forms or not is difficult. But we don't have local forms that would request legitimacy.
"However, there is a lot of talk about European English (in the EU institutions that are reaching out into the business world) and when I listen to our students in Berlin who come from Spain, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Africa, the Middle East and also from Britain and US, there is diversity.
"So the fight for good and against bad English is hard, to say the least. Lingua franca English may indeed be a way to go."
I agree. Lingua franca is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic history or structure of the language: though pidgins and creole often function as lingua francas, many lingua franca are neither pidgin nor creole. Synonyms for lingua franca are "vehicular language" and "bridge language".
Whereas a vernacular language is used as a native language in a single speaker community, a vehicular language goes beyond the boundaries of its original community, and is used as a second language for communication between communities.
For example, English is a vernacular in the United Kingdom, but is used as a vehicular language (lingua franca) in the Philippines.
Therefore, the best, most practical and cheapest way to teach or re-teach our students English language at primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, would be to bring back our retired British-trained English teachers. They understand our culture and, most importantly, the needs of our students much better.
