Malaysia has cast an illusion to other countries for its multilingual nations. Everyone here at least can converse in three languages, while some even speak five languages. However, it is sad to say most of us, don’t really master these 3 languages, especially English. In many occasions, an English conversation is often polluted, mixing with our own mother tongues and dialects. This is how Malaysia English, aka Manglish, is generated. Some of us even feel proud of it, claimed that Manglish represents our own identities and uniqueness. Here is a typical example of a daily conversation.
“Why lu bo jio eh? So sienz.”
“U kawan I. I baru nak call-lah. Jom. The kopitiam food very nice.”
(This brief conversation comprises usages of Hokkien and Cantonese (Both are Chinese dialects), English, Mandarin and Malay language.)
The proper English should be “Why don’t you invite me? Such a disappointment.”
“You are my friend. I just wanted to give you a call. Let’s go. The coffee shop serves good food.”
Changes is mandatory to fix the current situation as English is the most important medium used to disseminate and acquire knowledge. To be frank, the problem nowadays is not only restraint to the situation where most Malaysian graduates speak halting English,
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A massive transformation is necessary but this does not mean constant changes should be made on our education system, causing students to always experience the rush of culture-shock when changes were made over and over again before they could even adapt. For example, before PPSMI was opted, primary school students were to learn Science and Mathematics in their mother tongue. They needed to relearn the subjects in Malay languages when they reached secondary school level and when they were in university later, everything was in English. Students were busy accustoming language barrier before they could even deepen their knowledge in their expertise
There are two forms of languages; public and private. The "private" language only spoken with family and close intimate relationships. The "public" language used in society, work, and school. Both of these help form two identities, that help us connect and communicate with one another. In the essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan and also in the article “Speech Communities” by Paul Roberts ,we will see how both private and public language demonstrate how we view, and grow from each language.
The audience Tan is reaching are people who are very ignorant to the fact that others who speak broken English, regardless of race, know that they are taken advantage of and are not given the respect that a fluent English speaking person would get. The essay is also aimed toward people who can relate to the ?language of intimacy? (36), which is a different sort of English ...
“Mother Tongue” is an essay that show the power of language and how Amy Tan uses the many forms of English and the different ways in which the language she knew impacted her life. I feel connected to Tan’s essay because I also come from a multilingual home. I have smart emigrant parents who are educated, but even though they are educated they still need my help with communicating with people occasionally. I believe the most important idea in Tan’s “Mother Tongue” is the limitation that an imperfect English can cause in a society and the richness that such English can bring to
“I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life.” Amy Tan, an Asian-American writer of the article Mother Tongue loves the different “Englishes” that can be spoken. In the article, she shares her personal feelings of when she was younger; her embarrassment of her mother’s English and even her own struggle with the language. Amy Tan effectively writes Mother Tongue through the use of diction to show the tone, portray amazing syntax, and express the vivid imagery.
Unless one could speak English they will not be able to get the best education possible i...
Another difficulty cultures deal with is language and the way people speak. In some cases, people struggle to belong by making changes in the way they speak the English language just to be assimilated. They attempt to use words and letters, as well as body language that fit in the norm; all in an attempt to denounce their original intonation and style of pronunciation. One ...
English is an invisible gate. Immigrants are the outsiders. And native speakers are the gatekeepers. Whether the gate is wide open to welcome the broken English speakers depends on their perceptions. Sadly, most of the times, the gate is shut tight, like the case of Tan’s mother as she discusses in her essay, "the mother tongue." People treat her mother with attitudes because of her improper English before they get to know her. Tan sympathizes for her mother as well as other immigrants. Tan, once embarrassed by her mother, now begins her writing journal through a brand-new kaleidoscope. She sees the beauty behind the "broken" English, even though it is different. Tan combines repetition, cause and effect, and exemplification to emphasize her belief that there are more than one proper way (proper English) to communicate with each other. Tan hopes her audience to understand that the power of language- “the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth”- purposes to connect societies, cultures, and individuals, rather than to rank our intelligence.
Mother Tongue is written in order of importance. Tan introduces the audience to the fact that ...
‘Mother Tongue’ is a short story written by Amy Tan for American literary magazine, The Threepenny Review (Shea, n.d.). This text raises ideas around the way we speak or use language throughout our daily lives, and what truly counts as ‘proper’ English.
“The ways in which people converse with one another can vary greatly from culture to culture. For example, when a teacher asks a direct question, students from some cultures may no...
In various societies, people use several different languages in conversations between their friends, family and peers. Especially in Singapore, it is not an unfamiliar phenomenon to hear two or more bilingual speakers speaking and code switching between the language English and Chinese, English and Malay, English and Tamil or even Standard English and Singaporean English to each other in a natural and effortless manner. In this line, I have mechanistically relate speech varieties with “codes” and despite having a vast variety of definitions for code switching to choose from; I have decided to use Heller’s definition. Heller (1988) defines code switching as the alternating between two or more languages in a single sentence or conversation. During this phenomenon, it is common for individuals to fluently use more than one language in a course of a single communication episode. When this happens, bilinguals are not coached in how to code switch, but instead, they rely on unconscious linguistic understanding in differentiating between what are tolerable and intolerable code switching usages. According to Auer (1989), factors such as cultural interaction, intercultural marriage, education, and colonization are some influences for code switching. Moreover, speakers may choose to alternate from one code to another, either to distinguish oneself, to show commonality with a social group, to discuss a certain topic, join in social happenstances, to impress and influence the audience or to express feelings and affections (Crystal, 1987). However, there has been a misconception in many people’s perception, that “code switching is bad”, “code switching creates confusion” and that “code switching will result in a language deficit where individ...
In the article Mother Tongue, the author Amy Tan (1952), a well-known Chinese American writer, talks about her mother’s imperfect English makes a difference to her success in writing area. She used to describe her mother’s English as “broken” and it is the “limited” English gives Tan restriction of perceiving people, but she later realizes that delivering a clear message is more important than the competence of language speaking. On the other hand, the movie English Vinglish (2012), tells a story about an Indian housewife Shashi (2012) spares no effort to learn English and ends up not only obtaining friendship but also winning back the respect from her family. Therefore, the movie strengths the article’s claim that using language to convey opinion and idea is more vital during a conversation rather than constantly focusing on the language skill level.
2. While Singlish may be based off British English, most of its influence comes from Chinese and Malay. Words from Hokkien, Mandarin, Malay, Cantonese, and Tamil are often added to everyday conversation. Singlish has many distinct and unique features. One of the first things you notice when speaking to a native Singaporean is the way they drop grammatical endings, linking verbs, tenses, and plurals. For instance, if you wanted to say, “You walk so slowly,” in Singlish, you would say, “You walk so slow.” Or if you wanted to say, “She sho...
What language we use, how we use it, and why we use it are all essential in others perceptions of us. If a man’s first comment to somebody is “Hey Baby, how you doing?” with a gloating tone and boastful...
As a direct result of the Internet being everywhere you look, the world we live in is more connected than ever. From the countless individuals looking at their smartphones during the day to the many other methods of communication, it is pivotal that we are able to talk to one another. While people have their differences in terms of taste, clothes, culture, and lifestyles, the international community has adopted English as the primary way of transmitting information; With a solid foundation of it, one can speak with countless individuals all around the world, and gain many new opportunities as a result; from personal reasons such as traveling and hobbies to professional growth, there are countless reasons to fine-tune one’s understanding of