"Dude, your English sucks", said the Chinese guy with squinty eyes.
"Oh no, my command of English is good enough", Danny denied.
We don't need another human being to gauge how good or how refined our English is. Danny may not speak like a native speaker but as long as he doesn't reply "I'm 47 years old" when asked "How are you?" then things would pick up well from there on out. I don't know how he performed at the international exposition but then Malaysians speak English like how Arabs speak English too.
This isn't so much about Danny ('cos he has to step up to the plate when appointed to that position) but looking at the bigger picture, our command of English isn't that strong and it isn't given the attention it ought to have. At school level, kids can't even write a sentence properly and putting their s-es all over the place. I is not the best but I know that criticism should be directed where it should be - the root.
I don't envy Malaysians who speak flawless English with the pure accent but I'd tell when someone tries too hard to speak English. The tongue-rolling is all but nauseous. I speak flat English, the Malaysian way, without much peak and trough throughout a sentence and people don't say, "Could you please repeat?"
A language professor once said people care so much for performance but these "performer" lack competence i.e. ask them to write and you'd spot grammatical errors right away. I believe in excellence on both aspect. As I learn to pronounce water as "wor-der" and not "wah-ter", I make extra sure that my message, be it speech or in writing, is intelligible.
So, save the criticism and channel it elsewhere. We don't need someone more superior to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Like my teacher used to say, "Volunteer yourself and don't nominate others". I say, "Step up and offer your expertise. If not, live with it that though good command of English is paramount in this time, success of a deal hinges on other factors too.
So, to the person-in-charge and to school teachers too, buck up now and speak English more often. And don't be too proud of how many days in a week you use English as you'd speak English all year but if you don't do it consciously, you'd master rubbish English and then make yourself a laughing stock when you open your mouth. Speak up and learn it well. No one's laughing. I'm off to learning English too.
"Oh no, my command of English is good enough", Danny denied.
We don't need another human being to gauge how good or how refined our English is. Danny may not speak like a native speaker but as long as he doesn't reply "I'm 47 years old" when asked "How are you?" then things would pick up well from there on out. I don't know how he performed at the international exposition but then Malaysians speak English like how Arabs speak English too.
This isn't so much about Danny ('cos he has to step up to the plate when appointed to that position) but looking at the bigger picture, our command of English isn't that strong and it isn't given the attention it ought to have. At school level, kids can't even write a sentence properly and putting their s-es all over the place. I is not the best but I know that criticism should be directed where it should be - the root.
I don't envy Malaysians who speak flawless English with the pure accent but I'd tell when someone tries too hard to speak English. The tongue-rolling is all but nauseous. I speak flat English, the Malaysian way, without much peak and trough throughout a sentence and people don't say, "Could you please repeat?"
A language professor once said people care so much for performance but these "performer" lack competence i.e. ask them to write and you'd spot grammatical errors right away. I believe in excellence on both aspect. As I learn to pronounce water as "wor-der" and not "wah-ter", I make extra sure that my message, be it speech or in writing, is intelligible.
So, save the criticism and channel it elsewhere. We don't need someone more superior to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Like my teacher used to say, "Volunteer yourself and don't nominate others". I say, "Step up and offer your expertise. If not, live with it that though good command of English is paramount in this time, success of a deal hinges on other factors too.
So, to the person-in-charge and to school teachers too, buck up now and speak English more often. And don't be too proud of how many days in a week you use English as you'd speak English all year but if you don't do it consciously, you'd master rubbish English and then make yourself a laughing stock when you open your mouth. Speak up and learn it well. No one's laughing. I'm off to learning English too.
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