Decline of Malaysia English

3.1 Background

English Language is an official language in a large number of countries. It is

estimated that the number of people in the world that use in English to communicate on

a regular basis is 2 billion. English is the dominant business language and it has become

almost a necessity for people to speak English if they are to enter a global workforce,

research from all over the world shows that cross-border business communication is most

often conducted in English. Is it the standard of the English Language among Malaysians

have been declining? If yes, why did Malaysians poor in English Language today? As a

Malaysian, we should improve our proficiency level. For most of the Malaysians, they

never speak English everyday because they would like to speak their own language

which can understand more easily. There are just small amount of Malaysians speak

English as their first language.

3.2 Public Opinion

3.2.1 General

What has happened to the English Language? English is the International Language

and is one of the most popular and most spoken in the technology world. We need to

know English Language in order to study any science subject or any computer language.

English is very much important in life. If we know English we will never feel tongue tide

in front of others. The lack of proficiency in the English Language among the current

crop of Malaysians does not come as a surprise at all to academicians. English Language

education lobbyist have pushed for the return of English Language education as an

option, following the reversal of a previous policy of teaching Science and Mathematics

in English in 2010. The measure, seen as a bid to arrest the decline in the standard of

English.

3.2.2 Expert

Today, professor also agrees that the English Language is declined. Language study

responds to demand, and the rest of the world is learning English. Ours is the global

language, the lingua franca. Language standardization has come by necessity, not

design. English is the language of business negotiations with an Asian counterpart is

daft. Really? English’s dominance is something to be celebrated, not regretted. The

decline of one language and the rise of another are not unprecedented. For example, was

the language of science before it was gradually replaced by English. The fundamental

problem in Malaysia is not the lack of English-speaking teachers or the teaching methods.

The problem is that English would always remain an aloof and remote language to most

Malaysians, used only by the elite minorities or used only for international or some

official purposes. A Chinese who speaks in English is sometimes called as a ‘banana’

because he or she may look yellow on the outside but is actually white inside. For Malay

research student who was brave to speak English to her Malay friends. For that, she was

treated as an outcast because her friends thought it abnormal and they fell uncomfortable

to have a Malay person speaking in English to another Malay person.