Comments on: Parents teaching kids broken English

By: Jee

Jee — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 05:26:57 +0000

cheryl… obviously we have very different ideas :)

You are right about the best way to learn a language is by speaking; and communicating with parents is probably the start for every kid.

I just felt that the parents must be good at their mother tongue, and it’s a waste that they are not teaching their best stuffs but rather use a language that they are not familiar… in the end the kids are not able to learn good English nor their mother tounge, that’s a waste imo.

I could be wrong… as what you said, what applied to me might not fit their shoes.

By: cheryl

cheryl — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 03:11:50 +0000

Was looking for something on English and stumble upon your website.Very interesting discussion even if I’m a little late for it. Would just like to leave my 2 cents worth. Anyway, I think its crucial for students/parents/ whoever to try speak the language even if it means we have to stomach horrible English. If they do not speak no matter how much they learn English in school, tuition centres it really won’t help. I’m actually an educator and from my experience they learn faster when they speak. In this case even if the mother speaks horrible English, it still beats not speaking any English at all. It helps to speak because something someone might be kind enough to correct you and help you improve. If you do not try how would you even know it’s wrong. What might seem simple to you and me might be a whole different story to them. Take care

By: EricOng, 15

EricOng, 15 — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 17:51:45 +0000

By the way.
I’m like you. I am against people using English to replace mother tongue for kids. My friends used more of English instead and refused to communicate using their mother tongue. I, well, on the opposite.
But I’m a Cpop hardcore fan lols.
I’m enrolling Chinese classes next year. ^^

By: Jee

Jee — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 06:02:03 +0000

daniel… we are in the verge of globalization. I can’t precisely predict but sooner or later surviving in Malaysia will not be enough, we need to interact with people all over the world, and we do need to master a certain language.

I agree with Eric… English should still play an important part in near future, and the rise of China will also signal the importance of Chinese language.

But we will never know, Malaysia could surprisingly (A HUGE SURPRISE) to be world dominant force in future because of something we invented, and Malay will be an important language instead.

By: EricOng, 15

EricOng, 15 — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 05:36:28 +0000

Allow me for interrupting but I couldn’t regard English as not important as it is widely spoken in every parts of the world.
I am a Chinese myself and I don’t understand a single word of Chinese and I’m not ashamed of it.
I appreciate my culture. My mother tongue is Hokkien. I’m quite good and well-versed at it. I’m from Penang by the way.
I am not “westernised” like most of my friends do in school. They listen to only English songs and despise Cpop, whereas I don’t.
I understand the rise of China and I have no absolute doubts that China’s GDP rate will surpass that of US and shall replace the No.1 status in terms of economy.

But yet, both language is as important as I think it would be.
Great being here.

By: daniel

daniel — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 06:35:20 +0000

Who care? People dun feel shame to speak manglish in malaysia because this is malaysia. Even in singapore they r speaking singlish ok?
It doesn’t matter if u can speak a fluent english or not in malaysia, i think learning new skill, earn money and building a caring society is more important in malaysia.

Besides that manglish is one of the malaysia culture. Nowaday i prefer to learn mandarin rather than english due to the rise of china. And i feel proud to speak mandarin.

By: Jee

Jee — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:15:00 +0000

Rm… Singaporean speak Singlish, Malaysian speak Manglish???

narrowband… I see your point; I still believe that it’s better for that mother to not try at all.

Well if you are good in English, it is a good idea to send kids to Chinese school and then learn English at home. Vice versa if those parents are good in Chinese instead.

By: narrowband

narrowband — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 09:58:16 +0000

Here is my personal observation. I think it is very hard to learn English from school, tuition, or anywhere else but home. The key to good command of a language is to speak that language. So the fact that the mother tried to speak in English to her kids, is commendable. I repeat: the fact that she *tried*. Goes to show that she understands the importance of English.

The mother may have poor command of the language, but at least the kid gets some exposure and in time, hopefully he/she’ll know what’s right, and what’s wrong. It is definitely better than some families totally neglecting English at home, leaving the child to learn by him/herself.

On the other hand, the mother tongue should not be neglected. In particular, Mandarin. You know what’s the ideal situation? A child goes to chinese school, but comes home to an English-speaking environment. That’s what I think, and what I hope to do to my kids, in the future.

Thanks for bringing this topic up ;). Otherwise there would not have been a constructive discussion here!

By: Really man

Really man — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 01:39:01 +0000

hi guys how does one define what is Singlish and Manglish??.. does it means Singlish is when speaks in a ‘fishing village’ island and Manglish speaking in Malaysia??? or is it with a ‘lah’ or ‘lor’ ??

By: Kean Jin, Lim

Kean Jin, Lim — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 13:04:35 +0000

Jee, since you have highlighted Malaysian English, I believe these articles worth for a read Manglish Malaysia English vocabulary Malaysian Enlgish British and Malaysian English