YOURSAY ‘Just ask a school leaver to write an essay, and see for yourself.’

'M'sia's English standards better than Singapore's'

Aarvidi : Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan, check your own staff on their usage of English, and confirm the standard. Malaysians everywhere say the standard is lousy, why not check this out yourself, before making a statement.

Nil : Maybe the standard of a small group of Malaysians may be higher than the general population in Singapore. Close to 100 percent of Singaporeans have a working knowledge of English, and probably up to ‘O’ Level standard.

In Malaysia, the percentage may only be less than 50 percent. Know that the medium of education in Singapore is English, but not in Malaysia. So that report should be read in the correct context.

Anonymous_1421406986 : This is the most ridiculous comment I have heard from a deputy minister. As you sure you are backed by the right survey? Just ask a school leaver to write a 10-sentence essay, and see for yourself.

"Yesterday, I went makan makan with my fries and we joy every much. We paying own. I paying RM5.00 eating little. My fries eating many good things paying more. After that riding motocycle ronda ronda KL city." God Bless Malaysian ministers in total denial for politically correct reasons.

Watchtower : A swallow does not make a summer. You can't take those who are educated abroad or leaders from the 60s era as a sample. you must take the population at large, go to the mall and talk to those sales personnel and you will begin to see where our level of English is.

So it is very disturbing when the deputy education minister or the Education Ministry do not realise the seriousness of our English proficiency and on the larger scale the education standard in our country. So how do you build our human capital, which is so very important to build our nation?

PS : "Education First is a research website which focuses on the usage of English in the business community among 65 countries in which English is not a native language." Be fair, read that again before you comment.

Arthur : That's because English is recognised as a Singapore native language, hence rendering them ineligible to be ranked in the first place. Having a deputy education minister citing a study, without even understanding it, to make an incorrect inference. This totally explains why our education quality is low.

Anonymous_1397918584 : Mr Deputy Education Minister, you are absolutely correct in saying that Malaysians command of English is better than Singaporeans because Singaporeans speak Singlish. Please stop dreaming and talk sense. After all, you are paid to do so.

Malaysia888 : I was on a MAS flight recently and I almost hid my head in shame listening first to the head steward and then the pilot make their announcements. Better than Singapore? Syiok sendiri for sure.

Pemerhati Luar Negara : Just to stir things up and based on no research whatsoever, I'd say that the English of the average Bruneian is better than that of both the average Malaysian and the average Singaporean.

Whatsup : There must be laws to stop nonsensical remarks by ministers, such as this! Better still, laws to prevent the cabinet from being filled with half-past-sixes and ministers to have at least a normal level of intelligence.

Odin : Kamalanathan, the question is, who did Sweden's Education First interview? Or who were included in its survey? If you speak with non-graduate Malaysians who were educated ‘only' up to Form Five around 1972 or before, you will find that they not only can speak reasonably good English, but they are also fairly knowledgeable about world affairs. Such people would be in their early sixties or older now.

In a sense, their command of the language does not count because most of them would not be contributing to the economy now.

When I go to the supermarkets in Malaysia, where the cashiers would have studied up to the same class, i.e., Form Five, and speak with them, they can hardly understand what I say and, of course, cannot reply in English.

I have spoken with youngish staff members graduating from Malaysian universities and working at financial institutions in Malaysia, and their command of English is generally well below par.

We can safely assume that many of those in the senior management level would have a decent command of the language. But such people make up only a small percentage of the Malaysian population.

We can also safely assume that those in the middle and the junior management levels and have graduated from universities in the West would also have a decent command of the language, but such people, too, make up only a small percentage of the Malaysian population.

I am afraid I have to disagree that Singapore is behind Malaysia on this score. Any survey results that indicate that that country is behind yours in English usage are seriously suspect. And I mean really seriously suspect. On the whole, the standard of English exhibited in Singapore is far higher than that found in your country.

Justine Gow : Politicians are politicians. When a ranking is in their favour, they will highlight it. When it is otherwise, they will downplay it. It is true that EF Education-First ranked Malaysia 12 and Singapore 13 in their 2014 ranking on English proficiency. All rankings have to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Beyond looking at just the rank numbers, one needs to understand the methodology of the survey. Some background information on EF Education-First and the survey may be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EF_English_Proficiency_Index. There is a section there on criticism against the survey.

Citizen No. 26 : Why are we fooling ourselves? I am an employer who can hardly find Malaysian employees with good English communication skill. Our younger generation can hardly write proper letters and reports. Please do not talk nonsense.

Louis : Kamalanathan, you are right. Our English is so superb that interviewers cannot fathom what the candidates are talking about. Our English teachers are so good that they teach English using Bahasa.

Apa Ini? : Some people just prefer to remain blind to the truth. Where is your average school leaver at in English? Apart from those who come from homes with English-speaking parents, the rest can't be employed in any situations where English is an essential requirement for the job. As many English-speaking parents have noted, even the English teachers speak broken English! Education First has got it wrong!

Dizzer : We do have more proficient English speakers than Singapore in terms of sheer numbers thanks to our flourishing private sector education providers. As usual in Malaysia, any successes are despite, not because of, the system. And as usual, the Malays are the ones who suffer the most from the self-serving and shortsighted policies of their 'leaders'.

Mob1900 : Soon Kamalanathan will claim our Mandarin is better than China and our Khalkha is better than the Mongolians.

Chin2Lun: Whatever makes you happy lah. Malaysia is the best in all areas lah, not just English. Best at stealing the rakyat's money, too.

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