My daughter who is a Form Three student is preparing for her PMR exam this year and she recently sought my help with her Geography homework though she could manage very well on her own.

I found myself immersed in a tongue-twisting situation with the Malay terms for river deposition, erosion and delta formation. I would recommend all interested parties to read these Geography text books to understand the detriment to our children's education with the change of technical terms (even for geography) from English to Malay.

My child is fortunate that I can explain to her in both English and Malay and show her the English version of the topic. What about the majority of Malaysian students in her situation?

Malaysians should read the latest Malaysian journals in English, and then read the local IT magazines in Malay to realise how much our brain is racked by the translations and trying to figure out the technical terms of the topic.

In simpler terms, we are only shortchanging ourselves trying to compete in this borderless age by being nationalistic with our own language.