Why do Malaysians do not speak good English?

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Matt T

Because Malaysians don't use it as their everyday language. It would be even weirder if they spoke English well, because they rarely use this language. Malay is their Official Language.

Philippines is the premier English speaking nation in Asia (it is the third largest English-speaking country in the world). All Filipinos use English everyday - in school, in courts, in TV, in entertainment, in business, in the newspaper, and among family members and friends.

In fact, someone in the Philippines who can't speak English is constantly the brunt of jokes and is highly ostracized. Even a tribesman in the remotest hills in the Philippines can at least conduct a conversation in basic English. Whereas the upper class use solely English. American idioms and slang are all well understood in the country.

English is our premier Constitutional Language, is one of our Official Languages (together with 14 other languages), and is the sole language of instruction in schools and in courts.

Bean

You are over generalising.

blatantly opinionated

How many languages can YOU butcher, other than English?

winterlotus

Your question is in itself wrong!!!
Correction made, on your behalf....LOL.
Why do Malaysians not speak good English?
===================================
Always check yourself before treading on others.

Many Asians speak and write far better English than you anyway........hahaha.

Have a good weekend........

★ Cik Yaya ★

BECAUSE:
1)English is our second language, not FIRST duh..

gindy you shouldn't say sorry to this dumb blond...

GINDURAS

we are not englishman..
sorry....

-educated doesnt mean know all language.
even people who cant speak more educated.

michelle_tmy

I lived in US long enough to know many people in US could not speak good English eventhough they are college educated. And when they write, it is worse. Cant string a proper sentence and cant spell correctly. Do not know much about other countries. Try to throw some questions based on Geography and Maths, most of them even MBA graduates will fail miserably. Some of them might speak well but when I posed some questions, their ignorant and stupidity was so glaring that I fell off my chair. lol. It is well known all over the world that the only language Americans could speak is either Press 1 for English or Press 2 for Spanish.

You notice the speck in others eyes but the log in your own eyes. Even your English is grammatically challenged and the way you expressed yourself tell us alot about your level of education. A university degree/college degree is just a piece of toilet paper if a person could not demonstrate her knowledge and capability in understanding and developing her own ideas.

handel

you are so proud

hushpuppy

well for all i care this --> "
Why do Malaysians do not speak good English?" is certainly NOT grammatically correct.

humour me

Gindy Girl

yea, i know you are good in english.but don't be too proud.

Cheekedee

English is not our first language, so it’s NORMAL if we make mistakes here and there. Why this has turn out to be an issue for u?

I bet u might be either lazy or uneducated (or both) as u constructed grammatically incorrect sentences in English like “Why do Malaysians do not speak good English” and “…why I can't speak Malaysian, do is not what I'm asking”. Didn’t you notice any grammatical error or incorrect sentence structure in those sentences that u’ve made? How pathetic…

I’m just a cleaner but I can construct better English sentences than u do. So do other cleaners in Malaysia. It shows that your level is far lower than a cleaner in Malaysia. Shame on u.

BTW, what is your job, huh? A cleaner in US or what?

Daun Ketum®

I school no go, so English good no speaking. Malaysians are what I no understanding.

Thank you for sucking.

Haafiz A

I'm malaysian and i speak malay. I did'nt use english in my daily life. I think i am educated. does educated people have to be fluent in english? it's just a language, and we're malay, so we don't speak english. it's same like englishman who can't speak malay fluently and correctly.

what's the big deal with proper english actually? bahasa melayu had to be lingua franca back then.

japan, china and philipines, people there mostly can't speak english. in Japan, the national lenguage is Japanese. they study in japanese, all books are in japanese. they never use english yet there are advanced country.

so don't be so proud with your english. sick

no money

Because you can't afford to come live in malaysia to explore majority of the graduates...

United-Devils

most malaysians take english for granted. thats why.
for example, ive a lot of friends who skip english classes because its not a so called 'core' subject. they don't mind skipping classes and just get marks above average in English, but then they blame the government, parents, teachers when they fail in their job interviews.

"I’m not saying all Malaysians can’t speak correct English, I’m just saying those who are supposed to be educated cannot even make a proper sentence."---- i somehow agree with this statement, as we do have a lot of lecturers who are poor in the language. but ive to state here that they're just poor in the language, not in their respective fields.

to be honest, im not really sure whether english is really important, particularly, for us. the fact that our country has developed faster than some other south east asian countries, without a solid command in english among the people, amazes me.

edit: the answerer above me can be considered as too naive in suggesting ideas, dont you people think so? many countries use their own language on their signboards dear.

edit: i think what bean meant was, your question shouldve been, "why do not malaysians speak good english". but it's ok if you're NOT educated, like me.

Mr. Bobo [Chantek ker..]

Who cares.. we are not sitting for an english exam and most of the malaysian are not an englishmen either though.. nothing to be ashamed off. As long as you understand what i,m saying to you and like wise, nothing else matters.

anna

English is just a LANGUAGE!!!!

Tan Sri Gabby

Number one, english is not our first english. It is for some people, but not all.

Number two, local universities teach in Malay, not english.

Number three, some graduates graduated in non-english speaking countries like China, Taiwan, European countries beside UK, Japan, Korea etc.

yuanyuan

They don't find it important, that's probably why.

But look how they are progressing economically.

Look at Japan, a superpower - the Prime Minister I think does not even speak English, so what's with your question?

daniel*wm

Because we love to eat ROJAK...

ester

Hi. I am from Indonesia. I'd visited your country. As an ex English colony I think your people are common with English language. Even people in kampung are could understand a bit and more understand if we follow talking with expression. Compare to Indonesia as ex colony of Dutch and Portuguese(correct spell?), young generation are blind to their language naturally since there are not public education to learn more. But English are common now.
Language are very universal so while communicate...as long as the other understand is enough.
But, while someone has a specific career and language is a must..no way out, he should follow the rule.
I have a friend from Philippine, she is a good teacher. they are ex colony as well...she said they learn English since they were young and the book are written in English.
OK. I hope this could help you. Best wishes.

ganjabroni

It is mainly because english is not their first language... I'm an asian... and im not fluent in speaking english... It's different when the language you're using is not your first language, you'll find it hard to express your self and feel not comfortable.

For me as long as I can understand what the person is saying... it's fine... And if your going to ask the question in vice versa... It would be the same...

A Penangite named David®

Oh yeah? Could any of you Phillipinos beat me?
Nah.....never was, never is, and never will be...
Beside, what other languages you know except English,eh?
Chinese? Malay? Russian? German? French? You know any of them?
I do....fluently....and still speak perfect English..so, don't be too proud..

nicholostan

Because it is the cause of our gourvement!!

Jedi Sapien

in the 60, 70,80 we use to speak very good English but when UMNO under MAMAK M change it to Malay it totally destroy the education system in Malaysia

I'dStillPreferNoName

Oopss! People here are very much pissed off of your question ha.. Anywayz i am not Malaysian and also i am kindda wondering too in their country even the sign boards, streets like turn left or right are in Bahasa Melayu, i think they should change that in English word, so that all people wil understand especially the foriegners.

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