OPEN UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

HBET 1403
SOCIOLINGUISTICS

NAME

HASMAYAH ABD GHANI

IC NO

800725125990

MATRIX NO :

800725125990001

EMAIL

maeamaezhra@gmail.com

HP NO

0145708903

Malaysia is one of the most developing countries in the world. It is towards modernization and
globalization and the process keep on going. The Malaysian Government is always finding the best
way for improvisation to make sure that Malaysia will always be at the top. Foreigners from all over
the countries are very keen of Malaysia. It will surely promise a very good fortune for them as
investors or partners. Therefore, many businessman or entrepreneur always keeps an eye over
Malaysias progress. It is a very good foundation for most of them.
Many Malaysian communicate in Malay, English, Chinese, Tamil or other locals dialect. As
we know, communication is the bridge to create a good partnership or even relation among others. It is
through good communication, which can lead to many important things. As Malaysian now is the
centre of many foreigners entrepreneurs, communication is surely the most important things.
The fact that English is alien to Malaysians is somehow true and untrue. As we can see now,
many Malaysians are communicating in English or Manglish as it is the second important language,
especially in the developing country like Malaysia. English is firstly spoken in Anglo-Saxon England
in the early ages. Now, it is the most common spoken language in the world. There are about 375
million native speakers, people who speak English as their second language, which make English the
second important language in the world.
Today, English language is the global language and an international lingua franca. However,
despite the fact that there are more people who speak English as a second or foreign language than
those who speak it as a first language, its impact on culture and identity remains on searching
(Graddol, 2006).
In Malaysia, English is officially the second language but great importance has attached to it
as English Competence has been said to be a tool in order for the nation to achieve great knowledge
and chances. People are aware of the advantage of speaking English, therefore, they started to apply it
in their daily life, especially with their kids in the early ages. They believe that a good communication
will create a brighter future and can create many good opportunities for them. English has become the
most spoken language at home. Parents with an English education, or, who sees the opportunities of
speaking fluent English can bring fortune in an individual, started to use English for communication
with their child in early age.
Aware with the importance of English Language, Malaysian Government makes a way to it by
implementing English in their stream of education. English has become among the must-pass subject
in order to get good result in Malaysian Education. It stands among the Malay language, Mathematics
and Science, and student who fails to achieve good result in English Language, may not pass the
compulsory exam such as the SPM or UPSR. The importance to get a good result in English,

especially in the compulsory exam in Malaysian education stream, has been inherited over years and it
is an ongoing process.
Many programmes have been implemented by the Malaysian Government as to make sure that
the youth can master English Language, or at least, can communicate with it. Knowing that the best
language teachers are the one who are actually communicate with the language, the Malaysian
Government also launched a programme in which the English teachers from the British Council come
over to Malaysia and guide the teachers with the best way of teaching English. It is a good programme
and many teachers are actually get benefits from the programme itself. The teachers can learn new
things of teaching English, and at the same time, they can improve their knowledge or communication
skills as well. English is becoming a medium to communicate, and in no time, the students will be able
to at least speak simple English. It is indeed will become a new lifestyle among the students and the
teacher itself, and slowly, they will communicate fully in English. These are among the reality that
happens in our community nowadays, where, English has played a major part in Malaysians life.
English is actually not an alien among Malaysian. The students learn English from the early
education. Their first encounter will be started at the year of six in the primary school and it will be
developing and more complex in five more other years they are spending in the secondary schools.
Some students are also familiarizing with English since childhood, as many Malaysian Parents were
adapting it in their family or daily communication. These parents are actually concern about the
English proficiency, and took the matters upon themselves to teach their children at home. They even
create the English environment at home to ensure their childrens proficiency in English. In the
primary school, the students are exposed with the vocabularies, grammar and correct sentence
structure and they begin to improvising their skills towards the secondary school. Therefore, English is
not a foreign language for them. They know that English is one of the important subjects and try to get
use with it. It is actually one of the easiest ways of securing the good chance to enrol into the
universities.
Nevertheless, English is one of the ways of Malaysians life. It is widely used among
Malaysian of all ethnics. Be it a Chinese, Indian, Malay or other locals, they find it much better to
communicate in English. It is the one thing that they shared. It is a fact that actually, some of the
ethnics are not very fluent in Malay, especially the Chinese and Indian. It is because, they were
communicating in their mothers tongue, and somehow, find Malay language is a little bit uneasy.
Moreover, the education stream in Malaysia, where all the Chinese and Indian students are sent to the
SJKs schools make Malay Language has become the third choice.
In SJKs school, they mothers tongue has become compulsory while other languages are
considered foreign or alien language, and they will normally shrugged off from learning it. But,
miraculously, English language will normally fit in their educations stream. Somehow, somewhere,

they will always make a point to communicate in English rather than other language. This is because,
they have been familiarize with English language itself from their early ages by their concern parents
who knew that, English is a promised language which can help them not only to communicate with
other people, Malaysian or foreigners, but also to secure their place in the more higher level such as
the university or colleges. There might be a great deal of shifting in linguistic usage, from their mother
tongue to English, but, there is also a great deal of tendency to perceive the communal language as a
marker of their cultural identity. This indicates a revival of pride in their own culture, but, in the
meantime also allows the modernization to fit in their life.
The reality that English reflects Malaysians life is obvious not only among the two ethnics,
but also among the Malay ethnics itself. The awareness of the importance of English among the Malay
parents has risen, especially when they know the fact that English is the most spoken language in the
world. They realise the importance of learning and communicating in English and grab the opportunity
by implementing it in their own family. There was a gradual trend to shift the communicating language
towards English among their children. For them, Malay is their nature; therefore, they are not eager to
learn it. Furthermore, they child will learn it naturally because it is also been used in the Malay
community. But, communicating in English is another level. For them, it reflects their lifestyle and
brings their life to another degree. Somehow, they find that they were given more respect from other
people, if they are communicating in English. Therefore, they make it compulsory for them to learn
English to upgrade their life or their place in the communities. But, this is normally happened among
those who live in the urban area. It is because, they are exposed to the modernization, and thus, it is
the crucial way in order to compete and living a more promising life.
The usage of English Language also can be seen in the larger community. It actually effecting
all the entrepreneurs in Malaysia, be it the Malaysian or the foreigner, in a more exclusive ways. They
were normally handling international matters which demand them to communicate with others
executive from different countries. Thats mean, communication is very important. It should go on
very well and understandable in order to end up with a very good agreement or business deal. Most of
the upcoming projects or international understanding is normally conducted in English, even in
Malaysia. Therefore, English has become a part of lifestyle among Malaysian in order to achieve their
goal. The same goes to the smaller community such as the internal worker. The communication
between the manager and the worker, among the staffs, are normally in English. All the writing
materials are normally handled in English; nevertheless, all the workers need to prepare themselves by
trying to communicate in English and slowly adapting it in their lifestyle. Some of them could hardly
speak in Malay language; therefore English is a very good option.
English is reflecting the reality of Malaysian life. This is very obvious on the street, normally
among the smaller entrepreneurs such as in night market, smaller shop, stalls. Most of them are

communicating in Manglish, the Malaysian English that was an invented from the Malay and English
language. It was most commonly used among the Malaysian, where they will occasionally adding the
Malaysian slang in the sentence. The usage of bah among the Sabahan for example. It was never let
out, whenever they were communicating, whether it is in Sabah dialect, Malay language or even
English. For example, come; lets have some tea first bah. The bah is actually have no meaning
at all but a word from the Sabah dialect itself, but it is understandable among the people in Sabah. The
English speaking-social environment is the factor why the usage of English or Manglish is popular
among the society. It is a great medium to socialize among the English speaking community.
As far as it concern, the Malaysian are actually been using the English Language in their daily
life. Most of the instructions such as the signboard on the streets, in the buildings, the pamphlets from
a small or big company, menu from a high class restaurant are written in English. The hotel receptions,
stewardess, waitress, they will welcome us in English rather than greeting us in Malay. English is
reflecting the Malaysian so much, that most of the time, the people will always say thank you instead
of using the Malay language.
English is affecting the Malaysians life so much that it is a compulsory for the youth if they
are looking for a job. They were requiring to speak fluent English and the resume are also need to be
written in English. There will be an interview session, where the candidates need to answer in English,
or at least simple English or Manglish. This is because English is an international language and widely
use. It is a great medium of communication especially if working in the international company.
Whether we like it or not, to be fluent in English has become an important criteria nowadays in order
to find a job.
On the other hand, it is a different story in suburb area in Malaysia. The usage of English
Language is very minimal and even Malay language itself. The people in the remote area in Malaysia,
in all ages, are normally communicating in their mothers tongue language. These matters will create
such a trouble especially in the school, among the languages teacher. Either they need a translator, or a
dictionary. Here, not only English, but Malay language is also an alien for them. The small community
here are only focusing in their life, finding foods, fixing broken things, and they pay little attention to
any reading or writing material, therefore, the modernization, or the usage of English language are not
really affecting their life.
There was actually a matter of pride to retain and preserve their mother tongue in the
community. This is very common in some state in Malaysia, and sometimes the usage of their mother
tongues language has become an obstacle for them to upgrading themselves. They even consider
Malay language as the foreign language, and seldom communicate in Malay. Some even cant speak
fluently in Malay, or even they did, there will be slang and it is quite refusing. It is what actually holds
them back in the matter of modernization.

The English teachers are the most effected party in these matters. They need to struggle in the
pronunciation and vocabulary as well. They will need many flash cards in order to help the students to
widen their vocabularies. The daily lesson plans are also need to be written in a more creative and
simple way as to overcome the problem and match the students level. The teacher need to attract the
students attention first, make the learning progress interesting and try to include all the students in it.
The students are not used to English as it is not their linguistic environment. Furthermore, they are not
very keen on learning foreign language, as it is in their tradition to preserve their mother tongue as
marker of their cultural identity in Malaysian society.
As a conclusion, I strongly disagree to that statement that said English is a foreign language
that is alien to Malaysians; it does not covey or reflect the reality of Malaysian lives. I believe that
English is somehow has becoming a lifestyle among Malaysian. The usage of English language, with
the prestige attached on it, will position someone socially in a society. Somehow, people will look up
for those who can speak fluent English. Their opinions will be much valued and there will generally
receive great attention or services from other people. There were also bringing a great value in
academic and social. All these are actually bring awareness among the society, and slowly they begin
to adapt it in their life style. The usage of English as a medium of communication in Malaysian society
is has actually reflecting the Malaysian itself, as most of the Malaysian nowadays communicating in
English or Manglish. They had created an English environment slowly as to catch up with the many
new things that attach to the modernization. The Malaysian society knew that, English language is a
medium that will ensure them with many opportunities and open up the door to a great and higher
education, better job, better chances in business and they will be well positioning in the society, as the
community look up to those who can communicate in English well. There is a prestige to those whose
English is their first language, not to mention the special attention they will get in the public.
Therefore, I am pretty sure that, nowadays, English usage among the Malaysian society is at the higher
level and it is reflecting the Malaysian life as well.