Thursday, December 25, 2008

Aku Melayu #002

My line of work requires me to be conversant in English. Fluent. Very fluent, actually. So, realistically, my co-workers, my peers, people who share my job title, should have the same ability, if not better, right? Well, sad to say, to some, English is a luxury developed due to work needs.

Okay, so I'll risk coming off as a snob. As I've established earlier, deep down, I may even truly be a snob. And also, I love to trick people into thinking I am someone who is berlagak. But for me, English is something I need to master. It is not something I have to master, it is something I need. Like air is needed to breathe in and out.

So I work with a few people who share the same job title. In a pre-dominantly, progressive Malay organization. If it was up to me, then, even with my English, our unit will not be adequate. You see, our unit deals with the general population. Not only for the immediate circle of our organization and our client, but for the general population. Not the general population of Malaysia, but the general population of the world. I kid you not. (If only I can tell you what I do and where, but that would just defeat the whole purpose of this blog).

So if we are to communicate with the whole world, then the ideal individuals to do that should be proficient in English. Damn blardy fluent in English. Perhaps dreaming in English should be a job pre-requisite. Right??? Right...

Tapi, itulah, like I said earlier, to some, English is just a work-related need. Now, when something is work-related, it is often relegated to the second or third or even fourth priority, if it ever made it to the person's priority list pun. I mean, okay, kalau it's work-related, then surely you ada your main tasks, kan? Then you ada your not-so-main tasks. Then you ada your main-main things (for me, it's blogging or facebooking or friendstering). Then you ada your kawan-kawan borak. Habis tu, when to brush up your English? Masa in between, free time you? When? In between main friendster ngan borak with your friends? Right...

I guess it boils down to a person's priority. If they truly believe that English can enrich their lives, then they'd try harder to master it. If they tried harder to master it, rather than just skimming by, they'd realize how their English sound to their audience. If they truly wanna learn English, they'd be embarrased of the mistakes they make, even if it's only once in a while (heck, I still get embarrased when I make mistakes in English).

So, damn right, aku Melayu. Melayu yang fasih berbahasa Inggeris and damn proud of it.

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