Wednesday Is English Language Day For This Blog

My blog post in English circa 2001

Inspired by my old friend's blog, Forest Dweller, I will occasionally write my post in English. The truth is that I did started blogging way back in the late 1999 in English. I started using Bahasa Melayu in my blog because a few years back, there was a blog by a Malay punk and hipster which was written in perfect Bahasa Melayu. Imagine a person who can speak fluent English, living the life of western lifestyle but at the same time wrote his blog in Bahasa Melayu. What stuck me the most was that his command in Bahasa Melayu is perfect.

So I went on to write my blog in Bahasa Melayu and that was the beginning of a never ending journey of finding my roots; looking back through history trying to piece up together all the puzzle of what is the meaning of being a Malay. History has become my new hobby, but that is a another story.

Forgive me if my English is a little bit rusty. Working in a government office certainly does not help you to master English Language. Sometimes, even the bosses have weaker command of English than you. There is no real opportunity to converse in English among your peers. Most of them are Malays and even there are a few Chinese and Indians, they too converse in Bahasa Melayu.

What sadden me more is that there are a few people around me who refused to learn English even when they were given the opportunity. There was one instant in a course that I attended, the lecturer was a Chinese that can only deliver his presentations in English. His command in Bahasa Melayu and Chinese was not that good, so he said. Then a few participants keep questioning this lecturer of why he cannot give his lecture in Bahasa Melayu. Some even went to the extend of questioning this lecturer patriotism.

English language is an easy language to learn. Further more, we have this good surrounding where English is being use extensively. Books, newspaper, magazines, TV programmes, radios, songs and movies in English is abundant for you to keep improving your command in English. Instead of listening to Bahasa Melayu radio station everyday, why not listening to English language radio stations occasionally. If you subscribe to Astro, programme you device to not show Bahasa Melayu translation. This help me a lot during school days. I remember my English teacher used to cover Bahasa Melayu subtitles with paper so that when watching TV, we need not to read the subtitles to understand what is being said. The best way to learn English is through Internet. Seriously, why bother changing your language preference for your Facebook page into Bahasa Melayu when using English you can pretty much understand all the menus and written words on of your computer screen?

Where there's a will there's a way.