I went to attend this event yesterday. It was a good way to start my day. The healthy breakfast and lunch, the exercise, and the nice ambience. I have never eaten that many salads in half a day. They also lined up candles along the way to the event area, the strewn rose petals, the relaxing aromatherapy scent, the wind and the sun. I feel quite special. I was about to mention the fresh air too but it was a little hazy. The haze is not too bad actually but you'd notice it when you look at the horizon.
Something kinda spoilt the day though. There is this one group of sisters, daughters, sister-in-laws who are quite loud. They are nice people actually but couldn't seem to contain their giggles when we sat down to listen to the explanation about home spa therapy. The girl doing the explaining didn't have a perfect English and her pronunciation needed a lot of improvement but I find her quite charming.
While she and her family criticizes the girl, I have to turn my face to the other side while smelling the wet scented towel alternating it with the single pink rose given to everyone because of her BO. It was quite unfortunate that I have to sit beside her.
English with French, Russian, Spanish accent can be attractive to some people so why not Malaysian slang. Why do we have to put a perfect standard to fellow Malaysians when it comes to the English language? Come to think of it, she could be from any one of the Asian countries. Didn't look like one of the locals.
We expect the best from Siti, Mawi, the contestant for reality TV shows and many Malaysians. I cringed when I heard Winnie Sin, the director of Rafflesia Pearls talk but she's there and I'm still here. Some of these people have made a mark for themselves. They can afford to have people use the language they are familiar with instead of the other way around. They should be lauded for their effort to learn, try conversing and conform to people's expectation.
Just look at Miss Universe event where some European and Spanish speaking contestant requires interpreter. Look at some gathering of country leaders where they require interpreter. You CAN survive and succeed without a perfect English. Learning the language and able to converse with it is good but not able to master it does not make one a pariah.
I also do not agree to the choice of having Paul Moss as a judge for One In A Million show. I once caught the show where he's giving comments and the contestant stood there trying to defend himself/herself but no words come out or the words did not come out correctly. Some even misunderstood him altogether. The show is for Malaysian, rural and urban areas. Let them speak Bahasa lah. Having said that, if you're a fresh grad looking for a job, you better speak the language. There is no excuse if you can't.
Sunflower gives the connotation of cheerfulness, bright, jolly, merry... you get the idea! However, if any content in this blog didn't fit the cheerfulness implied by its name, look at it this way... I'm putting down all the wretchedness, gloom, melancholy feeling in here so I can continue living up to the expectation of making the association to the sunflower.
1 comment:
While I agree that people have no right to make disparaging remarks about other people's English, I disagree with your saying Paul Moss should not be there as a judge. For one thing, I feel that he does make an effort to comment in basic English, which then either makes it the fault of the contestant (or the M'sian education system?) for not being able to understand him, and secondly, since he is obviously a competent judge, why should 8TV discriminate against him just because he cannot speak in Malay? It's not like we don't have Roslan or Kak G around to fill in the gaps. Btw, KUDOS for pointing out people should get more appreciation for making an effort to learn the language. If M'sians/Asians received more encouragement rather than mockery everytime they tried to speak/write/read, perhaps our overall standard of English would be much better.
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