The Star newspaper - Opinion section - Take Bahasa Malaysia across the borders, too

WITH reference to “New award for BM development” (The Star, Oct 7), I would like to commend the effort by the Government to propagate thelearning of Bahasa Malaysia among citizens.

We should not rest on our laurels but expand the usage of BahasaMalaysia, particularly when the call sign of the day is 1Malaysia.

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, being the guardian of our national language,should play a proactive role in disseminating the progress of the languageoutside of Malaysia.

The British Council (UK), Alliance Française (France), Malaysia-GermanSociety (Germany) and Japanese Language Society (Japan) providelessons for their respective languages.

They have centralised and structured learning programmes linked to theirrespective ministries in their home country. Each centre works as a mirrorimage to the other with standardised syllabus and internationallyrecognised certificates.

Besides enabling foreigners to learn their respective languages, thecentres also act as snapshots on their country’s culture.

Thus, to expand the usage of Bahasa Malaysia, we should not alwaysconcentrate on language expansion within Malaysia. We should think outof the box and welcome foreigners to embrace our language.

It is a long shot, but let it be known that the effect of such a forward movewould indirectly be the pride of us, Malaysians, as we will then be knownas native Bahasa Malaysia speakers.

CIPLAK,
George Town.

Published on: Monday October 12, 2009


ORIGINAL VERSION

Take Bahasa Malaysia to the next level
With reference to Nation column entitled “New award for BM development” published on Wednesday October 7, 2009; I would like to commend on the effort by the Malaysian government to propagate the learning of Bahasa Malaysia to its citizens.

While English is undeniably the lingua franca of the world, we should not rest our laurels on the need to expand the usage of Bahasa Malaysia particularly when the call sign of the day is 1Malaysia.

However, to present the award for BM development on home turf will not have the same effect as the participation would only be confined to Malaysia.

In my opinion, Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka, being the guardian of our national language should play a more proactive role in disseminating the progress of the language outside of Malaysia.

Few examples on dissemination of foreign languages in Malaysia are British Council (UK), Alliance Française (France), Malaysia-German Society (Germany) and Japanese Language Society (Japan).

These centers have centralized and structured learning programs linked to their respective ministries in their home country and are internationally certified.

Each center worked as mirror image to the other with standardized syllabus and internationally recognized certificates.

Besides enabling foreigners to learn their language, these centers also act as a snapshot on their country’s culture at the same time.

Thus, to expand the usage of Bahasa Malaysia, we should not always concentrate on the language expansion within Malaysia.

We should think out of the box and welcome foreigners to embrace our language and our culture in one go.

It is a long shot but let it be known that the effect of such forward move would indirectly cement the importance and pride of us Malaysians as we will then be known as native Bahasa Malaysia speaker.

CIPLAK,
Georgetown.