Dare to Write in English

The problems facing us since English is our second or third language are many. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation you name it always hinder us to write in English. “I am afraid to write in English because I’m lacked of grammar or spelling,” said Anita (she is schooling in one of the best SMA in Bandung). The saying as Anita is very common we hear in everyday conversation.

Starting from here, we are able to ponder why Malaysian students capable of writing in good and clear English? This is opposite to Indonesian students. The answer we get is “Oh, Malaysia one of many countries occupied by England, so that why Malaysian are more capable in English than Indonesia.” You know that this is just a joke from Indonesian people.

We are not stopping our discussion here. We have to find why Malaysian are more capable in English than Indonesian. Please kick out our superior feeling to Malaysia for our neighbor country learns our method of education in 1960s. The date was 50 years ago. Believe it or not, the level of education in Malaysia is better than Indonesia right now. A lot of the Sumatran's richest send their children to study in various schools in Malaysia rather go to Yogyakarta or Bandung. Yes, we have Gajah Mada University, ITB, and UI. This is the best among universities in Indonesia. The richest of Sumatran preferred Malaysia than Indonesia due to the lower of tuition imposed by Malaysian's government.

Back to our discussion on why Malaysian students are more capable in English than Indonesian students. Before Malay imposed as national language, Malaysian using English as the lingua franca not only in the civil servant but also in education fields. English is used in everyday conversation by the common people. This is opposite than Indonesia. We are not talking in English but in our language, bahasa Indonesia. So that why Malaysian more capable in English than Indonesian since English is a part of their daily life. We have to go to course or club if we want to speak English.

The fair comparable here is why Jakartan's people more capable in English than Yogyakartan's? Because English is more used in Jakarta compare to Yogyakarta.

Have a nice day

Prabowo Shakti

Tulisan Bahasa Inggris Anda Jadi Pro