HAS anyone ever told you that you can speak English any way you like? Well, Malaysia is an independent country, and nobody has the right to tell us how to speak English.
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), for very good reasons, doesn't tell us how to speak English. Besides, there is no scientific test to distinguish good and bad spoken English, or to prove that the vowel sounds produced by Queen Elizabeth are any better than our Malaysian vowels. We express our personal identities when we speak, and so it is important to be ourselves. So why shouldn't we all stop worrying and speak Manglish?
There is of course a catch. A big one. One of the central ideas of the CEFR is that the purpose of learning English is to communicate, and to interact in English with other people. To make that possible, other people have to understand us, and we have to understand what other people say. If we all choose our own way of speaking, we can only communicate with people who happen to speak like us.
And if you think about it, that's the problem we've got in Malaysia. Malaysian English is fine for the pasar malam and for many other purposes within the country; but it is not appropriate for international purposes. Those of us who operate internationally need international English, and in many situations the kind of English that can be understood only in Malaysia is not enough. The student taking an English exam who can't communicate with the examiner gets a low grade. The graduate who can't communicate with the job interviewer remains unemployed.
It's a historical fact that the English spoken all over the world derives ultimately from the English spoken in England. The only way people from different countries can communicate in English is to try to speak the same kind of English.
There is a standard pronunciation known as Received Pronunciation (RP) which was introduced to all the countries of the Commonwealth, and which remains the obvious model for English learners in Malaysia.
We expect English people who come to Asia to teach English to conform reasonably closely to the RP standard. I recall a young Englishman who came from the same part of London as David Beckham, and whose spoken English was considered at an educational event in Bangkok to be not good enough for Thailand. Even people from England have to speak in a way people from around the world can understand. Does it really make sense to insist on the highest standards for people from England, and no standards at all for the rest of us?
If we want to improve our national standards of English, we have to take speaking skills seriously, and, in the first place, we have to pronounce words appropriately. If you are reading this article, you will know that written English uses an alphabet of 26 letters, which are used to spell English words. Spoken English uses a system of 44 speech sounds or phonemes, which are used to make up the pronunciation of English words. Much as you need to know the alphabet for literacy skills, you need to know all the phonemes to develop good oral skills.
There's more to pronouncing words in different languages than just phonemes. Mandarin uses tones, and if you get the tone wrong, you might be heard to say "horse" when you mean "mother". English uses word stress, which means emphasising the right part of the word. Word stress is not an option, and if you get it wrong - or if you don't use it at all - what you say might be meaningless or incomprehensible.
Word stress is part of what is called prosody, which also includes rhythm and intonation. It is one thing to pronounce words in a recognisable way, and quite another to put words together to convey our meaning clearly. Rhythm ensures that the timing is right for the listener to understand what we say. Intonation concerns the changing pitch patterns we use as we speak, and is important for interpersonal relationships. Get the intonation wrong, and you may unintentionally come across as rude.
If you watch the BBC or Sky News, you will see and hear many presenters whose parents or grandparents migrated to the United Kingdom from all over the world in recent decades. These people are our role models. They combine professional skills with excellent English, and have succeeded in a difficult and highly competitive world. That is surely what we want for our children in Malaysia.
The writer is chairperson of the English Language Standards and Quality Council, Ministry of Education. Email her at education@nst.com..my