Can you Speak & Understand your National Language?

We live in Malaysia, so the national and official language used here is Bahasa Malaysia (BM). So if you claimed to be a Malaysian, you should be able to speak in BM. The second language spoken widely in Malaysia is English. Then for those who are non Malays, they will speak other languages like Tamil, Cantonese, Mandarin etc.

I'm a Malay, so why do i blog in English and talk most of the time in English? Do i not appreciate my national language? Do i think it's not cool to speak in BM? It's none of these reasons. I can speak and understand BM well but maybe i'm used to the English language, especially since entering college since the the subjects are taught in English. Yes, perhaps when i speak BM i have a little problem finding the right word but if people talk to me in BM, i will respond in BM and i have no problem understanding the language.

It's irritating when some Malays think that Malays who speak in English are showing off. Yes, true some do show off, especially when they speak in English with some lame accent (coz they think they sound cool) but there are some Malays who simply just feel more comfortable using English while still remain their respect to the national language.

And so i read something in a newspaper where a guy condemn a 38 year old woman who requested for an interpreter for the charge to be read for her. He claims that the woman wasn't patriotic. There was another person who commented on this and said that just because a person requested for interpreter to interpret in a language he's more conversant in, doesn't make the person less patriotic.

Assuming the woman was a MALAYSIAN, i think it's very very very embarrassing if you can't even understand your own national language to the extend that you need an interpreter. A charge is drafted in the simplest BM, no bombastic words are being used. And besides, can't you ask in BM if you don't understand? Are you saying if the interpreter explained to you in BM also you won't understand?

I don't know, maybe requesting an interpreter is an attempt to waste the court's time or something.

Those who i think deserved an interpreter are :

1. Foreigner committing a crime in Malaysia.
2. a very old and uneducated person. Assuming that the person is very old because he wasn't born in Malaysia and came here as an immigrant then settle down and have children.

But if you are born in Malaysia but received no education, does it mean you can't speak BM?

Why people can't speak or understand BM? Perhaps you surround yourself with people who don't speak BM. Perhaps you just stick to your own race?

I don't expect you to speak BM fluently or to be able to know every meaning of a BM word, but if you don't understand basic BM and require an interpreter despite the fact you are a Malaysian, can you actually call yourself a Malaysian? It seems more like you are a foreigner because you can't even speak and understand your own national language without the aid of an interpreter.

I don't care whether you are patriotic or not, but feel some SHAME for not being able to converse well in your own national language when you can converse well in other languages. And hopefully that shame will make you want to improve speaking in your own national language and not make you ignorant, thinking it's not important.