Beg Your Pardon, Is Perfect English A Prerequisite To Blogging?

THERE IS A SAYING : PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. SO KEEP BLOGGING AND EVENTUALLY YOU WILL MASTER THE LANGUAGE. YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT TRACK - SO KEEP IT UP, FRIEND.

WHAT'S IMPORTANT IS YOU ARE REVEALING THE TRUTH FOR THE BETTERMENT OF OUR MULTI-RACIAL SOCIETY.

Richard Loh

There was a comment regarding my article at Malaysia Chronicleunder the heading "Open Letter to Robert De Niro and other 'guests' of Rosmah's" which I reproduce below.

Anonymous said...
Richard Loh: If you are writing to American celeberities at the very least write in good and correct English. Rosmah will laugh at your letter as she has better command of English than you..
July 24, 2010 10:36 PM

to which I gave a short reply:

Thank you anon 10:36
I am not a professional writer nor journalist or an expert in writing. I am just a commoner with limited educational background.

As you may know, blogging is for everyone to blog what is on their minds. This posting is to highlight what is wrong with our leaders - and the second wife of the PM - wasting public funds as though it belongs to them.

Yea, Rosmah's English may be much much better than mine but is she a person with integrity and honesty? Why is she is running this country and spending the public funds as and when she likes?.

A fool will only laugh at my poor English but a smart one will be able to understand that this country needs a change of government before it rots and bankrupts in 2019.

Laugh all you want.

There is no denying that people prefer to read a well-written article in good English. So why am I still posting my articles when my English is 'so damn bad', as some Great Masters Of The English Language are asking me. Let me explain to you why and please bear with my poor command of the English Language while I do so.

1) If you enter my blog, you will see the title of the blog, photos and other categories indicating this blog is leaning more towards the political side. I am not paid to write for any news media or journal as I am not a journalist nor a professional writer but just expressing my own personal point of views regarding the status of our country using the best-level English Language I can.

2) The PM has claimed that he wanted to listen to the people and I am not so lucky as one Saiful, who can just walk right into his front door to chat with him. So the only recourse is to write on my blog in the hope that he can read it and understand what normal people on the street want. That is, if he is sincere enough in wanting to listen and not sending his cybertroopers, the SB and PDRM to hunt us down.

3) Commanding good English is not every one's cup of tea. There are different levels of command depending on one's educational background or exposure. You can compare it to the 'star-rating' for hotels. If you can afford it, you will stay at a five-star hotel. But many are just able to live at the three-star while the rest simply have to be happy living in budget hotels. It is no shame to live at either a three-star or budget hotel for it provides us the same results, a place to sleep for the night.

So, am I ashamed to expose my poor command of the English Language through blogging? No, I am not. For those who expressed their sorrow over my bad English, they are the intelligent ones who need not have to read what I write for they are smart enough to know what is happening to this country and decide on their own future.

I am among the millions that live between the three star and budget hotels. We may want to try the five star hotels but simply cannot afford to. Likewise, for those of us, whose command of English is poor, we will not be able to fully understand what the expert or professional writers are writing about because they have their own jargon, vocabulary and at the same time you must also be able to read between the lines.

I am not a graduate nor highly educated but thanks to our government's education system, there are thousands of graduates churned out yearly that cannot secure a job due to their poor command of the English Language. So, I can consider myself to be the best among the worst.

This country is now on a political war path and this is where I come in, to serve those who are weak in their command of the English Language. They do not understand what the political scientist, political writers or political professors are writing about. They can at least absorbed my simple broken English and straight-to-the-point political views.

Just remember that political blogsphere is not for you to learn your English Language but to grasp the reality of the country's political situations.

4) This country is going to the dogs and if we do not put our efforts together to make a change we are doomed. For those Great Masters Of The English Language, you can put your efforts fighting at the higher level and as for me I will help out at the lower level - to the people on the street and those whose command of English is weak.

5) I am not challenging anyone and I know my English Language is not up to international standards but at least I am not as bad as some of our ministers and leaders who cannot differentiate between "Election" and "Erection", reporters who do not understand certain vocab yet can file their report and get someone charged for sedition.

I am very certain that Rosmah would not dare to laugh at my poor English for she would be laughing at her husband and his ministers for producing the thousands of graduates whose command of English is worse than mine.

6) You can still continue to criticize and laugh at my poor English, but for the sake of the country I have to voice out and call for A CHANGE IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT using the English Language even though it may not be up to the standard and taste for some of you.

As long as my simple 'broken English' can send the right message to the people on the ground to effect change, I will be happy and satisfied.


Malaysia for All