I SEE the dialogue goes on. It appears that after years of study learned professors finally conclude that maths and science have been studied for aeons and are still being studied in many different languages.
It also appears that they have found that much of what has been discovered has been translated for aeons and is still being translated into many different languages.
Surprisingly they seem to believe that they are the only people on earth to have made this great discovery and that somehow such a revelation denigrates the need to be conversant in English in such subjects in the 21st century.
Allowing for dialects it is estimated, note estimated, that the number of languages spoken in the world varies between 5,000 and 7,000.
Although the number is declining it is still a great many considering the definition of language is," the ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to do so".
For sure some great revelation must have occurred to say a shepherd in the remote Andes at some time or other but getting the rest of the world to know, acknowledge and understand would be quite a different matter, let alone fitting it into known treatises.
English has not been forced on the world as a lingua franca – such remarks are archaic and prejudicial.
It has become a convenient method and instant means of worldwide communication and understanding almost by default.
Art is also a beautiful means of communication, it is international and readily understood but much of the message is frequently ambiguous and subject to personal interpretation. It is all the better for it.
However, specific discoveries in maths and sciences and also other disciplines are not all the better for ambiguity and interpretation.
It is necessary for them to be understood in one clear way. Nothing should be lost in translation.
It is difficult to understand people resenting such a method which has been "put on a plate".
Yes, studies are made in local languages in China, Japan and Korea etc but the need to study, learn and progress in English in all fields is valued and not derided. So many disciplines now centre around English.
When given the option recently in Malaysia a majority of parents wished for their children to study maths and science in English alongside the need for better English language teachers.
The sad fact is that due to the education set up here the qualifications, rightly or wrongly, are not valued internationally and have to be supplemented.
Picking out the few estimable successes is anecdotal not typical. Anyone surely understands that being part of a research team in Glasgow making significant discoveries is not because of any expertise in what was learnt in Bahasa Melayu (or should that be Bahasa Malaysia?) but what was subsequently learnt in English.
I wonder how many significant German, Russian and say Finnish scientific discoveries are published today in the local language here? Put simply, this is now, not then.
How many students stay overseas for opportunities that are not available here?
How many modern discoveries such as television, computers, telephone, radio, railways, satellites, internal combustion engines, metal steam ships, aircraft, antibiotics, heart and organ transplants etc were discovered in Bahasa Melayu and translated into other languages?
This is just a fact, not a value judgement, and the process is growing, not receding.
How much of the Malay budget goes on research and development and what are the results and how many learned professors seem to be able to express themselves in perfect English?
Do not reduce options for future generations, open them up.
The Malay language is a fine language, long may it thrive and survive, but do not attempt to perpetuate it by denying an international future for younger generations.
I send as always my best wishes to all at theSun and like so many other readers wish a return to full health and vitality for Citizen Nades.
Denis Hayes
Kuala Lumpur
It also appears that they have found that much of what has been discovered has been translated for aeons and is still being translated into many different languages.
Surprisingly they seem to believe that they are the only people on earth to have made this great discovery and that somehow such a revelation denigrates the need to be conversant in English in such subjects in the 21st century.
Allowing for dialects it is estimated, note estimated, that the number of languages spoken in the world varies between 5,000 and 7,000.
Although the number is declining it is still a great many considering the definition of language is," the ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to do so".
For sure some great revelation must have occurred to say a shepherd in the remote Andes at some time or other but getting the rest of the world to know, acknowledge and understand would be quite a different matter, let alone fitting it into known treatises.
English has not been forced on the world as a lingua franca – such remarks are archaic and prejudicial.
It has become a convenient method and instant means of worldwide communication and understanding almost by default.
Art is also a beautiful means of communication, it is international and readily understood but much of the message is frequently ambiguous and subject to personal interpretation. It is all the better for it.
However, specific discoveries in maths and sciences and also other disciplines are not all the better for ambiguity and interpretation.
It is necessary for them to be understood in one clear way. Nothing should be lost in translation.
It is difficult to understand people resenting such a method which has been "put on a plate".
Yes, studies are made in local languages in China, Japan and Korea etc but the need to study, learn and progress in English in all fields is valued and not derided. So many disciplines now centre around English.
When given the option recently in Malaysia a majority of parents wished for their children to study maths and science in English alongside the need for better English language teachers.
The sad fact is that due to the education set up here the qualifications, rightly or wrongly, are not valued internationally and have to be supplemented.
Picking out the few estimable successes is anecdotal not typical. Anyone surely understands that being part of a research team in Glasgow making significant discoveries is not because of any expertise in what was learnt in Bahasa Melayu (or should that be Bahasa Malaysia?) but what was subsequently learnt in English.
I wonder how many significant German, Russian and say Finnish scientific discoveries are published today in the local language here? Put simply, this is now, not then.
How many students stay overseas for opportunities that are not available here?
How many modern discoveries such as television, computers, telephone, radio, railways, satellites, internal combustion engines, metal steam ships, aircraft, antibiotics, heart and organ transplants etc were discovered in Bahasa Melayu and translated into other languages?
This is just a fact, not a value judgement, and the process is growing, not receding.
How much of the Malay budget goes on research and development and what are the results and how many learned professors seem to be able to express themselves in perfect English?
Do not reduce options for future generations, open them up.
The Malay language is a fine language, long may it thrive and survive, but do not attempt to perpetuate it by denying an international future for younger generations.
I send as always my best wishes to all at theSun and like so many other readers wish a return to full health and vitality for Citizen Nades.
Denis Hayes
Kuala Lumpur