Linguist: It’s okay to speak Manglish

Do we feel that Malaysian English is ‘sub-standard’? It takes a Mat Salleh linguist to tell us why it’s OK to speak (but not write) this way!

I was interested in a recent contribution to the Mind Our English (MOE) section by Peggy Tan entitled Malaysian Oddities, in which she listed certain words and phrases under “Local use” or “Wrong” (i.e. Malaysian English) and a corresponding list entitled “Standard English” or “Right”, the implication being that Malaysian English is sub-standard, or, in some way, non-standard. Thus, the term Standard Malaysian English would be considered an anomaly.