I felt that the last teaching seminar on Computer Mediated Communication was perhaps one of the most interesting as the listed examples of tools were all familiar to us in one way or another. Especially since most of us have been bred in this affluent society, computers, handphones as well as the use of internet have become almost indispensable in our daily lives. So does that make us slaves to technology? Well, that may be debatable.
Recounting on how Malaysia pinned the blame on the extensive use of internet language such as abbreviations for their deteoriating standard of English certainly reminds me of how ludicrous it was for them to have confidently claimed our famous local dishes like Laksa and chilli crabs to have been originally theirs. Personally, I believe that any one with a mind of his/her own is able to know when to apply the appropriate language style depending on circumstances. For instance, "u" is the common abbreviation for "you", often used in online chats like msn and in informal emails. But do YOU see any abbreviations being used here? I don't think any one of us uses abbreviations in their blogging exercise especially since it's for class purposes, there is this notion of formality.
So my point being that it is natural for one to be able to know when to use the right style of language based on various situations. And hence, the stand made by Malaysia, wherein internet language has caused the standard of their English to suffer sounds ridiculous to me.
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Actually, i thought that it might not be all that ridiculous. To us, it seems natural that we can consciously know which style of language to use according to the situation, probably because we've had lots of practice and we've had teachers correcting us along the way. But what about students in Malaysia who normally speak other languages and only use 'English' in SMSes and on the Internet? Maybe it does contribute to their deteriorating standard of English, to a certain extent.
ReplyDeleteBesides, sometimes I do accidentally type in abbreviations, especially when i'm tired!
- Chiew Shan
Seems that you really trust the research results on the relationship between the use of netlingo and the ability to converse, spell and punctuate. I'm not sure whether they apply to our local context here. May need more studies on this.
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