Skip to main content

My nightmare come true


This is it. It's finally happened.

The stuff of bad dreams for many language teachers has today materialised for me, rearing its ugly head, scoffing at my abilities as a language professional.

This is an actual letter from one of my students as part of their coursework.

Final year student. Soon to graduate and meet the workforce of the nation.

Read it and weep...

Comments

mucho said…
wow...this is a university student..? that's amazing...
Hey mucho,
Welcome to my blog.. Yeah, it's amazing isn't it? I almost cried when I read it...
CC,
U ever had something like this in ur career? The irony is it would have been so hilarious if it wasn't a depiction of the actual standard of English here...

But then again... it is hilarious isn't it?...
azie said…
sir, hopefully this is not a teslian work,ahaha


err...mesti rasa mau bunuh diri kan?ahaha
azie said…
sir, mau komen lagi. AHAHAHAHAHA

kesian lah. ini direct translation.

saudara = relative

pihak = party

sukacita = cheerfulness

and most of the words are totally direct translation

err..sorry to say, but i think secondary school students can do better than this. sheesh~
A t i Q a h said…
Hilarious yet worrying. Huhuhu..
Azie,
Cheerfulness I want give thankful to side sir, because taking time for lighting to I.

Atiqah,
Don't difficult liver you...

HAAAAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

*ehem*...

sorry...
izzati fuad said…
heh. gawd! that's scary. er..
Yana Ismail said…
scary maa.sorry..but i rasa, secondary school students can do better than this;p..
Fauziah Ismail said…
Salam Abdullah
I have a feeling that this literal translation was done on the internet. Its a copy and paste thing.
It happened to us in one of our advertorials relating to Tunku Zarith Sofia. The advertorial was prepared by a university confering some award to her.
I've seen letters like these too.
What irked me especially is getting phone calls from PR people whose English is pretty bad.
My nine year old nephew speaks better.
I rather they speak Bahasa Malaysia than English.
I've always told my reporters that English is a skill. We're not born speaking a particular language.
We acquire the skill through learning.
W'salam fauziah,

Welcome..It is indeed a rare pleasure to see you in my site. Please do drop by more often.

Yes, I do agree with you in the fact that I'd prefer them to speak or write in Malay, than in English, but that would put me in a bit of a quandary..As a English language professional it's my sworn duty to make sure that these people rise to the required level..but as you can see it's an uphill task, because most of the damage has been done at school..and more often than not in primary school, where the absolute basics are not properly taught..
However, I do see a ray of hope with the Government's new policy of ensuring that all future teachers sent to primary school are graduate teachers..

We'll see what happens in the long run..

And keep our fingers crossed in the process.
Ijat & Liyana,

Welcome to the real world...It's your job when you graduate to make sure that you don't pass over students like this to my end ;)
Halo, "Relative"

I did weep!

ps I take it, he meant "Saudara"

Never EVER use a kamus dwibahasa. Take it from a translator and interpretor!
sir,

thank god, ade yang lagi terok dr i.. huhu...i think it's internet punye pasal la kot.. ade je bende camni tuk translate bm ke bi.. but directly lah.. i've seen it too..
Ailin,
I would have given a lot of money to see that. Was there a lot of rolling on the floor as well? ;)

Dya,
Welcome to my site. It's always nice to see new faces here. Hope to see you around more often...No matter how good/bad we are, there's always someone better/worse...wouldn't you say?
Syafiq Suraji said…
ahaha...so dis is wat u said on the prev day...nway i cant cndemn much since im not good either...but seems like u hav an increasing workloads...haha...gud luck sir...
Hehehe, hey syafiq, welcome to my blog. Nice of you to drop by. Don't give too little credit to urself.. By comparison your work is like the earth and sky to this one..
Take care k..

oh, btw, it was fun to see you at the mosque with ur baju melayu hitam ;)
Greg Wee said…
I've taught for 12 years in a local public university & have seen all sorts of less-than-intelligent pursuits by students, but this one tops it all! If we keep going on like this, the country's vision will be 0000 (2 zero 2 zero) aka 2020.
Greg,
2 zero 2 zero is a scary thought indeed..
Give us some examples from ur end man..
Syafiq Suraji said…
ahaha..thanx 4 the cmpliment...nway i dont thnk undergrade stdnts are dis bad...it jus dat they were too lazy 2 write a letter...so wat they did was jus take the existing letter written in BM n direct translate it...so better 2 be dumb dat at least u wanna learn...but not 2 be lazy dat u dont wanna learn anythg...

nway...dat black baju melayu was my baju raya 3 years ago...thnk of it...i wonder how can i still fit in it...haha
Gukita said…
Bang... this is English? Doesnt look like Singlish, nor Malangelese. From which root of the language does it emerge from?
Pakcik Ali,

It's a new language emerging from the grassroots, set on becoming our national language in 75 years to come...

Scary eh?
Gukita said…
Bang,
Another form of language is already blazing headway into our teen's written lingo; the sms language.. very much more scary.
Anonymous said…
Wow it’s truly classic like u said hehehehe. Anyway never thought that a human that learn 12+ years of English will end like this .very sad to see this sob3..

Popular posts from this blog

Help is always far away

Help is never far away. That is the old adage that has been drummed into us ever since we were young. No matter where you are, and what difficulty you are going through, someone will be close at hand to help. Except they aren't. Many a time no one in your vicinity gives a rat's ass. Or could be in a mess of their own to even think that someone else may need the support. Just that little bit of assurance to show that they care. Sometimes it can be in the smallest things. A kind word. A check up of how one is doing. Yet help does come. Someone takes the time to respond, in short messages, all the way from across the Pacific Ocean. Someone does take the time to relate, and share their own experiences, and offers words of comfort from across the country. Yes, help is at hand, but it is always far away. *picture credit here

The Forbidden Kingdom No More

Yesterday is a day that would forever go down the sands of time as... "The Day I Fed Two Hundred Ravenous Mouths with Bottomless Pits" Oh the horror!... The Pain!... The Suffering!!! Like a swarm of locusts they came, wave upon wave upon wave... Like a farmer protecting his crop I could only look on and stare, as they darkened the sky, before zeroing in for the kill... Tears streamed down my eyes as I watched them strip every last grain of maize and corn that I had planted at the begininning of the year... My knees thudded to the ground, as I numbly watched the carnage around me, my tired brain barely registering what my eyes perceived. "So this is what it feels like"... I thought in my brain... "This thing called Open House" . .. ... Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I'm just being dramatic here ;) Yesterday was actually a day that I'm going to remember for a long time, simply because it was graced with the presence of those eager young minds I he