English - a pain in the neck?

Cricket originated in England but had become essentially a South Asian game, understood by all players. If its' rules changed from country to country it would either be referred to as Sri Lankan or Indian cricket.

Why do we prefer to learn Japanese from a Japanese national rather than from a Sri Lankan Japanese teacher no matter how perfect their pronunciation is? If there is no such thing as Sri Lankan Japanese, why should there be any such thing as Sri Lankan English?

English could be American, Australian, British or any other country where 'English' is a national language. But it is quite paradoxical how English should be Sri Lankan, when it is not even a national language.

The truth of the matter is that we have given 'English' too much credit. Instead of aspiring to make English ours we should attempt to make the best use of English as a tool.

If so-called 'Sri Lankan English' is promoted in a few decades it may be unrecognisable from the original. For example Cajun French is a distinct variety of French. It is so distinct that a native Frenchman would have a lot of trouble understanding it. While Cajuns are quite proud of their French dialect, it does not offer them the versatility of communication that the French language offers. While French is only second to English, Cajun French is restricted to Louisiana.

What the Sri Lankan policy makers should keep in mind is the objective of learning English. If it is communication, why limit it to Sri Lankan spoken English which would limit our ability to communicate to within the country?

The reason Sri Lankan students cannot master English even after 13 years of studying is because listening skills have been totally disregarded. A baby learns its mother tongue by listening to its parents. How can a novice be expected to master a language that he or she has no exposure to.

Take for example Hindi. I bet most of this country's youth know their Hindi better than their English.

This is due to exposure to Hindi through Bollywood movies! Developing listening skills is nothing novel to the Sri Lankan language teaching industry. Various techniques to develop listening skills - whether listening to music or audio language lessons - have been utilized by foreign language teaching institutions all over Sri Lanka to teach French, Japanese, Russian, Korean and what not.

Imagine what a difference inculcating listening habits can make. Why can not similar techniques be used for teaching English in Sri Lanka? This is an obvious and one of the most simple options everybody has neglected.

Sajitha