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Thread: M'sian policy change in teaching Maths & Science

  1. #1
    Senior Member Senior Hubber nirosha sen's Avatar
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    M'sian policy change in teaching Maths & Science

    For Malaysians, July 8th was a rude awakening. We were forced to be confronted with yet another change in teaching Maths & Science from English back to vernacular languages - Malay, Tamil & Mandarin.

    Put in your 2 cent's worth here and share your experiences abt schooling in general. Particularly, usurping vernacular languages in favour of English as medium of instruction.

    Let's hear it!!
    Demand a broader view - BBC

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    Well, I studied Maths / Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) in Thamizh till 12th, from the TN state board syllabus & finished school in 81.

    It was awesome & fun to have these in the mother tongue. No doubt, we had to use a number of English terms / characters in equations etc, but the medium of instruction was Thamizh and the concepts were better understood.

    Never felt any disadvantage at all in college (did much better than my classmates who came from 1-12 English medium, 11-12 English medium, 1-12 CBSE etc).

    To this day, when it comes to simple number calc's, automatically the Thamizh "வாய்ப்பாடு" only jumps on the mind

    I think it's best for children to learn their mother tongue as well as to learn IN THEIR mother tongue other subjects for at least some years.

    English should be learnt as a second language, which will help in college and career later. I don't think learning every subject in English during basic schooling gives any kind of great advantage in the later years.

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    What a stupid government... How about those students who studied Math & Science in English all these years... It will be uneasy for them to adapt to Malay language I would say...
    A big flaw in Malaysian Education System...

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    Senior Member Senior Hubber nirosha sen's Avatar
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    I am curious App. did you find Tamil lacking in its vocabulary in any way while studying subjects in Science/Maths?

    In M'sia, the debate is the lack of terminology in Malay lang. that has most of us worried abt. It's either directly translated, in which case it sounds ridiculous, or they change the English spelling into an eroded form and call it "New Malay"!
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    Administrator Platinum Hubber NOV's Avatar
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    of course tamil is rich in vocabulary while malay is severely lacking.

    was talking to a malay friend last night - he's sending his kids to private schools. those who can afford it dont give a hoot on the govt's flip flop policy.
    Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!

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    பணம் இல்லாதவன் என்ன பன்னுவான்???

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    Administrator Platinum Hubber NOV's Avatar
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    கூடுதல் பணம் சம்பாரிக்க வழிய தேடனும்
    Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!

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    When the 10+2 system was introduced in TN, thereby briging the "pre-university-course" from college to schools, many had a number of apprehensions, one being the medium of instruction. (In colleges, it was 99.9% English for PUC, but in +2 in schools, many started off with Thamizh medium)

    I was of the 2nd batch from this +2 and hence very much exposed to the "new technical / science terms" that came along and the pain associated with it, both for text book writers and students.

    It's all history now, with people like VM freely using tons of those "new terms" in film songs later

    Yes, Thamizh is rich in vocabulary. However, they never worried about translating a number of terms but simply transliterated them. (English does the same, it uses tons of greek / latin words freely. Almost all the "scientific names" of organisms / plants are of these languages only). Why struggle with "kaNiNi" when computer can be freely used? Or savarkkAram / salavaikkatti when soap is well known even in smallest hamlet?

    What's more important is the overall construct. We use a number of "foreign" vegetables in Indian cooking (carrot? potato? cauliflower?) Same way, throw in all these terms into our sAmbAr or masAlA, that's all

    Theorem = தேற்றம்
    Theory = கொள்கை / கோட்பாடு

    I don't know the logic behind translating or transliterating, but it worked overall!

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    Administrator Platinum Hubber NOV's Avatar
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    savarkkaram, kanini, min anjal, inaiyam are very very common words in malaysia.

    in fact the phrase "makkal sakthi" is known to ALL malaysians including the malays and chinese.
    Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!

  11. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by NOV
    savarkkaram, kanini, min anjal, inaiyam are very very common words in malaysia.

    in fact the phrase "makkal sakthi" is known to ALL malaysians including the malays and chinese.
    That makes it even better செந்தமிழும் நாப்பழக்கம் If many people keep using them then there is no strangeness at all!

    Personally, I'm fine with either of them (pure Thamizh word or transliteration).

    Even people whose native tongue is English need to learn some new jargons when they get science education. Instructing and communicating both ways in the language that you know best are more important than translation / transliteration question, IMO.

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