On the subject of English fluency and proficiency, to the question “Rate your English“, I’d usually answer with “Near-native“.
If I’m being humble, I’d say my English is “OK lah!“.
I recently sat for the Malaysian University English Test, commonly known by its abbreviation MUET. It is mandatory requirement for those who wish to further their studies to a degree program at public universities in Malaysia.
I still recall, when I left the grand SEGI University examination hall, I was exceedingly confident that I had aced the written test; convinced it was easier than the Reading and Listening test.
In fact, if there was any part of the test component that I felt had the tendency to hurt my result, it would’ve been the Reading test. The selection of articles in the Reading paper was extracted from:
– Reader’s Digest,
– TIME magazine,
– The Washington Post,
– Newsweek,
– National Geographic,
– one short story from 1970, and
– another short story from 1984;
just not my type of reading material, honestly.
The reading test was both exhausting and demoralising.
Waited 9 weeks for the result and it was finally announced last week, Thursday 11th July 2024.
I failed to achieve Band 5, the CEFR Level equivalent of C1; the mark of near-native proficiency.
The culprit? ‘Twas the Writing component of the test.
I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.
Made me go down the rabbit hole pondering at all the emails I have sent and responded to over the years, all the proposals I’ve sent out in recent months, financial plans I’ve drafted in the past. All that amounted to, not even 50% of the Writing test score.
Obviously this result isn’t bad. Considering all my failures in life, nothing beats my failure to fix computer-printer related issues at home and at work. In any case, the course that I am applying to study, Bachelor of Jurisprudence at Universiti Malaya, only requires prospective students to achieve Band 4 as a pre-requisite.
So, if the result isn’t bad, why the need to vent writing this post? Consider the following:
- My parents enrolled me and my younger brother into an English-medium primary school. This was when we lived abroad.
- By the age of 13, my brother and I pretty much memorized about 90% of the dialogues in Back To The Future, and Back To The Future II.
- After returning to Malaysia, I was part of the English debate team in high school and won Best Speaker award on one or two occasion.
- Being a Computer Science graduate, I have worked almost exclusively in IT companies since 2004. Writing and responding to emails, attending conference calls, engaging Systems Administrator/ Engineers / customer from all over the world, is second nature to me.
- At one point in 2008, I had developed an Australian accent! The company I worked for at the time requires that I interact with Australian consumers for 40 hours a week, almost exclusively.
With all that said, I think I am at least entitled to self-proclaim that my English is in fact, at par with near-native proficiency. Alas, MUET served me a humbling reality check. My English is now suddenly reduced to paper and certified that I’m, just not there yet; that’s a special slap in the face. My face.
Onward and upward!
M.K. Anwar,
Near-native ………………… ❌❌❌
Near-native adjacent … ✅✅✅
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
