:: language ::

One paper down. Three more to go.
After years of sitting in the examination hall twice for every semester, I'd say the anxiety is slowly fading - now replaced by a new mantra 'whatever happens, happens'.
It feels good to begin a paper with a peace of mind.
My record-breaking semester, I managed to get a good 7-hour sleep before the paper.
Usually, before papers - it will be a sleepless night. A habit I got so accustomed to (since 5 years ago) that often I feel guilty for even taking a short nap.
I had this paranoia that if I sleep, I will forget whatever I learnt.
So today, it had been proven wrong - that a sleep is definitely needed before papers!
Now that a quarter of my brain space had been cleared, I've got enough room for rambling.
Like Jannah said, 'I am naturally a long-winded person.'

Sociolinguistics tomorrow - an area I've always been interested in (minus the exams).
Just the other week, we were having a discussion on language shift and language maintenance.
And the fact that our bilingualism might in the long run leads to us becoming monolingualism.
Truth be told, if I had not major or specializes in my own Mother Tongue, I'd see it as 'a not-so-important' language as compared to English.
Simply because the medium of communication now is mostly in English and the general perception that English is a superior language.
Its understandable to frequently use English in our everyday conversations because tentatively most of our peers are from different races.
But, the long-term effect may cause the depletion of our own native language hence the loss of our cultural identity.
And if the mother tongue language is no longer deemed as an important subject, will it affect my rice bowl then? Perhaps.

Not so much of whether my job can be sustained, rather a worry that our future generations will no longer recognize their own native language and the fact that they will turn monolingual - to a borrowers' language (English).
What's happening now is that there are many out there who feel ashamed to speak in their native language.
And I know one of the 'classic' reason is 'I think in English.'
I'd personally say thoughts never determine language; rather its your preferred or the ability of your language acquisition that decides which language you are more comfortable conversing/writing in.

I guess even if one never see the importance of one's native language, the least one can do is to appreciate or learn to respect it because language does speak volumes of a society and its culture. Though everything should be contextual.

Which brings me to another subject raised by one of my lecturers.
Does westernization equates to modernization? (digressing).

This is part of my revision actually.
I have to blog it so I can remember my points.

See, the way I've been rambling. It can never end.