Proper way of speaking a language

I am always drawn to radios such as Lite FM. lite and easy etc. with Simon, Sarah and PK as DJs who could speak well and proper English. Patrick Teoh is always my favorite English DJ during my school days. For Mandarin is Mr. Meng Run Rong while Cantonese is Chan Fong. For Bahasa, I like to listen to Anwar Ibrahim way of speaking and expressing himself. The same goes for all other languages as well because it is really an enjoyment just to listen to people who speak well with a good command of the language and voice. If TV personnel or presenters go on air, whether on TVs or radios and they do not speak the standard language, it really irks me.

Jokes and making fun is common for some of my friends and family members whenever we hear how the Hongkong movies stars try to speak Mandarin but with inaccurate pronunciation and a very heavy Cantonese accent. I used to comment on the Malaysian Chinese teachers who try to test and teach students on the phoenetic scripts of speaking Mandarin while they themselves do not speak correctly with the proper intonation! You know it is really awkful to hear someone speak Mandarin with the wrong intonation by way of their habitual Cantonese or Hokkien style of speaking!

I have high regards for politicians like Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, Ong Tee Keat and Dr. Tan Seng Giaw, they could command their languages very well and I think it is important for their idealogies to be heard and understood well by their supporters. Similarly, Professor Ungku Aziz also could speak very good English and I heard him speaking while he was in University Malaya!

I am not trying to discriminate because speaking a language is really a tricky thing to learn, not to mention about to speak it well and correctly. Using words such as " lah" and "meh" would make it even worst for the ears. Some people might want to argue that this is a very unique way for the Malaysians to speak as a culture or be different from others. To me, this is alright for day to day usage, but not for occasions such as business discussion, official functions and socialising or public speeches. Not speaking well is not a sin, because we have an inherent way of speaking our mother tongue or dialect, so habitual and so entrenched that, which makes us hard to twist our tongue or clear our throat to pronounce the proper way of a foreign language. But constantly improving one's skill of speaking a language well will secure a better social place in the society and gain the respect from others.

To excel in speaking, one has to listen attentively as to how and which portion of the syllabus is stressed correctly and also how certain "r" sound is heavily or distinctly pronounced. Sometimes it is not possible to learn it in a quick and easy way, and probably one needs to reside in a foreign land for years before they could get the speaking done correctly! If you have attained a certain level of proficiency in English language, you would be able to differentiate on how the American, the British and Australian way of speaking it.

I had stayed and worked in Taiwan for 4 years and mainland China for 3 years, I would say I speak and write better Chinese language than most Malaysians. But yet when I speak to the real Chinese, they are able to tell I am from the southern part of China, that is the Cantonese speaking province of Guangzhou, where my ancestors came from.

I am still learning to speak better English though I had improved quite a fair bit when I joined toastmaster club many many years ago and also listen to news broadcasting from TV channels such as CNN, BBC, or even National Geography, Animal Planet etc.