TO POST OR NOT TO POST IN MYANMAR LANGUAGE..

Hmmmm... It's really a dilemma!

You know what! I have started this blog for quite a while and I have readers near and far. I have readers who are Myanmar and who are not.

I have Myanmar readers who like ro read in English and who encourage me to continue in English. And I have those readers who left messages telling me, they came and they left for not knowing what I scribbled. A matter of facts or a joke but it does keep me wonder whether to write in the language they understand.. no offence guys..

And I have those messages from my non-Myanmar readers that they appreciate what I have written. Flattering when I read the messages like... they never come across any Myanmar National who write a decent English in blog sphere. Of course there are thousands Myanmarese with better command of English but they don't blog. Or they are someone and doing big things rather than wastsing their time flaunting the polished English here.

Well! the point here is not to talk about my English proficiency but rather why I am in a dilemma!

Sometimes, I open to view and update my blog from my office desk during my lunch break and it was irritating to see nothing but the square blocks.You see I do not have the Myanmar fonts in my office PC and I don't think it is appropriate to install it either.

And that make me think about my non-Myanmar readers. If myself is so annoyed, how about them. Stumble upon a blog of mine and unfamiliar fonts or square blocks greeting them, what will they think? From my profile they might know I am a Myanmarese. Wanting to see what a Myanmarese writes about and with all those alienated fonts, sure! I need not to chase them away but they would never return!

Some might say, why bother! Yeah but I do. Since I started this post I meant for everyone. I want to share what I know to everyone. I want to share what is Myanmar like to foreigners and I want to share to my fellow Myanmarese what the whole world is happening out there! Again you might say!Share with them in Myanmar. No! I want to share with them in simple English! I want to encourage our fellow people to read and write well. May be not those people who never intend to come out of the country and for steadfast nationalists who vowed not to read, write nor speak any foreign languages.

Again, I never claimed and will never do to suggest I am an expert in English. Just a decent user, I should say and of course a better one among the peers. I would admit shamelessly that I am where I am in my professional career for having a better language proficiency. Lip Service! you may want to say. Combining and bundling with your hard-working nature, willingness to learn and you are a step ahead before your very peers who lack the language skills.


Why I say I want to encourage our people to pick up English?

Every now and then I run into many fellow Myanmarese who complained they are being discriminated here in Singapore. And I always suggest I never encountered because I communicate well enough. Hey! I ensure you that I said it with a tone of encouragement to learn language not with the wired look.

I am a Myanmarese. I love Myanmar Language. I love our people and I feel good to see and talk in our language.

But we are here in Singapore. We are now living and working overseas. We face problems, misunderstanding in our work places. Can we use our very own language to solve them? We swallow the pain, the tears and grow our anger instead. Then we say we are being discriminated against. I don't rule out there is none. Discrimination does exist everywhere. But sometimes the language that create misunderstandings and we comfortably named it as discrimination.

As we can see what is going on around town now! In Singapore job market, we are not a preferred potential employees anymore! And the reason? Our Master Degree holders Degree holders flocked the interviews with our very own language. Some that I come across I wonder if they think that Singapore is just a state of Myanmar.

I understand very well that we are far away from home and feeling homesick. By all means, read myanmar journals, listen to Myanmar songs but shouldn't we put in some efforts to read English? For immdiate benefits in our work places, shouldn't we dedicate more times to work on our language instead of crying fouls that we are in this dire state because of military regime!

Ha ha back to my post topic, ya...I try to be bilingual. I tried to post in both languages. But if a non-myanmarese readers visit my page and those sqaure blocks would suggest they are posts meant for myanmarese and might run away for good. They might think the post is irrelevant and unwelcoming. I can't let this happen and I still want to air my view occasinally about Myanmar that I want our non-myanmar friends to know. We can't isolate ourselves and our beloved Myanmar for some reasons...

And we are here to work in Singapore and polishing up our English might bring us to a new level up there in our career. Singapore itself it having "Speak Good English Campaign" , all the more we Myanmar need to do so I guess..

So dear fellow brothers and sisters I am thinking about getting rid of the Myanmar fonts all together from this blog and I will write in THIS BLOG myanmar language. At this moment, I have not written anything but please do bookmark it and visit me in the future. And that does not say you are not welcomed in this blog alright!

Love and peace!