Abstract
In the last three chapters we explored how Malay has been phased into the legal domain in a way that leaves an option, and sometimes a necessity, for English in professional practice. The investigation now turns from policy to practice, beginning here with legal education and going on in the following two chapters to law offices and courtrooms. Most of the data for this chapter comes from a bricolage of questionnaires, interviews and observations. Questionnaires on language preferences for study and expectations about language use in the workplace were collected from some 500 law students at UM, MMU and UniSZA, which attract students from all over the country (including East Malaysia, where there are no law schools). This was supplemented by focus group discussions with about 100 students and interviews with some of them, together with interviews with 20 students from other institutions. Law lecturers and language teachers at law faculties were also interviewed, and most of the 60 legal practitioners interviewed about professional practice were also asked about their experiences as law students. In addition to questionnaires and interviews, observations of law lecturers were carried out at UM, MMU and UniSZA.
It’s like an irony that I’m Malay and my mum actually teaches lawyers Bahasa and here I am struggling with it. I find English much easier after five years of learning law in it.
KL corporate lawyer (2014.3.06)
The competency level of those who are going to be hearing the matter is also an issue for me, I mean, if you don’t understand English well how are you able to read the cases and understand the cases? To me it’s that simple. Every Commonwealth authority is in English. How are you studying the law, how are you comprehending the law if you are not comfortable in English?
Melaka litigation lawyer (2014.4.29)
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Notes
- 1.
World Bank (2015) World Development Indicators. Accessed 2015.12.12 from: http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/2.9
- 2.
Interviewed at UM’s Asia Europe Institute, 2016.10.04.
- 3.
Interviewed in KL, 2013.8.05.
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Powell, R. (2020). Language Practices in Legal Education. In: Language Choice in Postcolonial Law. Language Policy, vol 22. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1173-8_7
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