Some Similarities in the Language Policies of Kenya and Malaysia
Abstract
Countries all over the world have different language planning policies. This paper explores the language planning policies of two countries, one from East Africa and the other from Southeast Asia, with a view of determining the similarities in their policies. In addition, sociolinguistic effects of the prevailing language policies are examined and it is established that the following phenomena are shared by the countries analyzed in this paper: a common history of British colonization, bilingual education programs, multilingual populations and the prevalence of linguistic Imperialism. This paper will also show that only a small fraction of the people residing in Kenya and Malaysia has competence in their country’s official languages. Not only does this paper therefore, recommend multilingualism at all levels of education but also proposes that more East African and Southeast Asian languages be recognized as official languages. This way these languages and their speakers will become more empowered and will play more functional roles in the new world order.