The Mirror of English Usage

Mostly countries agree that English is as lingua franca. Realizing the fact that it is an important language, many Indonesian schools have developed a policy to use English as a Medium Instruction (EMI) (Shintawati: 2015). Indeed, youth—often called as “the agent of change”—as student, is the subject who has to learn English besides their mother tongue. They are young people whose age are between 13-19 years old so that they are mostly still going to senior high school or even have been in a college. However, even though the schools have already implemented that policy, some students still ignore it; some still passionately learn about it. Consequently, whether both of them are able to master English or not, they will have significant differences in the future.

Youth, who can speak English as their second language, may have amount of friends around the world. In one case, upon travelling to overseas, such as America, England, and so forth (a country which uses mostly English), they easily communicate with the local people; to know each other. Moreover, by the existence of social media (e.g. Facebook, Skype), they could strengthen both relationship from different countries by chatting or even calling. Besides, youth who cannot speak English may have less friends. In fact, they just use their mother tongue to communicate. They cannot talk to the foreigners, whereas they just can talk to native Indonesian. However, it is possible for them to have friends from other countries, but it will not work maximally—even through social media.

As time went by, when youth has already apprehended, at least, the content of English text (e.g. article, book, and so forth), it will make them knowledgeable. As a matter of fact, English is used in abundant of information on the internet. For example, when youth need some trusted references for their study, of course, most of those references are used in English due to universal agreed. In contrary, youth who cannot understand the content of English text as well may have less knowledge than who can. They are only able to apprehend their native text. Consequently, they must struggle themselves to understand English text by doing more translating first.

More importantly, youth who has a capability in English easily can have a satisfied job. In fact, several companies need people who have a good communication skill—persuading—their product around the world. Therefore, many people who want to apply a job in a company have to fulfill some requirements, a few of which are having qualified of TOEFL score and following that, passing through the interview—in English of course. In contrast, youth who have not had a capability in English does not have a job like what youth have had. In fact, they are placed as in standard position—or other worse—in a company.

To master English for youth may be better to consider rather than not. They will get a lot of benefits such as having a lot of connection around the world, more knowledge, and more importantly, a satisfied job. However, it is not the only way to have a bright future. Without having mastery of English, they are also possible to succeed in life. In fact, it depends on their subject interested in; their effort; and perhaps, their destiny.