0:00:22.732,0:00:24.262
For the past 20 years,

0:00:24.271,0:00:27.686
I've been helping Malaysian[br]and other Southeast Asians

0:00:27.686,0:00:30.234
to speak better English.

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And through training[br]thousands of Southeast Asians,

0:00:34.919,0:00:37.751
I've discovered a very surprising truth.

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I've discovered that how well[br]somebody communicates in English

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actually has very little to do[br]with their English level.

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It has a lot to do[br]with their attitude towards English.

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There are people out there[br]who have a very low level of English,

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and they can communicate very very well.

0:00:58.993,0:01:02.736
One of them that I remember was a student,[br]a participant of mine, named Faizal.

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He was a factory supervisor -

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English level very very low -

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but this guy could just sit[br]and listen to anybody,

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very calmly, clearly,

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and then he could respond,

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absolutely express[br]his thoughts beautifully,

0:01:19.223,0:01:20.999
at a very low level of English.

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So, today I want to share with you

0:01:23.262,0:01:27.363
what is so different[br]about people like Faizal?

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How do they do it?

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And second of all,

0:01:30.825,0:01:33.071
why is this so important not only to you,

0:01:33.079,0:01:36.941
but to your children, to your community,[br]and to the future of Malaysia?

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And third of all,

0:01:38.647,0:01:41.205
what's one thing you can do,[br]starting today,

0:01:41.230,0:01:45.721
if you want to speak[br]with that calm, clear confidence

0:01:45.746,0:01:47.611
that people like Faizal have.

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First of all,

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what is so different?

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How do people like Faizal do it?

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To answer that question,

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I'm going to take you back[br]about 10 years, okay?

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I was training staff at that time,

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and my daughter, at that time,[br]was taking piano lessons.

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And I started to notice[br]two really strong similarities

0:02:08.719,0:02:14.588
between my daughter's attitude[br]or thinking towards playing the piano

0:02:14.613,0:02:19.386
and a lot of Malaysians' thinking[br]or attitude towards English.

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First of all, I should tell you

0:02:21.402,0:02:24.544
my daughter absolutely hated piano,

0:02:24.569,0:02:25.933
hated the lessons,

0:02:25.958,0:02:27.141
hated practicing.

0:02:27.166,0:02:30.212
This is my daughter[br]practicing piano, okay?

0:02:30.237,0:02:31.767
This is as good as it got.

0:02:32.308,0:02:33.807
This is the real thing.

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And she dreaded going to piano lessons

0:02:37.884,0:02:41.750
because to my daughter,[br]going to piano lessons,

0:02:41.909,0:02:44.202
she was filled with this sort of dread.

0:02:44.234,0:02:48.304
Because it was all[br]about not screwing up, right?

0:02:48.744,0:02:51.271
Because like a lot of piano students,

0:02:51.445,0:02:53.556
to both my daughter and her teacher,

0:02:54.009,0:02:58.859
her success in piano was measured[br]by how few mistakes she made.

0:02:59.636,0:03:00.682
At the same time,

0:03:00.707,0:03:04.092
I noticed that a lot of Malaysians[br]went into English conversations

0:03:04.092,0:03:07.596
with the same sort of feeling of dread.

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This sort of feeling[br]that they were going to be judged

0:03:10.234,0:03:12.690
by how many mistakes[br]they were going to make,

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and whether or not[br]they were going to screw up.

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Now, the second similarity[br]that I noticed was to do with self- image.

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My daughter, she knew[br]what good piano sounded like, right?

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Because we've all heard good piano.

0:03:26.436,0:03:28.975
And she knew what her level was,

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and she knew how long[br]she'd have to play for to play like that.

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And a lot of Malaysians, I noticed,

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had this idea of what good proper English[br]is supposed to sound like,

0:03:42.390,0:03:44.906
and what their - I see a lot of you nod -

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and what their English sounded like,

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and how far they[br]would have to go to get there.

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And they also felt like they were -[br]like my daughter - just bad,

0:03:55.237,0:03:58.780
bad piano player,[br]bad English speaker, right?

0:03:58.805,0:04:02.583
My English not so good, lah.[br]Cannot. Sorry, yah. Cannot. Ah -

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So I could see these similarities,

0:04:05.681,0:04:07.270
but I still couldn't figure out,

0:04:07.279,0:04:10.995
okay, what is it about these people[br]like Faizal, that are so different,

0:04:11.003,0:04:15.095
that can just do it smoothly,[br]calmly, with confidence?

0:04:16.803,0:04:18.654
One day, I discovered that answer,

0:04:18.678,0:04:20.825
and I discovered it quite by chance.

0:04:20.850,0:04:23.443
It was a day when my computer broke down,

0:04:23.468,0:04:25.471
and I had to go to a cybercafe.

0:04:25.658,0:04:27.428
Okay, it was my first time,

0:04:27.453,0:04:30.416
and I discovered cybercafes[br]are disgusting places, okay?

0:04:30.441,0:04:32.119
They're really gross.

0:04:32.144,0:04:35.095
They're smelly,[br]and they're filled with boys.

0:04:35.120,0:04:38.532
And they're all playing noisy,[br]violent games.

0:04:38.535,0:04:40.518
They're just disgusting places.

0:04:41.319,0:04:42.610
But I had to go there.

0:04:42.635,0:04:43.649
So I sat down,

0:04:43.674,0:04:46.382
and I started noticing this guy beside me.

0:04:46.407,0:04:49.819
And I became very interested[br]in this guy next to me.

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Now, this guy is playing this game

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that is basically, it's like[br]shooting people until they die.

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And that's it.[br](Laughter)

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That's the game, right?

0:05:00.814,0:05:04.775
And I'm noticing[br]that this guy is not very good.

0:05:05.005,0:05:06.966
In fact, he's terrible, right?

0:05:06.991,0:05:10.161
Because I'm looking,[br]and I'm seeing, like, a lot of shooting

0:05:10.505,0:05:13.484
and ... not much dying, right?

0:05:13.509,0:05:14.611
(Laughter)

0:05:15.141,0:05:17.377
What really interested me was

0:05:17.402,0:05:21.516
behind this lousy player[br]were three of his friends,

0:05:21.541,0:05:23.964
sort of standing there watching him play.

0:05:24.507,0:05:26.366
What I really noticed was

0:05:26.391,0:05:28.215
even though this guy was terrible,

0:05:28.240,0:05:30.318
even though his friends were watching him,

0:05:30.343,0:05:31.690
there was no embarrassment.

0:05:31.715,0:05:34.034
There was no feeling of being judged.

0:05:34.059,0:05:35.298
There was no shyness.

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In fact, quite the opposite.

0:05:37.568,0:05:40.944
This guy's totally focused[br]on the bad guys,

0:05:40.969,0:05:42.521
smile on his face.

0:05:43.025,0:05:47.556
All he can think about[br]is killing these guys, right?

0:05:47.581,0:05:48.872
And I'm watching him.

0:05:48.897,0:05:51.719
And I suddenly realize: this is it.

0:05:53.402,0:05:55.763
This is the same attitude

0:05:55.788,0:05:59.958
that people like Faizal have[br]when they speak English,

0:05:59.983,0:06:01.387
just like this guy.

0:06:01.919,0:06:04.600
When Faizal goes[br]into an English conversation,

0:06:05.154,0:06:07.060
he doesn't feel judged.

0:06:07.085,0:06:10.373
He is entirely focused[br]on the person that he's speaking to

0:06:10.682,0:06:12.754
and the result he wants to get.

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He's got no self-awareness,

0:06:15.739,0:06:17.537
no thoughts about his own mistakes.

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I want to share with you[br]a real, true example, to paint a picture,

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of somebody who speaks English[br]like they are playing piano

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and someone who speaks English[br]like they are playing a computer game.

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And this is a true story.

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It happened to me.

0:06:34.519,0:06:38.036
A while ago, I was in a pharmacy.

0:06:38.061,0:06:39.608
I had to buy omega;

0:06:39.633,0:06:41.543
my doctor said I should get omega.

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And I go to the shelf,

0:06:43.467,0:06:44.845
there's tons of omega,

0:06:44.870,0:06:46.788
there's omega that's high in DHA,

0:06:46.788,0:06:49.913
omega that's high in EPA,

0:06:49.938,0:06:51.708
and I don't know which one to buy.

0:06:52.248,0:06:54.603
Now, the sales rep happened to be there.

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And I saw she's like[br]this well-dressed, professional woman.

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I walk over to her,[br]and I see this look as she sees me,

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this sort of - it's a look[br]I recognize very well.

0:07:05.011,0:07:06.192
Her eyes go all wide.

0:07:06.217,0:07:07.362
It's sort of that panic:

0:07:07.387,0:07:10.057
Oh my God! I've got to speak[br]to a native speaker;

0:07:10.082,0:07:12.954
she's going to judge me[br]and notice my mistakes.

0:07:13.799,0:07:16.284
I go up to her,[br]and I explain my situation:

0:07:16.284,0:07:18.808
which omega do I get?

0:07:18.833,0:07:20.988
And she starts explaining to me

0:07:20.989,0:07:25.877
everything about DHA and EPA[br]you could possibly imagine.

0:07:26.266,0:07:29.504
She speaks very quickly,[br]goes all around in circles.

0:07:29.901,0:07:31.476
And when she finishes,

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no idea what to buy.

0:07:34.212,0:07:35.220
(Laughter)

0:07:35.847,0:07:38.397
So I turn to the girl behind the counter.

0:07:38.422,0:07:40.023
Now, the girl behind the counter,

0:07:40.048,0:07:42.506
I heard her before,[br]her English level is very low.

0:07:43.075,0:07:44.851
But when I walk over to her,

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this girl,

0:07:46.919,0:07:48.029
there's no fear.

0:07:48.054,0:07:50.085
In fact, she's just looking at me.

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You know that look?

0:07:51.246,0:07:53.122
Like...Yeah?[br]Okay...So, how?

0:07:53.147,0:07:54.269
(Laughter)

0:07:54.505,0:07:56.579
Yeah, I've been in Malaysia a long time.

0:07:56.604,0:07:58.118
(Laughter)

0:07:58.685,0:08:02.527
So, I go up to her and I explain[br]the problem, EPA and DHA.

0:08:02.552,0:08:04.231
She looks at me, she says,

0:08:04.819,0:08:06.248
"Okay, yeah. "

0:08:06.663,0:08:10.020
"Ah, EPA for heart."

0:08:12.081,0:08:14.224
"DHA for brain."

0:08:14.249,0:08:15.418
(Laughter)

0:08:17.000,0:08:18.648
"Your heart okay or not?"

0:08:18.673,0:08:20.195
(Laughter)

0:08:20.220,0:08:21.243
So I said,

0:08:22.138,0:08:23.188
"Yeah, yeah,"

0:08:23.213,0:08:26.634
I said, "my heart is really,[br]I think it's pretty good."

0:08:26.933,0:08:27.933
She says,

0:08:29.933,0:08:31.419
"Your brain okay or not?"

0:08:31.454,0:08:32.847
(Laughter)

0:08:33.650,0:08:38.616
I said, "No. No, my brain[br]is not as good as it used to be."

0:08:38.640,0:08:39.967
She looks and says,

0:08:40.150,0:08:43.001
"Okay lah, you take Omega DHA!"

0:08:43.028,0:08:44.384
(Laughter)

0:08:44.543,0:08:45.856
Problem solved, right?

0:08:45.881,0:08:48.852
So we've got two different[br]kinds of communicators.

0:08:48.877,0:08:51.284
We've got the one who's got a high level,

0:08:51.309,0:08:54.719
but totally focused on herself[br]and getting it right,

0:08:55.036,0:08:57.153
and therefore, very ineffective.

0:08:57.915,0:08:59.420
We've got another one,

0:08:59.925,0:09:00.956
low-level,

0:09:01.123,0:09:05.303
totally focused on the person[br]she's talking to and getting a result.

0:09:05.841,0:09:06.841
Effective.

0:09:06.866,0:09:08.485
And therein lies the difference.

0:09:10.385,0:09:15.445
Now, why is this distinction so important[br]not just to you, to your children,

0:09:15.445,0:09:19.142
but to the future of Malaysia[br]and countries like Malaysia?

0:09:19.167,0:09:21.855
And to answer that, let's take a look

0:09:21.855,0:09:26.052
at who actually is speaking English[br]in the world today, okay?

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So, if we looked at all of the English[br]conversations in the whole world,

0:09:31.251,0:09:34.206
taking place right now on planet Earth,

0:09:34.738,0:09:38.503
we would see that for every[br]native speaker, like me,

0:09:39.447,0:09:42.630
there are five non-native speakers.

0:09:44.154,0:09:48.710
And if we'd listen to every conversation[br]in English on planet Earth right now,

0:09:49.892,0:09:54.826
we would notice[br]that 96% of those conversations

0:09:55.740,0:09:58.205
involved non-native English speakers -

0:09:58.230,0:10:03.450
only 4% of those conversations[br]are native speaker to native speaker.

0:10:03.475,0:10:05.420
This is not my language anymore,

0:10:05.445,0:10:07.464
this language belongs to you.

0:10:07.996,0:10:10.604
It's not an art to be mastered;

0:10:10.900,0:10:14.258
it's just a tool to use to get a result.

0:10:14.283,0:10:19.222
And I want to give you a real-life example[br]of what English is today in the world,

0:10:19.247,0:10:20.788
real English today.

0:10:20.813,0:10:22.303
This is another true story.

0:10:24.225,0:10:26.951
I was at a barbecue a little while ago -

0:10:26.976,0:10:28.715
this was a barbecue for engineers,

0:10:28.740,0:10:31.123
engineers from all over the world.

0:10:31.504,0:10:33.581
And they were making hot dogs.

0:10:33.606,0:10:36.544
Some of the hot dogs[br]were regular hot dogs,

0:10:36.569,0:10:40.396
and some were these cheese hot dogs,[br]you know, with the cheese in the middle.

0:10:40.822,0:10:43.620
A French engineer is cooking the hot dogs,

0:10:43.774,0:10:45.997
and he turns to this Korean engineer,

0:10:45.998,0:10:50.103
and he says, "Would you like a hot dog?"

0:10:51.052,0:10:53.616
And the Korean guy says, "Yes, please!"

0:10:53.664,0:10:56.727
He says, "Do you want the cheese?"

0:10:57.444,0:10:59.609
And the Korean guy [br]looks around at the table,

0:10:59.612,0:11:02.961
he says, "I no see cheese."

0:11:03.450,0:11:07.920
The French guy says,[br]"The hot dog is contains the cheese."

0:11:07.945,0:11:09.333
(Laughter)

0:11:10.023,0:11:12.373
The Korean guy[br]doesn't understand him, right?

0:11:12.547,0:11:15.124
So the French engineer tries again.

0:11:16.265,0:11:21.858
"The hot dog is ... making[br]from ... with the cheese."

0:11:22.800,0:11:24.544
Korean guy still doesn't understand.

0:11:24.569,0:11:26.006
He tries again,

0:11:26.006,0:11:30.159
he says, "The hotdog is coming from -

0:11:30.184,0:11:32.300
No, the cheese is coming[br]from the hot dog."

0:11:32.325,0:11:33.325
(Laughter)

0:11:33.349,0:11:35.133
Korean guy cannot understand.

0:11:35.158,0:11:39.404
Now there's a Japanese engineer[br]who's been listening to this conversation,

0:11:39.429,0:11:41.447
turns to the Korean engineer

0:11:41.472,0:11:45.118
and he says, "Ah! Cheese ... integrator!"

0:11:45.350,0:11:46.554
(Laughter)

0:11:47.099,0:11:48.457
He understands, okay.

0:11:48.482,0:11:49.519
(Laughter)

0:11:49.544,0:11:50.781
Everybody understands.

0:11:50.936,0:11:53.700
So, this is what English is today.

0:11:53.725,0:11:57.332
It's just a tool to play[br]around with to get a result,

0:11:57.571,0:11:59.117
like a computer game.

0:12:01.265,0:12:06.586
Now, the challenge is that we know[br]in schools all around the world,

0:12:06.747,0:12:10.771
English is not really being taught[br]like it's a tool to play with.

0:12:11.176,0:12:14.497
It's still being taught[br]like it's an art to master.

0:12:14.522,0:12:19.740
And students are judged[br]more on correctness than on clarity.

0:12:22.370,0:12:27.401
Some of you might remember[br]the old comprehension exam in school.

0:12:27.426,0:12:29.003
Does everybody remember in school

0:12:29.028,0:12:32.839
when you'd get a question[br]about a text that you read,

0:12:32.864,0:12:35.298
you'd have to read[br]through some text, right?

0:12:35.323,0:12:39.685
And then answer a question[br]to show that you understood the text?

0:12:40.379,0:12:45.490
And this may have happened to you[br]that you showed you understood the text,

0:12:45.601,0:12:49.790
but you got a big X because you made[br]a little grammar mistake.

0:12:50.282,0:12:51.722
Like this student.

0:12:51.747,0:12:55.075
This student clearly[br]understood paragraph four.

0:12:55.208,0:12:57.222
But no, not correct!

0:12:57.247,0:13:01.523
Because he left the letter N[br]off the word "environment."

0:13:02.238,0:13:04.899
But in the real world, what would matter?

0:13:05.254,0:13:08.568
In the real world, what would matter is[br]did you understand the email,

0:13:08.572,0:13:13.188
or did you understand your customer[br]so that you can go ahead and take action?

0:13:15.034,0:13:17.360
Now, the problem that I see here,

0:13:18.050,0:13:19.121
over and over,

0:13:19.375,0:13:24.132
is that people take the attitude[br]they developed about English in school,

0:13:24.157,0:13:28.318
and they bring it into their adult life[br]and into their work.

0:13:30.098,0:13:31.971
And if you're in a stressful situation,

0:13:31.996,0:13:33.574
and you're having a conversation,

0:13:33.614,0:13:38.963
and you're trying to give a result [br]to someone and say it correctly,

0:13:39.110,0:13:42.688
your brain multi-tasks,[br]it cannot do two things at once.

0:13:42.720,0:13:45.329
And what I see is[br]the brain just shutting down.

0:13:45.803,0:13:50.271
And you may recognize these three symptoms[br]of the brain shutting down.

0:13:51.572,0:13:55.105
The first one is that your listening goes.

0:13:55.534,0:13:58.710
Someone is talking to you,[br]and you're so busy thinking

0:13:58.717,0:14:03.504
about how you're going to respond[br]and express yourself correctly,

0:14:03.529,0:14:05.994
you don't actually hear[br]what the other person said.

0:14:06.978,0:14:09.352
And I can see a lot[br]of nodding in the audience.

0:14:09.837,0:14:12.168
The second thing to go is your speaking.

0:14:12.684,0:14:14.320
Your mind sort of shuts down,

0:14:14.345,0:14:18.099
and that vocabulary you do know[br]just disappears,

0:14:18.124,0:14:19.988
and the words don't come out.

0:14:21.534,0:14:23.615
The third thing to go is your confidence.

0:14:24.022,0:14:26.037
The worst thing about this is

0:14:26.062,0:14:31.523
you may only be [un]confident because[br]you cannot express yourself clearly,

0:14:31.665,0:14:33.745
but to the person talking to you,

0:14:33.770,0:14:35.842
they may misunderstand this

0:14:35.842,0:14:40.887
as a lack of confidence[br]in your ability to do the job, to perform.

0:14:42.980,0:14:47.678
So if you want to speak English[br]like Faizal with that great confidence,

0:14:48.255,0:14:50.869
here's the one thing that you can do.

0:14:51.909,0:14:54.678
When you speak, don't focus on yourself.

0:14:55.416,0:14:59.472
Focus on the other person[br]and the result you want to achieve.

0:15:00.478,0:15:03.848
Imagine a next generation of Malaysians,

0:15:03.873,0:15:09.771
all with that wonderful confidence[br]in communication that Faizal has,

0:15:09.796,0:15:11.415
at any level of English.

0:15:12.523,0:15:13.825
Because let's remember

0:15:13.850,0:15:17.437
that English today[br]is not an art to be mastered,

0:15:17.437,0:15:21.236
it's just a tool to use to get a result.

0:15:21.451,0:15:24.411
And that tool belongs to you.

0:15:26.904,0:15:27.911
Thank you.

0:15:27.936,0:15:29.309
(Applause)