PETALING JAYA: There was a sombre mood in the Sim family household this weekend, as parents Edmund and Jennifer struggled to accept their returning daughter failed to pick up a charming British accent after years studying at the University of Sussex.

“I say to her, ‘girl you can talk English or not?’” the saddened Father reported, noting Alice the economics graduate said ‘lah’ at least 5 times in the Camry ride back from KLIA when he collected her.

Malaysian parents have been advised to maintain realistic expectations when sending children abroad to study, saying even after years attending UK colleges, there’s no guarantee their sons and daughters will return sounding like the Crawley family on Downton Abbey.

“It was a shock learning some Malaysians like Alice don’t automatically ‘catch’ local accents,” the mother remarked, “if we’d known, we might’ve risked sending her to New Zealand!”