Of languages
I attempted to speak only Malay (ideally standard Malay) for one full day on Monday. That was a complete failure because I retained my indonesian accent and didn't sound Malay at all, which defeated my goal.
Second attempt in the week was much much better. Forget about using formal Malay, lets just use the informal version. My friend Hanim was there to converse in Malay with me, but somehow, we always end up sounding like actresses in a cheesy Malaysian drama serial. We say stuff like (sentences might not be consecutive)-
"Aku rase sekarang, macam dah tak selesa bile duduk berhampiran bangunan Kejuruteraan Elektrikal dan Elektronik..."
"Lihat! Aku ade bawak bekalan dari rumah!"
"Maklumlah, sejak kebelakangan ini... ekonomi tak berape bagus. Jadi kite mesti cube jimat wang."
"Maksud kau? Kau keliru jugak?"
"Angin hari ni berdayu-dayu. Bersepoi-sepoi bahasa. Kau setuju?"
"Aku tak berpuas hati, dengan penyiasatan yang dijalankan mengenai David Hartanto."
"Pada pendapat aku, penyiasatannye tak begitu... complete. I mean, tak begitu tuntas."
I don't even know if 'tuntas' is standard Malay or not, actually. Doesn't matter what the above sentences mean, but WHY is it that every conversation in Malay has to naturally turn into something dramatic and OTT? I can't really explain this in writing. You need to understand Malay and then hear how I sound like when I say these sentences. The intonations, facial expressions... everything becomes a joke when speaking about a serious issue in Malay.
That's not to say that the language is a joke. But maybe because it's supposed to be a very poetic and polite language, that I'm not able to converse in it informally without sounding dramatic and pompous. Yes, pompous. Each time I come up with a flashy malay word, my friend will be all "Woaaah!!"-ish and make me feel as if I had recited a self-penned sonnet.
Some of the most difficult parts for me was to not say the word 'emang' (which is everywhere in indo speech) and also to not lapse into the indo accent. And it was absolute torture for me to keep from throwing in French words or phrases into my conversation. I need more Malay friends or something. GFF, I need to quit hanging out with you. LULZ.
Anyway, look at this, y'all! I met Richard Gere in school:
Okay lah, I'm just dreaming. I have a lot of things on my mind, and not exceedingly sober at the moment, au fait. Alors, pardon this jumble of shiz. I wonder what language I speak when I'm drunk. What languages can you speak?
The Nashty
- Nashe^
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28 comments:
Woooah. I refreshed your page and a new post came out. Hahaz.
I was laughing at your sepoi-sepoi bahasa! I can speak only english and malay. Pls dont call me pathetic.
aku bisa omong dlm bahasa indo.
i can speak english.
hablo español.
saya boleh bertutur dalam bahasa melayu juga kalau awak mahu.
@ flashman: At least you're not monolingual. Haha. =)
@ putra: Percayalah, saya tidak mahu. Saya lebih suka kalau awak (AWAK OR WHAT) bertutur dalam bahasa indonesia. S'il te plait.
If u really must know, nash, you speak in bhs indo when you're high. As in, full blown indo. Either that or really girly english.
-RD
Je peux parler anglais et francais.
My mum is quebecoise but I can only speak a bit of french! I'm learning Level 1 german now. I find it so cool that you can understand so many languages! Is malay and indonesian somewhat the same?
America sucks... at least when it comes to languages.. most people speak only ENglish! Tonal languages and latin based languages are totally different so congrats for learning both.
I love malay, funny I know but greaaaaaaaaaaat!
ahahah malay! speaking a proper malay will only make me sound like as if i'm doing a pementasan or something lol.
i love my sarawakian language lol because i can mengutuk other people sesuka hati ahhah nah... i'm not that bad! xP i just think faster in sarawakian. ngah ha ha.
My native language is Bisaya which is not the official language (Tagalog) in the Philippines. I can understand Tagalog but whenever I speak the language, it's just off. People would notice that it's not my native tongue. And I don't try to exert much effort because most, nowadays, are injecting English in every sentence. Say, Taglish or Bislish, lol.
@ Rayan: Really? Vivi said I go all whiny English. WTF is girly english?! XD
@ Heloise: Wow, I always joked around in my French class saying I'm Quebecoise. Anyway, Malay is indeed very similar to indo. Basically the same language, but with different vocabulary; and each has somewhat their own accent, too.
@ Slop: That's why I think it's great that Obama is encouraging Americans to learn Spanish. At least then they won't be caught up in their own little world.
@ Lolita: HAHAHAHA. Are you mother serious?? LOL!! Most of us definitely don't share your view. XD
@ Stiletto: I don't think I've heard the word 'pementasan' in like fifty years. Hah! I spoke Malay with my friends when I was at the french school so I could gossip about the french kids. ^^
@ Amor: Aaah. It's cool that you speak Bisaya. There are too many English-injected languages nowadays. Singlish, Manglish, Taglish...and don't get me started on the pidgins.
sorry nashty but between the two, i think i like the indo-speaking you better. your malay is just hilarious.
I'd have to say I'm in the same boat with Amor. My native language is also Bisaya bu the official national language of the Philippines is Tagalog. Whenever I speak Tagalog it sounds funny. So I pretty much speak Bisaya or english. I learned how to speak a little Spanish. I took spanish classes for a year and a half. and now my mom's trying to teach me to speak chinese, specifically Cantonese. But it's too hard.
I'm impressed at your ability to speak more than 2 languages. I myself can understand a bit of espanol and a few russian greetings but am fluent only in english and Portuguese. i find it quite a struggle with these 2 already,maybe i'm just not that good in laguages.
Richard gere my foot! Quit trying to trick me.
Tagalog, English and a bit of malay and some hawaiian basic words for me!My drunk language? English, no doubt. Even have it on video. XD
@ frenchette: I can't really decide, but thanks for telling me what you like. XD
@ Chinky: Your mom's Cantonese? Woah, it'll be a feat if you can learn to speak it this late in your life!
@ Ortega: Uh huh, it's not something you can force, but keep trying! :))
@ Izan: Glad to know you're not monolingual. Stop your hawaiian fetish, dude! LMAO
English motherfucker, I speak it. That's about it.
@ Wu: You sad monolingual. ^^
Malay is better than my own language. I have a bad understanding in languages. though Malay almost resembles with Indonesian languages, I barely understand the conversation you stated there. i'm so stupid.
Hi again. I was at work earlier today and there's this Filipino lady who is a Japayuki (filipina who works as a dancer in japan or could be a prostitute in japan) anyways...I was talking to her in our native language and she and also talked to her in english. And she was like..."ummm, can you talk to my sister instead because I know so many languages that i get them confused and cannot understand anymore what you are saying." WTF! lols...anyway...I remembered this post of yours and thought I would share it with you
You know you're an indo at heart when you spell "indo" without a capital i.
-RD
@ Nitya: No way! What's your native tongue? It must be like drastically different if you don't catch a drift of what I was saying!
@ Chinky: OMG Mel please please do share such stuff with me. I practically have to collect such stories and incidences since I'm doing a major in Linguistics. I so need more perspectives.
@ Rayan: Hah. Really, dude. Maybe I am then. =D
i only know english :( my first language was visayan (philippine dialect) and maybe i even knew tagalog. i'm not sure. but its lost now.
@ Floreta: That's really too bad, but I guess it was bound to happen for you, eh.
no, I'm pure indonesian and speak indonesian. like when you bought a dvd, most of the subtitle was in malay, i found it hard to understand the movie if the subtitle was in malay.
Nitya, I didn't think malay and indo were that much different to anyone. Hmmm... yours is a new perspective to me, really!
Hiyee... I have something else to share with you. I went to a really really boring symposium but the guest speaker had me chuckling in my seat. He didn't say anything interesting. It's the way he pronounced some stuff, like "Switsing (switching) off the lights" "Pork and Bens" and Mercedes Beans... LMAOF!
YAY thanks for that! I wonder what Pork and Bens are supposed to be... LOL!
Here's another one for ya nashe, I just heard someone say "open the lights"... It is supposed to be turn the lights on. That is pretty common around here in the philippines. So anyways...I hope I was able to give you insights about that for your linguistics...
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