Something Serious
Looked over Greybits' blog and found an interesting commentary on Opposition parties and parliament. Kudos my dear. As for me, I want to pick a bone with what our Dewan Rakyat speaker said about mixing Malay with English.
I haven’t been to parliament for a while so I don’t know how the MPs have been speaking lately. But from what I’ve seen before, either in person or on TV is that the MPs do tend to mix their Malay with English. Some, would ask permission from the speaker when they use English words by saying “Dengan izin speaker….”. I’ve heard Rafidah Aziz using that.
The way our elected representatives talk in parliament is exactly how many Malaysians talk in the real world. And I’m not just talking about how people speak in coffeeshops. Somewhere, out there, a this moment maybe, there’s a Datuk , Tan Sri, company CEO, professional , non-professional (just about anyone) who will be mixing English and Malay at a formal function.
Is this really detrimental to the Malay language, or are we seeing a new hybrid of Malay which is influenced by English?
WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS?: Language is dynamic entity which thrives on new influences.
Centuries ago, English, was heavily influenced by other languages- French, Latin, German, and many others (English was originally a Germanic language).
Hell, even the Malay word ‘amok’ crept into the lexicon.
Purists would argue that language usage should be strict – no foreign words please ,they might say. But flip through any foreign magazines in English and writers are constantly italicizing Latin, French or German words in their stories. Carpe diem, dude! Menage-a-trois, anyone? Hell, yeah, that’ll be uber-fun.
I’d like to think of Language as a living , breathing organism. It should be alive. We should allow it to thrive and expand. There should be new words created everyday.
I’m sure those new words actually started off as foreign words, but through the years people started accepting it and in the end, it’s considered a proper word.
All I’m saying is that people shouldn’t judge others for mixing languages.
Thus, I disagree when the speaker said Bahasa Melayu would be “sullied and its integrity affected” if people continued to intermingle it with English.
I do, however agree that it gets annoying when someone switches languages mid-sentence and only divert back like, 10 minutes later.
If I were a speaker in Dewan Rakyat, I’d want the MPs to use Bahasa Melayu as consistently as possible. You are, after all supposed to speak only Malay in Parliament as well as in court.
A note on juggling languages: The human brain was meant to accommodate many languages, I’m sure. How do you explain people who are multi-lingual? That reminds, me I should start taking up another language. I learnt French during university. How about Mandarin? At least I could then speak to my elderly neighbour.
Looked over Greybits' blog and found an interesting commentary on Opposition parties and parliament. Kudos my dear. As for me, I want to pick a bone with what our Dewan Rakyat speaker said about mixing Malay with English.
I haven’t been to parliament for a while so I don’t know how the MPs have been speaking lately. But from what I’ve seen before, either in person or on TV is that the MPs do tend to mix their Malay with English. Some, would ask permission from the speaker when they use English words by saying “Dengan izin speaker….”. I’ve heard Rafidah Aziz using that.
The way our elected representatives talk in parliament is exactly how many Malaysians talk in the real world. And I’m not just talking about how people speak in coffeeshops. Somewhere, out there, a this moment maybe, there’s a Datuk , Tan Sri, company CEO, professional , non-professional (just about anyone) who will be mixing English and Malay at a formal function.
Is this really detrimental to the Malay language, or are we seeing a new hybrid of Malay which is influenced by English?
WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS?: Language is dynamic entity which thrives on new influences. Centuries ago, English, was heavily influenced by other languages- French, Latin, German, and many others (English was originally a Germanic language).
Hell, even the Malay word ‘amok’ crept into the lexicon.
Purists would argue that language usage should be strict – no foreign words please ,they might say. But flip through any foreign magazines in English and writers are constantly italicizing Latin, French or German words in their stories. Carpe diem, dude! Menage-a-trois, anyone? Hell, yeah, that’ll be uber-fun.
I’d like to think of Language as a living , breathing organism. It should be alive. We should allow it to thrive and expand. There should be new words created everyday.
I’m sure those new words actually started off as foreign words, but through the years people started accepting it and in the end, it’s considered a proper word.
All I’m saying is that people shouldn’t judge others for mixing languages.
Thus, I disagree when the speaker said Bahasa Melayu would be “sullied and its integrity affected” if people continued to intermingle it with English.
I do, however agree that it gets annoying when someone switches languages mid-sentence and only divert back like, 10 minutes later.
If I were a speaker in Dewan Rakyat, I’d want the MPs to use Bahasa Melayu as consistently as possible. You are, after all supposed to speak only Malay in Parliament as well as in court.
A note on juggling languages: The human brain was meant to accommodate many languages, I’m sure. How do you explain people who are multi-lingual? That reminds, me I should start taking up another language. I learnt French during university. How about Mandarin? At least I could then speak to my elderly neighbour.
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