Language We Speak...

My db hubby is a Chinese and grew up speaking English. His understanding of Malay language is moderate but he always tries his best. My kids speak English to my maid and at times would try hard to speak simple Malay to her. Most of the time, I would be their translator. They learnt some basic in school but didn't really get to practise them at home or with friends. I have my own reason as to why I do not want them to have Malay tuition here in Penang. I know they will have problems in school when we move back to Singapore. And that is why I have started to teach them myself.

Here are some funny incidents that I recalled with regards to the language we speak... English.

* Hubby was driving when we saw a massive traffic jam on the other side of the road. We started to talk about it and why it happened. My maid asked,"Jalan itu selalu machet ya?" Hubby replied,"Ya. I was surprised that he knows what "machet" means. Then, suddenly, he turned to me and asked,"What was the question?".... hmm

* My brother was telling hubby about a murder case that happened last year in Singapore. The murderer had brutally killed his wife. Then my brother said,"His wife was jambu (pretty), seh. Tapi, laki dia punya muka pecah ah." My hubby,"Huh? Kenapa laki dia punya muka pecah? I thought the wife was brutally murdered." Translator to the rescue....I told my hubby,"What he meant was... the husband is ugly lah. Not pecah as in broken."

This one incident that happened to me will always be on my mind...
While waiting for hubby to buy roti prata (roti canai) I ordered drinks from a food stall. Told my elder son to wash his hands and told my youngest son to throw his lollipop. My youngest son started throwing tantrum when I took away his lollipop after he refused to listen to me. I consoled him.. and of course all this "conversations" were in English. No accents, no slang. Nada!

Next to our table, 2 female food stall workers were peeling onions and potatoes. I knew the owner. A nice lady and she sometimes speaks English to us. Anyway, one of the worker had a little girl with her and this girl was sitting on the table. Hubby came and we started to eat. One of the lady left the table and had left a knife just right behind the little girl. I was afraid that the girl might accidentally fall backwards and get hurt. So I quickly told the lady, about the knife, "Kak, ada pisau pat belakang anaknya tu." She took away the knife and continued her work; without even a word of thanks. Well... i don't really bother about that at all.

Then another woman came to her and they started to talk. I don't really know what the conversation was at first as I was feeding my son. After a while their voices started to get louder. The conversation went like this:-

Worker :- Ala, sedara depa pat Ostolia (Australia) pun tak ler pi cakap Om Putih (a relative of mine from Australia didn't even speaks English)
Woman :- Ya kah? hmm.. ni Anita Serawak pun tak lah cakap om putih pat tv. Laki dia pun mat saleh jugak. Dia pun cakap melayu.

Worker :- Tulah. Anita Serawak cakap melayu lah pat tv kan. Tak lah cakap om putih. Sedara depa dapat laki pun mat saleh tapi masih jugak cakap melayu. Dengan kito kito ni dia cakap melayu jugak. bla bla bla.. yada yada yada... bla bla bla....

It then struck me that they were actually talking about me. I am one person who would not just keep quiet when someone or anyone tries to be funny with me. But somehow, i remembered what my mom told me (cause she knows how hot-tempered her daughter is) that when you are in other people's country, please bite your tongue when you hear anything that doesn't sounds good to you. Don't ever confront them or scold them. Especially, when you are eating at their place. We just don't know what they can do to hurt us. Well... i had to keep my mouth shut but my heart was pounding fast. They simply didn't stop there.. kept talking about Anita Serawak and this relative that still speak Malay eventhough their husbands are English men.

All this while hubby was busy eating. Of course, he doesn't really bother nor understand what they were talking about. After we finished our food, I told my sons to wash their hands, this time with an accent (ntah accent London ke Australia ke asalkan ada accent sudah) and loudly (cause I got fed-up).

When I asked my hubby later if he knows what the two ladies were talking about. He said,"Yes. They were talking about Anita Serawak. hmm.....

Do you think Anita Serawak speaks Malay to her husband? Of course Anita Serawak speaks Malay on tv if it is a Malay program and speaks English if it's an English program. And of course when Kak Nita kita meet all this makcik makcik, she too will speak malay to them. I was only speaking in English to my family members and these people got bitchy for nothing.

Anyway, mastering English does not make one any less a Malay, Chinese or Indian. If this is the way these people think, wonder where the Government's efforts at encouraging the use of English goes to.... the drain, I hope not.