55 replies to this topic

[Hang Li Po]

[LYY]

a grand messiness of language ... like English?

[LYY]

From the perspective of ROJAK people ...

Quote
Pada mulanya saya agak keberatan nak ulas kekecohan yang berpunca ekoran daripada kenyataan ketua UMNO bahagian Bukit Bendera, Pulau Pinang bernama Ahmad bin Ismail. Sama ada benar atau tidak apa yang didakwa dikatakan olehnya mengenai rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina bukan persoalannya kerana isu tersebut sudahpun merebak dan mengapi-apikan keadaan.
Jika tidak ditangani dengan cermat, teliti dan bijak, isu itu boleh ditangguk dalam air yang keruh oleh anasir-anasir yang ingin melihat negara ini hancur serta mengundang campur tangan kuasa asing. Dalam zaman dunia tanpa sempadan dan liputan meluas dan segera oleh media elektronik antarabangsa, apa yang berlaku di sesebuah negara itu tidak dapat disembunyi atau dinafikan.
Isu pokok yang dibangkitkan oleh Ahmad Ismail membabitkan persoalan “menumpang” iaitu rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina adalah penumpang di negara ini. Beliau menjelaskan bahawa ia merujuk kepada zaman pra-Merdeka. Bagaimanapun, sensitiviti rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina telah terguris.
Saya tidak mengenali secara peribadi Ahmad Ismail, tetapi kenal agak rapat dengan Allahyarham abangnya, Abdul Rahim Ismail, pemilik Syarikat Pembinaan Rahim yang pada satu ketika dahulu agak terkenal sebagai sebuah firma pembinaan Bumiputera yang unggul di Pulau Pinang. Saya tidak tahu apa dah jadi dengan syarikat itu selepas Abdul Rahim meninggal dunia.
Secara peribadi, saya tidak setuju dengan apa yang didakwa dikata oleh Ahmad Ismail atas beberapa sebab.
Bagi saya, hampir 90 peratus rakyat Malaysia, khususnya di Semenanjung, adalah pendatang dan kita semua sebenarnya menumpang hidup di bumi Allah. Kita bukan pemilik kekal tetapi hanya menumpang.
Sebagai contoh, saya sendiri adalah keturunan pendatang yang menumpang hidup di bumi bertuah ini. Datuk nenek di sebelah bapa saya berhijrah dari Makkah dan dari Brunei ke sini manakala di sebelah ibu pula dari Hadhramut, Yaman. Kami adalah pendatang dan penumpang sama seperti hampir semua penduduk negara ini khususnya di Pulau Pinang.
Bagi Ahmad Ismail, dia juga datang dari keluarga pendatang dan menumpang hidup di negara ini. Ahmad Ismail tidak boleh menafikan hakikat bahawa datuk neneknya adalah pendatang dari India untuk menerokai penghidupan yang lebih baik dan selesa di bumi bertuah ini.
Perdana Menteri Abdullah bin Ahmad juga tergolong dalam kategori yang sama. Datuknya di sebelah ibu adalah pendatang dari wilayah Guandong, China. Pendek kata, datuk Pak Lah iaitu bapa Allahyarhamah Kailan bernama Hassan Salleh atau Hah Su Chiang adalah seorang pendatang. Beliau berhijrah ke Tanah Melayu dari wilayah Guandong (Kwantung) pada pertengahan abad ke-19 dan menetap di Bayan Lepas sebagai pekebun getah, pesawah padi dan kemudian saudagar intan berlian.
Najib Tun Razak, Timbalan PM juga berasal daripada keluarga pendatang iaitu dari Sulawesi, Indonesia atau lebih senang disebut orang Bugis manakala sepupunya Hishamudin Hussein tidak terlepas daripada darah keturunan Turki.
Datuk nenek mantan PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad juga pendatang dari Kerala, India manakala ibu Almarhum Tunku Abul Rahman berasal dari negeri Siam (Thailand).
Kesultanan Melayu Melaka pun dibuka oleh orang pendatang dari Sumatra bernama Parameswara, seorang anak raja atau bangsawan beragama Hindu.
Dalam sejarah kesultanan Melayu, kita dapati ada yang ditubuh oleh pendatang dari Bugis dan ada pula dari Hadhramut selain dari Minangkabau.
Hampir semua orang Melayu di sini berasal dari luar Tanah Melayu tetapi diiktiraf sebagai “bangsa Melayu” oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Kita adalah “Melayu mengikut takrifan Perlembagaan” iaitu beragama Islam, mengamalkan adat resam Melayu dan bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu. Malangnya, bahasa Melayu nampaknya dimatikan oleh orang Melayu (UMNO) sendiri apabila dinamakan sebagai bahasa Malaysia.
Oleh itu, orang Arab seperti Syed Hamid Albar dan saya, orang Aceh seperti Sanusi Junid, orang India seperti Kader Sheikh Fadzir dan Nor Mohamed Yakcop, orang Bugis seperti Najib, orang Minang seperti Rais Yatim, orang Jawa seperti Mohamad Rahmat dan yang lain seperti dari Madura, Pulau Boyan, Siam, Burma, Yunnan (China) dan selatan Filipina dengan mudah boleh diiktirf sebagai “Melayu”.
Mereka diterima sebagai orang Melayu tidak kira sama ada mereka bertutur bahasa Melayu atau tidak di rumah umpamanya si Arab berbahasa Arab, si Jawa berbahasa Jawa dan si Minang berbahasa Minang atupun si Mamak berbahasa Tamil.
Bahasa-bahasa yang disebut itu bukan bahasa Melayu dan jika dilihat dari sudut Perlembagaan Persekutuan, tidak boleh diterima atau diiktiraf sebagai bangsa Melayu. Walau bagaimanapun, atas kepentingan dan faktor politik, semuanya diterima sebagai Melayu dan Bumiputera.
Oleh itu, adalah tidak adil untuk menuding jari kepada orang Cina yang juga kaum pendatang sama seperti orang Arab, India, Aceh, Minang, Batak, Mandailing, Jawa, Madura mahupun Bugis, sebagai menumpang di negeri ini. Kita tidak boleh menafikan bahawa sebilangan besar datuk nenek orang Cina telah berhijrah ke negeri ini semasa Kesultanan Melayu Melaka, bahkan kesultanan-kesultan an terdahulu di Kedah mahupun Terengganu dan Kelantan serta semasa Francis Light berjaya menipu Sultan Kedah untuk menduduki Pulau Pinang pada 1786.
Kita adalah kaum pendatang yang menumpang hidup di negeri ini. Golongan yang boleh diiktiraf sebagai orang asal atau anak bumi tulen adalah mereka yang kita kenali sebagai Negrito, Jakun, Semang, Jahut, Orang Laut, Orang Darat, Senoi dan suku kaum masyarakat Asli lain yang masih menjadi penghuni belantara.
Kita tidak harus lupa akan sumbangan dan pengorbanan semua kaum dan suku kaum untuk membangunkan Malaysia sama ada dari sudut ekonomi, kemasyarakatan, keselamatan dan yang paling penting kesepakatan dan perpaduan. Semua orang yang kena dan seharusnya membayar cukai, berbuat demikian tanpa mengira kaum atau asal keturunan, sama ada pendatang atau penumpang.

[LYY]

Messiness (kerojakan) of Malay language ... can be traced from the messiness (kerojakan) of her people ...

Ahmad Ismail ... Indian descendant
Datuk Pak Lah ... Hah Su Chiang from Guandong
Najib Tun Razak ... Sulawesi
Hishamudin Hussein ... Turks descendant
Dr Mahathir Mohamad ... descendant of Kerala, India
Tunku Abul Rahman ... Siamese bloodline
Parameswara ... Hindu from Sumatra
Syed Hamid Albar ... Arabic descendant
Sanusi Junid ... from Aceh
Kader Sheikh Fadzir ... Indian descendant
Nor Mohamed Yakcop ... Indian descendant
Rais Yatim ... from Minang
Mohamad Rahmat ... from Jawa

[LYY]

Not forgotting, Hang Tuah ... Hang Jebat ... and Hang Li Po, the hidden truth is they are from Yunnan, sent by the Ming's Court to help Malacca against Siamese attack.

[LYY]

Borrowed Words


The Malay language has many words borrowed from Arabic (mainly religious terms), Hindustani, Sanskrit, Tamil, Persian, Portuguese, Dutch, certain Chinese dialects and more recently, English (in particular many scientific and technological terms). Some examples follow:

* aksi - action (from Dutch actie)
* almari - cupboard (from Portuguese armário)
* anggur - grape (from Persian انگور/angur)
* bahasa - language (from Sanskrit bhāshā)
* bandar - town (from Persian بندر/bandr)
* bangku - stool (from Portuguese banco)
* bendera - flag (from Portuguese bandeira)
* bihun - rice vermicelli (from Hokkien bi-hun)
* biola - violin (from Portuguese viola)
* biskut - biscuit (from English)
* bomba - fire brigade (from Portuguese bomba, "pump", or bombeiro, "fireman", lit. "pumper")
* boneka - doll (from Portuguese boneca)
* buat - do (from Sanskrit wuat)
* buku - book (from Dutch boek)
* bumi - earth (from Sanskrit bhumi)
* cawan - cup (from Mandarin cháwǎn)
* dakwah - sermon (from Arabic da3wah)
* dewan - hall (from Persian دیوان/diwan)
* duka - sadness (from Sanskrit duhkha)
* dunia - world (from Arabic dunyā)
* falsafah - philosophy (from Arabic falsafah)
* gandum - wheat (from Persian گندمGandm)
* garfu - fork (from Portuguese garfo)
* gereja - church (from Portuguese igreja)
* gratis - for free (from Portuguese)
* guru - teacher (from Sanskrit)
* had - limit (from Arabic hadd)
* huruf - word character/letter (from Arabic ḥurūf)
* ini - this (from Persian این)
* jawab - to answer (from Arabic jawā
* jendela - window (from Portuguese janela)
* Khamis - Thursday (Arabic al-khamis)
* kamus - dictionary (from Arabic qāmūs)
* kapal - ship (from Tamil kappal)
* katil - bed (from Tamil kattil)
* kaunter - counter or desk (from English)
* keju - cheese (from Portuguese queijo)
* kemeja - shirt (from Portuguese camisa)
* kepala - head (from Sanskrit kapala "skull")
* kereta - carriage, car (from Portuguese carreta)
* komputer - computer (from English)
* kongsi - share (from Hokkien kong-si 公司)
* kuda - horse (from Hindustani kudh)
* kurma - date (from Persian خرما/Khurma)
* limau - lemon/orange (from Portuguese limão "lemon")
* maaf - sorry (from Hindustani māf "forgiveness")/(from Arabic Ma3fu
* maha - great (from Sanskrit)
* makmal - laboratory Arabic
* mangga - mango (from Portuguese manga)
* manusia - human being (from Sanskrit manuṣya)
* mentega - butter (from Portuguese manteiga)
* mee/mi - noodles (from Hokkien miᴺ)
* meja - table (from Portuguese mesa)
* misai - moustache (from Tamil meesai)
* miskin - poor (from Arabic miskiin)
* muflis - bankrupt (from Arabic muflis)
* nujum - astrologer (from Arabic al-nujum)
* nanas/nenas - pineapple (from Portuguese or Arabic ananás)
* paderi - priest (Christian) (from Portuguese padre)
* pau - bun (from Hokkien pau 包)
* pesta - party (from Portuguese festa)
* pita - tape (from Portuguese fita)
* putera - prince (from Sanskrit putra "son")
* raja - king (from Sanskrit rāja)
* roda - wheel (from Portuguese roda)
* roti - bread (from Sanskrit roṭi)
* sabun - soap (from Arabic) sàbuun
* sains - science (from English)
* sama - same (from Sanskrit)
o sama-sama - together (derived from loanword sama via reduplication)
* sekolah - school (from Portuguese escola)
* sengsara - suffering (from Sanskrit saṃsara)
* sepatu - shoe (from Portuguese sapato)
* soldadu - soldier (from Portuguese soldado)
* syariah - Islamic law (from Arabic shāri`ah)
* syukur - thankful (from Arabic shukr)
* sistem - system (from English)
* suka - happiness (from Sanskrit sukha)
* tangki - tank (from Portuguese tanque)
* tauhu - beancurd (from Hokkien tao-hu)
* tarikh - date (from Arabic tārīkh)
* teh - tea (from Hokkien tɛ)
* teko - teapot (from Hokkien tɛ-ko)
* televisyen - television (from English)
* tuala - towel (from Portuguese toalha)
* tukar - to exchange (from Portuguese trocar)
* unta - camel (from Hindustani ūnṭ)
* utara - north (from Sanskrit uttara)
* waktu - time (from Arabic waqt)
* zirafah - giraffe (from Arabic zirāfah)


Some Malay words have been borrowed into English. See the list of words of Malay origin at Wiktionary, the free dictionary and Wikipedia's sister project.

Malay language has also heavily influenced the forms of colloquial English spoken in Malaysia (Manglish).

and hence the rojakness of her language ...

[sg_han]

It has been said that there are only a few pure Malay words of which some are Batu, Babi...This was what I read from somewhere

[Hang Li Po]

Manglish


Manglish (or sometimes Malglish or Mangled English) is the colloquial version of the English language as spoken in Malaysia and it is a portmanteau of the word Malay and English (also possibly Mandarin and English).

The vocabulary of Manglish consists of words originating from English, Malay, Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil, and to a lesser extent various other European languages, while Manglish syntax resembles southern varieties of Chinese. Also, elements of American and Australian slang have come through from imported television series.

The Malaysian Manglish is sometimes known as Rojak or Bahasa Rojak, but it differs from the Rojak language by the usage of English as the base language.

It is similar to Singlish.




Singlish


Singlish is a pidgin interlanguage native to Malaysia and Singapore. It is the first language of many younger uneducated Singaporeans, especially those whose parents do not share a native language or dialect, and is the second language of nearly all the rest of the country's residents due to the "Speak no dialect" campaign.

The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, Malay (mainly Bahasa Melayu rather than Indonesian), Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Tamil, Bengali and to a lesser extent various other European, Indic and Sinitic languages, while Singlish syntax resembles southern varieties of Chinese. Also, elements of American and Australian slang have come through from imported television series. To date, other Asian languages like Japanese, Korean and other lesser known Chinese dialects such as Shanghainese have also been incorporated into Singlish. Recently, due to the fact that Mandarin is taught to most Singaporean Chinese students in school, Mandarin words have also found their way into Singlish.

Singlish is closely related to Manglish of neighboring Malaysia.

The Singaporean government currently discourages the use of Singlish in favour of Singapore Standard English as it believes in the need for Singaporeans to be able to effectively communicate with the other English users in the world. The government runs the Speak Good English Movement to emphasise the point.

Edited by Hang Li Po, 14 September 2008 - 11:37 PM.

[Hang Li Po]

Software & Jawi Converter


http://www.gtitec.com.my/jawi.htm

http://www.doktorjawi.com/

http://homepage3.nif...y/index-en.html

http://www.ejawi.net/converter.php

http://www.al-azim.com/masjid/jawi.htm

Edited by Hang Li Po, 16 September 2008 - 08:15 AM.

[Hang Li Po]

How To Learn Bahasa Malaysia?



By Wan Yee



Or rather, how to learn Bahasa Malaysia as a standard language instead of being contented speaking the very easy Creole Malay?

The first step is to assess your motive. While it is not my business to query the purity of your motive, bear in mind that purer motive is the more powerful motivation in learning a language. For example, a desire to communicate Malay-speaking people is a motivation that lasts longer than...flirting.

Next, work on your qualities as a learner:

Adaptability--Learning Bahasa Malaysia implies learning the Malay and Malaysian culture which is not synonymous with monetary gain, prestige and super power. Do you have an open mind? Are you willing to show interest in the food, music and life-style of the Malaysians? can you accept them just the way they are?

Humility--Children have no problem with this quality. For an adult, this may be a challenge as the book How to Learn a Foreign Language points out:"When you are new to the language, you must be willing to speak like-and in the respects, be treated like a child...You have to shed some of your own self- importance and your worries about dignity if you really want to make progress ."

That includes facing the inevitable prospect of other people laughing at your mistakes...just laugh along with them.

Reasonableness--Set reasonable goals for yourself. Don't compare your progress with that of others. Don't force yourself to read books claiming to teach Bahasa Malaysia but bore you stiff or you can never understand with your great IQ. If you don't have the potential to pass for a native speaker, concentrate on communicating clearly.

Patience--It can take a long time to learn Bahasa Malaysia. Adult learners have to put aside time from their busy schedules to study only to notice a lot of inconsistencies. Well, look at it this way, scholars are still sorting things out and everyone is still waiting.

Now, we can talk about the basic learning methods:

Set aside time to study-The good news is regular short periods of time to study is more effective than irregular large chunks of time. Take word lists with you and have a look a them whenever you have a few minutes to spare or paste the list on your bathroom door.

Practise, practise, practise--You cannot learn to swim just by reading, you have to get into the water. So it is with learning Bahasa Malaysia. Interact with people whenever you can.

Put yourself in Malaysia-The best place to absorb the flavour of language, if your circumstances allow you to do so. If not, try to get radio, TV and video programmes in Bahasa Malaysia.

Caution: At times you maybe struggling along at the same level without much improvement. Don't give up. Reflect on your goals, progress and expectations. Don't be shy to ask friends to help and speak to you in Bahasa Malaysia on a regular basis.

When you reach a stage where you can understand Malaysian jokes, you will know it's worth the effort.

Wan is an ordinary Malaysian who observes idiosyncrasies in Bahasa Malaysia and is currently uploading them to

where you can learn Bahasa Malaysia free online, please visit

http://www.bahasa-ma...-simple-fun.com

Edited by Hang Li Po, 10 October 2008 - 10:02 PM.

[BrandNewAsia]

Malay language... Definitely has many Sanskrit influence... though I suspect that most of them are Prakrit actually. Let's not forget that there are strong affinity between Sanskrit and any historical Prakrit-based dialects.

[Hang Li Po]

Malay among top four spoken languages





* Star Education Fair

Sunday March 15, 2009
Malay among top four spoken languages

THE Malay language is the fourth most widely-spoken language in the world, said Higher Education deputy minister Datuk Idris Harun.

He said efforts should now be made to initiate programmes that would uphold the status of the language and its people.

“These efforts are important in sustaining the Malay culture and its traditional heritage from the effects of global development,” he said, in a speech at the Academy of Malay Studies (APM) Festival, read out by the ministry’s deputy director-general Datuk Mohd Yusof Kassim at Universiti Malaya (UM) last week.

Malaysians, including the Malays, were becoming more western in their ways which was eroding Malay values and traditions.

He said organising an event like the APM festival involved the goodwill and assistance of other parties.

These programmes helped students cultivate organisational and leadership skills which he said, were in line with the government’s goal of producing versatile graduates.


- Bernama / The Star -

[sg_han]

Where is the evidence that Malay is the 4th most spoken langauge?

[mrclub]

Where is the evidence that Malay is the 4th most spoken langauge?

Malay language is the 4th most spoken language worldwidw ? dont make me laugh

wikipedia states that the 4th most spoken language worldwide is Hindi. Malay language is rank 35th

[sunflower1]

Indonesia's population is around 220+ millions peoples and Malaysia is around 30 millions. again not all races in malaysia can speaks malay. If Malay is 4th most spoken I wonder how high is Bahasa Indonesia.

Btw, I have the feeling that this is also a case about Malaysia counted Indonesian's culture as part of theirs. Example of the tari pendet, wayang kulit, batik disputes give me this negative thinking.