Ahmad talking to the owner of a computer shop in Low Yat Plaza:
Ahmad: Hello uncle, how much ah this com?
Uncle: 2000 dollar. Price very cheap one?
Ahmad: Cheap meh?
Chong talking to his friend, Ali at a bus stop:
Chong: Ali, lu mau naik teksi ka mau naik bas
Ali: Naik bas senang sikit maa..
Aminah talking to her friend Natasha(eurasian)
Aminah: Natasha, you nak drive ke to KLCC
Natasha: Of course, darling
Aminah: Maybe jam lah that area..
Aminah talking to her friend Husnita(Kelantanese)
Aminah: Awak nak belanje saye ke?
Husnita: Tak boleh ke?
Aminah: Boleh je...
Spot it yet? There seems to be an hierarchy in the power of accent; and as the conversations above proved, the most prominent accent is Malay-chinese, the second prominent accent: Malay-english followed by KL-malay and lastly Kelantanese-malay.
It becomes more than enough prove to stir this concoction into a ready to be eaten dish: malays are simply frail, bendable and culturally.....
Racial tolerance doesn't mean we should give up our persona and simply adapt in accordance to our surrounding.
I think it means we should have an understanding of our diverse culture and to unify such values are only possible by understanding them. We could indulge in other people's culture but at the same time, keep a keystone of our own.
In a simpler and more understandable context, this underlying message could be applied in our accents. Speak malay like we do with our family lah, and people should do the same, with a certain understanding of our diverse culture...
What do you think..
It's weird that this is a mild, light purple entry... well, that's life sometimes... light purple..
10 comments:
Personally, I don't think there should be generalisation here, because to each there are always personal preferences. To talk in a certain way or manner doesn't neccesarily mean that one is culturally lost or unsure of their identity. Most times, we don't know who we really are anyway.
Your examples above vary according to each person. If you're referring to those who purposely try to pull off diff accents to suit their conversation partner, aye, your reasoning would be accepted. However, it isn't the only one, and other reasons do not neccesarily mean the person is forsaking his Malayness.
As for me, my accent always changes because I feel comfortable when I do. I am perfectly aware of my identity, but the way I speak at home with my family cannot be the same towards my friends and lecturers, and vice versa.
I switch quite unconsciously; I do so out of habit. I've always spoken in a British accent with one of my best friends since we met, my American-accented friends influenced me with their talking and I feel completely out of place if I don't speak Manglish with my Chinese friends. The mood and tone of speaking differs. Sometimes you can only convey soemthing in Manglish that English could not.
"Where got mah? Aiyo, stop looking at that leng chai like dat, embarassing lor!"
I only enjoy full satisfaction with my lengluis if I talk like this. =)
I spoke my usual English during Ta'aruf and was thought to be a spoiled brat by ppl, so I spoke Malay til that perception changed before I switched back to English. Situations need compromise at times.
Sekian, wassalam.
I second lubna's comment.
"It becomes more than enough prove to stir this concoction into a ready to be eaten dish: malays are simply frail, bendable and culturally..... "
or simply malays are not proud of themselves?
people tend to pretend in order to be accepted. but i dont. i think its better to be urself and melantak if they want to accept you for who u are or not. if they dont, then, thats a pretty results because obviously they'r not worth u.
i only speak pure KL-bahasa melayu or simple english bit with british accent or rojak of both.
no matter who i am talking to, i prefer British accent than NZ's or Aussie's or AS's accent. no matter, i do to anyone, chinese ke, indian ke, malay ke, korean ke, US ke, japan ke, samoan ke, kiwi ke, maori ke, my BF ke..everybody deserves the same pieces of me.
one thing, I"M A TOTAL SUCK IN LANGUAGES! and i have a total ZERO idea how to chat with even our own different dialects eg kelantan la, terengganu la, kedah la(eja taught me some kedah words, but i dont give a damn, and she claimed me blurr! hampeh)! haha~ i intimidate and it turned out to be the biggest joke of the night *hang out at cafes at night*
generally, it's fun to me! but i've own personality and not to follow anybody! stubborn me!
new zealand slang ; "the best" sounds like "the beast". lol
okay, that was random.
-jannah
I dont think ppl's ability to change their accent is as important as the attitute when speaking a foreign one.
When it comes to the core reason on why we change our accent, THEN one would know about the udang sebalik mee.
If a person can change his/her accent rather casually without feeling embarassed of their most comfortable accent or their native accent, i think the phrase bendable of frail cannot be applied to them.
well..people do say that malays have the 'lidah lembut'..they can easily pick up any accents. no comment on that tho. i have no idea what my accent is..born in the States, went to school in the UK. whatever. so what's the deal with one's accent?
in mesia, i think accents dun really matter. what frustrates me is how people judge u when u speak in English. like sumtimes, when people ask u in BM, but u jawab balik in BI, u know, casually, naturally blurting out words in Eng, and they start to think that ur snobbish, blagak whatever; especially when u have an accent.
n there are also those yg pandang rendah kat org yg speak in full malay. apa mau jadik sama orang zmn skarng??
p/s: my fren cerita kat tmpt dia (IPTA) kalau bdak yg speak in English, they will be called 'The Snobs' duh..tak ke Snob tuh English word? *roll eyes*
so really... it shouldn't matter.. it all depends on your intention when using an accent.. to adapt to a situation~ POSSIBLY, to speak comfortably~ maybe but NOT to categorize ppl.. or in other words, judging them based on their accent and appearance..
So next time lah kan rhyn, just give them the pleasure of sin... and say "Whatever...you ppl will never learn.."
yerp. agree with whoever yg cakap the ability to adapt is not "frail" bendable culture.
by right it is FAR from bendable, it's the ability to change according to the situation for the comfort, and not many people can do that.
being raised in the us, i do speak with an american accent. and having the experience of living in terengganu for more than 10 years thought me a lot about "ability to adapt".
eg: some terengganu or kelantan ppl CANNOT really change their tone/slang when they speak with the "outsiders". this is when the ability to adapt is most important to avoid judgemental thoughts.
those chinese ppl actually WANT to adapt and change their tone to malay slang, they just CANT. it's not that they don't want, really. cuz everytime they try to use malay slang like "siot" or "lepak la" or whatnots it turn out funny. so diorang pun segan nak guna. unless a few chinese/indians yg mmg dah mix dgn malay since their childhood, then that's a diff story.
eg: i have a chindian friend who went to kolej tunku jaafar fr a child, and he speaks in excellent malay tone/slang. and i dont find the need to change my slang to chinese/indian accent when talking to him. i use the normal malay which i use with my family/malay friends.
and the pleasure of sin? to be judgemental is bad enough, let alone letting ppl having the pleasure of sin. tsk tsk afiq.
i need not defend myself because u undeniably skimmed your way through the comments..
It would be tad embarassing if i were to rephrase every misunderstood comments.. given your sarcastic approach on a friendly intelletual intercourse.
and i am amused on how you always seemed to misunderstood me. sarcasm? certainly not la afiq, swear. and that chatting session pun sama. sigh.
thanks for reminding me to reread the comments, it is very much inspiring.
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