:: Cakap Pasal Melayu ::

:: Cakap Pasal Melayu ::


i bloghopped & came across someone's blog. she had one interestin entry...
sorry eh, anak i tak tau cakap melayu (sorry, my child doesn't noe how to speak Malay).
i thot it's a pretty interestin entry. i couldn't speak fluent malay back in pri skul. & sec days were not much better. durin jc was even worse. my A level malay oral was horrendous!! fearin i would fail the language cos i really thot i'd failed the oral exam only to turn out gettin A1 for the subject. cos i found out that oral was not included in the calculation of the marks. phew!! i can write but i can't speak. & i remember leavin the exam hall of every malay exam with a huge headache cos i've been flippin & flippin thru the dictionary for the essay exam. & tryin hard to translate english words to malay for the paper II.


who can i attribute this fault to? myself? maybe...
wen i was younger, english was the main medium used at home. malay words were inserted here & there. my granddaddy could speak in simple english.
& the maid, hardly speak to her unless necessary.
& it had to do with my circle of friends too. frinn was my bestest fren back in pri skul. we used to get scolded in malay class for speakin in english. & the number of malay students could be counted with ure fingers. of which, we weren't close to.
basically, she was my fren & i was her fren in malay class.
then came secondary skul which literally gave me a culture shock. came home & told my parents that there were so many malays in the class itself!! the number of malay students in my class in sec 1 was more than the total no. of malay students in my level wen i was in pri skul.
& the people i formed cliques with were multiracial which eliminated the use of mother tongue.
cikgu alamdin used to complain to my mum at every parent-teacher meetin that i wasn't speakin enuf of the language.
then came jc. long story but to keep the story short, i went back to cj partly cos i couldn't take the pressure from the malay teacher in tpjc. i could hav stayed but i refused the offer.
i felt more at home in cj. where malay was less stressful cos there were too many non-malays takin malay. eurasians, chinese, indians... cikgu was great too. i tried my best to speak the language cos i realised how important it was for me to pass my exams. only to hav the examiner laugh at me durin the A level oral exam for my wrong choice of words. it didn't help that i was the only malay student in class.


so wen did i pick up the language? i hav my frens in nus to thank for. nash & wana... who wen i ferz met, were laughin their asses off at me cos i was stumblin over my words. truthfully speakin, i was real uncomfortable wen i got together with them for the ferz time in nus. but i picked up the language & was usin aku-kau for the ferz time in my life! mum was shocked wen she heard our conversations... no doubt.


that's my life story of the use of malay...
people said it's a pity i picked up the language late. to me? i don't feel the difference.
maybe becos i've never appreciated the language in the ferz place. i got my distinctions in malay & that prob put my mum at ease. i don't even like half the people walkin down the street!
MnMs if u get my drift...
maybe cos i was brought up to see people regardless of their race.
but i've to thank nash & wana for bringin me back to my roots or at least half of it (haha!) for if not, this part of me would be forever lost in time...