Waiting On The World To Change: Bahasa adalah perpaduan...

Assalaamualaikum...

I was on a Kiwanis field trip last month and as I sat alone, staring out the window, I saw a government board sign that said "Bahasa adalah Perpaduan". I couldn't agree more with that sign.

The Kiwanis day trip was a great learning experience. We went to a clay pottery farm in the morning ( I was telling my sis the story after I came back to JB but I was worn out. so I said warily to her with my eyes half opened "I went to a clay pottery farm. that made pots. out of clay." hahahha. after I heard myself and my sister gave me a weird look, both of us cracked up. hahaha), we went to Bukit Malawati, Taman Ikan Air Tawar, a rice paddy field, went to the irrigation site, a compost making place (forgot the name), visited a fishing village and we ended our day at Selangor River in Kampung Kuantan experiencing fireflies. Alhamdulillah, I learnt a lot and InsyaAllah I'll write a post on some of the things I learnt soon.

As usual I was the only Malay. I don't mind that but most of the others were mandarin speaking Chinese Malaysians and only a few of them bothered to try to talk English with me. And as the day progressed, only one person stuck by me and took the effort to make me feel comfortable, Wenji. I don't know much about her as we didn't have much time to talk to each other but she accompanied me to look for Halal food in the Chinese fishing village where the others had their dinner and I was to break my fast. She also walked with me throughout most of the trip as we visited one place to another and she even went as far as to give me a ride back to my auntie's afterwards. Honest, simple, fun to hang with and approachable, Wenji is a good friend and I look forward to seeing her during any other Kiwanis event =)

I'm also in a college full of Mandarin speaking people and in class terbawak-bawak lah Mandarin diorang sekali. They would ask questions in Mandarin and some of the lecturers would answer in Mandarin too meaning I would miss out some info in class. There was also an incident when I missed my mock exam because they made the announcement the week before in Mandarin =_=". I've brought the matter up with the college and they acknowledge that by right, students, lecturers, admin people, basicly everyone on campus should converse in English, but when they don't there's not much that the college can do.

Language can really be a barrier at times.

........

I was having dinner at Agnees with my family one friday evening. We eat there often because the food is quite good (especially the cheese naan), the surroundings comfortable and the service is better than most restaurants.

I had a tiring day of class in the morning and did errands and sorted out my 2nd year registration that afternoon, I wasn't in the cheeriest of moods. All i wanted was to lie in bed and have a good nap. But since my dad ajak makan sama-sama, off we went to Agnees.

We were regulars so we were greeted with a warm smile and the waiter directed us to a free table of 5. We sat, ordered our drinks and while the others were going through the menu for their main dish meal, I walked to the back of the restaurant where they had their selection of South Indian lauk-lauk.

Me: anae. (meaning 'brother' in tamil)
I called out to the man behind the food trays. He turned and smiled and nodded his head. I could tell he recognised me.

Me: sorre anae. ('rice, brother')

Anae: oh sorre ah.
He gave a grin and turned to scoop the rice for me onto the plate.

Me: oohhh. sorre kunjum anae ( 'less rice, brother')

Anae: kunjum?
He said as he looked at me with eyebrowsed raised and then to the plate, gesturing 'This little rice ah?'.

Me: Oh kunjum kunjum. ('less,less')
I said with hand movements asserting myself.

Anae: aik, kunjum lagi ke?
And he scooped more rice off my plate.

Me: ops, podum podum! ('oh enough, enough')

Anae: *jokingly sighs* haih. podum ah tanggachi? ('enough ah, sister?')

He said shaking his head turning forward to the trays of food facing me. A smile returned to his face and he continued to scoop the vegetables onto my plate. I only liked one of the vegetable dishes offered that day and i stopped him as he scooped me the other two vege dishes.

Me: oh, elei anae! ('oh, no brother')
I said waving my hands.

Anae: elei ah?
He asked in confirmation.

Me: oh elei, elei.
I said friendly.

We moved to the next section of food trays and it was time to pick some lauk. There was a lot of variety to choose from and i couldn't make up my mind, there were more dishes than usual. I looked back and forth from all of the dishes and asked what they type of meat it was.

Me: hmm. koli ah anae?.... hmmm. min?...hmm koli? (koli=chicken, min=fish)

I asked and he patiently layan-ed me. Other workers overheard me and they gave me smiles, nodds and some even looked from the kitchen. Other waiters passed by and acknowledged me talking in tamil.

waiter: vanakum tanggachi. (welcome, sister)
I recognised this waiter as he has served us before. I smiled and returned his greeting.

another waiter: nalairukiya tanggachi? (how are you, sister?)

Me: irukhan, anae =) (just fine, brother)

anotherrrr waiter: sappade ah tanggachi? yanna sappade?(eating here, sister? what are you having?)

Me: belum pilih lagi.
I replied in Malay because I didn't know how to in Tamil. He smiled and pointed out some of the dishes he liked. I listened tentively and finally decided to go with some mutton.

Me: adher anae.
I said warmly to the anae behind the trays. He smiled and served me my plate.

Anae: kari?

Me: oh dhal, nandri anae.

Anae: ah nandri, nandri =)

Me: hmm.karandi anae? (karandi=utensils)
I asked the waiter beside me.

waiter: ah, karandi. kejap2.
He scuffled to a side table and wrapped a spoon and fork with a tissue paper and passed it to me, giving a slight bow as he did. Still smiling all the way. He followed me to my seat and pulled my chair for me as i had my hands full.

Me: ah, romba nandri anae.
I thanked him and he nodded, both of us smiling. It was infectious =)

I sat down feeling energised and happy. throughout the meal, other waiters tegur me and asked if i wanted any extras or if the food was good. I left feeling ready for life as if i just woke up in the morning and the tiredness i felt before disappeared.

Language can really brighten people up and bring people together.

"O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another." Surah al-Hujurat, ayat 13.

Whether you are trying to improve your proficiency of your mother tongue (Malay in my case), maintain and practice your 2nd language (english), learn a third language (taking mandarin classes now!) or learning a few words of another language, cukup-cukup untuk order makanan sahaja (my tamil), embrace the beauty of language.

Language is one of the key factors to unity and understanding.