The Citizen Language
Today in The Star, it was report that our National Language is to be identified as "Bahasa Malaysia". Tunku Abdul Rahman had suggested the name long ago as he intended to cultivate a Malaysian identity among the citizen. His suggestion was accepted and thus the name was used until 1986, when the then Minister of Education, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim changed it into "Bahasa Melayu" or Malay Language.
In my humble opinion, this is a good move, not only to remove the psychological and language barrier between the multi races in the country, but also to promote the language at an international level in a cunning way to the tourists. I mean, look at Japan and France, where many of the populace have minimum mastery of English. Any tourists visiting those countries would keep in mind to master some basic conversational phrases to help them survive their visit XD. We should learn from them.
When talking about languages (regardless of which language), we have to be aware that there are 3 major forms of language; formal, conversational, and literature. Formal language is the polite and proper version of the language, used mainly for official purposes. Conversational language is informal, while not in a proper form, it is acceptable and widely used in everyday conversation. This for of language usually includes slangs and terms borrowed (or stolen) from other languages.
In the case of Bahasa Malaysia, the formal for is also known as Bahasa Baku, and you can see its usage in the newsroom and Gerak Khas drama series (which for me is unnecessary, since you can't find people speaking in Bahasa Baku much in real life). The conversational form of Bahasa Malaysia is the more colourful version, with many borrowed and stolen words from not only foreign languages, but also slangs from other ethnics. Wa also call this form "Bahasa Pasar". The literature form of Bahasa Malaysia is rarely used, and the only functions that I can think of that MAYBE use this form of language are the Royal Ceremonies.
I have in my meager list of links a site for you to learn Bahasa Malaysia. In fact, soon I'll be collaborating with the webmaster to provide the audio files for pronunciation of the words. Ah, my angelic (!!) voice is going to be online, available for the net-citizen to listen to. What a thought haha. Do visit the site, and if possible, promote it to others ^_-.
In my humble opinion, this is a good move, not only to remove the psychological and language barrier between the multi races in the country, but also to promote the language at an international level in a cunning way to the tourists. I mean, look at Japan and France, where many of the populace have minimum mastery of English. Any tourists visiting those countries would keep in mind to master some basic conversational phrases to help them survive their visit XD. We should learn from them.
When talking about languages (regardless of which language), we have to be aware that there are 3 major forms of language; formal, conversational, and literature. Formal language is the polite and proper version of the language, used mainly for official purposes. Conversational language is informal, while not in a proper form, it is acceptable and widely used in everyday conversation. This for of language usually includes slangs and terms borrowed (or stolen) from other languages.
In the case of Bahasa Malaysia, the formal for is also known as Bahasa Baku, and you can see its usage in the newsroom and Gerak Khas drama series (which for me is unnecessary, since you can't find people speaking in Bahasa Baku much in real life). The conversational form of Bahasa Malaysia is the more colourful version, with many borrowed and stolen words from not only foreign languages, but also slangs from other ethnics. Wa also call this form "Bahasa Pasar". The literature form of Bahasa Malaysia is rarely used, and the only functions that I can think of that MAYBE use this form of language are the Royal Ceremonies.
I have in my meager list of links a site for you to learn Bahasa Malaysia. In fact, soon I'll be collaborating with the webmaster to provide the audio files for pronunciation of the words. Ah, my angelic (!!) voice is going to be online, available for the net-citizen to listen to. What a thought haha. Do visit the site, and if possible, promote it to others ^_-.
4 comments:
Common sense dictates that from the moment Malaysia became an independent nation and Bahasa Melayu became Malaysia's national language its name should automatically become Bahasa Malaysia since it now belongs to all Malaysians and no longer to the Malays alone. I don't consider the person who changed its name back to Bahasa Melayu to be a true Malaysian.
Well goh, there's a lot of issues revolving around the term and status of "Melayu" which I'd love to talk about, but would have to create a different blog for it. I don't want to make this positive blog a negative discussion field.
You are so right about being positive. Sorry I got a bit carried away in my remarks. We really need people like you to help us look at the positive side of things instead of taking the negative approach. Life is so much better when we have no negative feelings about others, right? Know what, I used to think like that too when I was younger. Guess one of the signs of getting old is being cynical. Yes I really am getting old :(
No Goh, you're not ^_^. Getting older comes with a lot of perks, you know. Well, for those who appreciates all the flavors that life has to offer. It comes with acknowledgment, that you've "been there, done that". It comes with recognition and wisdom. It comes with the desire to help others not make the same mistake, or not to feel the same pain as you did. It comes with the feeling of responsibility that you want to show people there's always a better, more effective ways of dealing with things. Being old is good, but remembering how you used to be when you're younger at the same time, makes you wiser.
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