courtesy calls
mat salleh sure akan sebut
nama Abu Bakar or Mohamad
jadi Abu Bakerrr... Muhammedd...
yang tak best tu.. kita kengkadang..
sibuk and takut sangat
nak pronounce nama orang salah
bersungguh kita nak sebut
nama or perkataan omputeh
dengan yang terbaik.. macam..
John, Michelle, Michael, Margaret, Jean, Dean,
Extraordinary, Climbing, Plumbing,
Milo, My-Loo.... etc
even mat salleh ni
being white man and so-called supremo-uno race
diaorang bukan kisah nak sebut betul pun
contoh.. kalau kat UAE ni
or even in BBC or CNN..
kalau announcement, emcee omputeh ni
kalau berita, newscaster omputeh tu
depa sebut slannggg
and tweenngggg mat salleh dia
nama-nama orang arab ni..
or nama tempat kat negeri pasir dua butir ni..
padahal ada tu.. dah duduk lama kat sini...
contoh lain..
yang paling aku tak suka
and sakit hati gak la
bila mat salleh ni.. has succeeded
in turning the pronunciation
of the UAE currency
DIRHAM.. jadi.. DIRAM...
(with silent H)..
betul, it is only courtesy
but, it's still NOT the right thing to do..
however, di Malaysia tanahair ku
lain pulak jadinya...
contoh.. kita ni kengkadang..
bila bercakap bahasa Melayu tu
yang Melayu tu.. bila bercakap melayu
dengan bangsa India or Cina
kita selalunya lebih cenderung untuk bercakap
menggunakan telo or loghat or cara
orang bangsa lain tu bercakap..
'lu sana pegi la'
'belakang kalu'
'sini taruk boleh ka'
dan macam macam lagi..
why not..
kita cakap je bahasa Melayu standard...
bila bercakap dengan diaorang..
maybe sebab kita baik and lembut hati kot..
heheheh...
ada satu kisah yang terjadi
di negara UAE tanahpasir ku ini...
***************
My friend's father named Anantharaman Subbaraman
arrived at the airport.
He ended up waiting for his visa
for about 2 hours for the authorities to call his name.
Finally, he got fed up and went to them
and asked why they haven't called his name yet.
They said that they have been calling him
for the last hour and a half
and were wondering why he hadn't responded!
The reason was made clear
when the immigration officer
pronounced his name as: 'Anotherman Superman'
*************
4 comments:
Dear katak,
Good posting.
I agree that orang putih are not particularly concerned about getting names right. They try their best but not to the extent we Malaysians would.
Bakar becomes backer, Kedah becomes Qeddah, dan perkataan yang sukar disebut oleh lidah orang putihs'.
What is also interesting to note is that orang putih give slightest regards to local title - whether its a Dato Seri or a Tan Sri or even plain Sri Subramaniam. They couldn't give a hoot...unless they have a vested interest in the party they are subjected to meet.
We in Malaysia are well versed or at least take the most amazing trip to learn about Duke's and Lords and title2 yang sewaktu dengannya.
Why is this?
We in Malaysia are a bit title crazy!! Professors in Malaysia make sure that they have their title and all the prefix-es before their names. A good example would be Professor Datuk Dr. Mahadzir Mohd. Khir (What he probably did not check is that in Academic circles - the title of Professor ceases the moment you step out of it).
In most Western countries (and most individuals)- they just have their names on their cards even if ther have a PhD and couple of Fellowship under their belt.
It is also because most westerners dont even think highly of Asians / non whites outside of thier own country.
I like your second comment on why orang Melayu stoop to the broken Malay they speak when they speak to the other races.
The heart is always pure.
I agree with you and its very true. I have found myself on the opposite end quite often. I would say that my Malay is good and can hold my own when I do converse In Malay.
Many a times when I've been 'spoken to' I will hear broken Malay - Its kind of patronizing but more often just irritating when people talk to you like this...
"You sana turruuus pigi, nampak itu kedai, kiri pusing. itu belakang ada itu kedai. Sana banyak parking"
Imagine the above statement by an elderly person to me on asking direction to a shop.
I was more amused / irritated by the statement then anything.
I guess because orang Melayu are lembut hati. No doubt about that but I guess its also because of assumptions made.
1 - that the other race do not speak proper Malay
2 - that the other race would not understand spoken Malay
3 - that the person who does not look like a Malay must not be a Malay and as such might probably cant speak Malay.
But what takes the cake - I will relate to you one of the many encounters that I had. This particular one is a classic and it still occurs to me from from time to time. Every time I try to buy rendang daging at a Nasi Lemak stall I will be reminded that is lembu. Probably they thought that - I was a Hindu. While it could be annoying but what needs to be understood is their underlying reason for doing so - their sense of conciousness.
Many of the Hindu based shops who run Nasi Kandar shops in KL are the opposite - conciousness is the last thing on their mind. Many wants to ride on the 'mamak concept' even if it means fooling the Muslim clienteles.
Saya amat bersetuju dengan entry tuan tadi...
Susah nak tukar mentality org dan juga org kita sendiri... but everything starts from home...
ciao
ya ya saya pon setuju...
MAT
thank you
for your longggg comment
that could have been a posting of its own
:)
oit, bila nak sambung blogging da?
MOM
yup, it's difficult
but, not impossible
;)
BABY
setuju and amalkan tau
:)
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