The World as We See It

A fellow Malaysian has a daughter who came over and played with my children. This girl was born in the UK and is 7 years old. When I spoke to her in Malay, she looked askance. I asked my friend whether his daughter knows Malay, to which he answered yes, and claimed she was just shy.

Later after she opened up a bit she said that she understands Malay but she just doesn’t know how to speak Malay. This is quite amazing considering the fact that her parents both speak Malay, at home, and to her. When she played with my children, they all spoke English.

When I was a child, my cousins were from Kuala Lumpur and they spoke different dialects compared to the northern part of Malaysia, i.e. Kedah. When they come over, it was both exciting and confusing to be talking to them. They were from a different universe, where people called bicycles “basikal”, instead of “gerek”. My parents were both Kedahan so I was raised in the same environment, linguistically, so my cousins are the weird ones, in my view.

Years then passed by and I continued my education in Kuala Lumpur, where people from various backgrounds came together. It was my turn to be the alien.

Going back to the girl and my children just now, I can only imagine what they see. To them, probably, I am speaking a language that is consolidated only at home, and spoken by the odd few. English is not only spoken by everyone, and including their parents, but everything online is in English. What is Malay but a language only your parents use? Only time will tell what their views are and will become.

Come back in a few years time.

Thank you for reading.