Have you learnt Malay?
Jun 16th 2011, 2:49 am
#46
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Joined: Jan 2011
Location: Penang, Malaysia
Posts: 69
Re: Have you learnt Malay?
Me & Hubby speak some basic Malay and try out new sentences on our security guards in our apartment block as we go off for a stroll in the evenings - they love it!
They seem to appreciate we are trying!
They seem to appreciate we are trying!
Jun 16th 2011, 3:11 am
#47
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Joined: Feb 2009
Location: Far North Queensland
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Re: Have you learnt Malay?
Good for you 
It's nice to know a few basic phrases, isn't it.
It's nice to know a few basic phrases, isn't it.
Jun 16th 2011, 3:16 am
#48
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Joined: Oct 2008
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Re: Have you learnt Malay?
So different from learning a European language.
Last edited by the troubadour; Jun 16th 2011 at 3:18 am.
Jun 17th 2011, 9:26 pm
#49
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Joined: May 2011
Location: Mont Kiara
Posts: 33
Re: Have you learnt Malay?
I've now had a cultural briefing and about 20hrs of lessons under my belt, it's such a fun language and my teacher is from PJ and so much fun, I hope she is good representation of the people there, from what I hear I have a feeling she is 
It's good to hear that I will be able to practise it in KL and PJ and that the locals will have fun at my expense, my teacher does and has a good laugh!
Starting to get my head around some of the colloquialisms, they have soooo many words for the same thing though, it's confusing, however I it's the same in any language and I can often relate the subtle differences to English contextual differences, but I'm definitely better reading it than hearing it at the mo, takes me a while to figure out where words end and begin they talk so fast.
Anyhoo, even in my early stages I would urge anyone to give it a go, so much fun and as has been said, so they appear so accommodating why wouldn't you?
It's good to hear that I will be able to practise it in KL and PJ and that the locals will have fun at my expense, my teacher does and has a good laugh!
Starting to get my head around some of the colloquialisms, they have soooo many words for the same thing though, it's confusing, however I it's the same in any language and I can often relate the subtle differences to English contextual differences, but I'm definitely better reading it than hearing it at the mo, takes me a while to figure out where words end and begin they talk so fast.
Anyhoo, even in my early stages I would urge anyone to give it a go, so much fun and as has been said, so they appear so accommodating why wouldn't you?
Jun 18th 2011, 1:27 am
#50
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Re: Have you learnt Malay?
I take my hat off to you. I have never managed the language, other than order another beer or order a simple meal, and thats after 18 years off and on. I can count in Cantonese which is a help with negotiations, but other than that no go. You will have heaps of fun learning and all power to you.
Jun 18th 2011, 1:55 am
#51
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Joined: Feb 2009
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Re: Have you learnt Malay?
Yup well done Jim
Jun 18th 2011, 5:34 am
#52
Joined: Feb 2010
Location: Buraydah , Saudi Arabia
Posts: 2,863
Re: Have you learnt Malay?
I've now had a cultural briefing and about 20hrs of lessons under my belt, it's such a fun language and my teacher is from PJ and so much fun, I hope she is good representation of the people there, from what I hear I have a feeling she is
It's good to hear that I will be able to practise it in KL and PJ and that the locals will have fun at my expense, my teacher does and has a good laugh!
Starting to get my head around some of the colloquialisms, they have soooo many words for the same thing though, it's confusing, however I it's the same in any language and I can often relate the subtle differences to English contextual differences, but I'm definitely better reading it than hearing it at the mo, takes me a while to figure out where words end and begin they talk so fast.
Anyhoo, even in my early stages I would urge anyone to give it a go, so much fun and as has been said, so they appear so accommodating why wouldn't you?
It's good to hear that I will be able to practise it in KL and PJ and that the locals will have fun at my expense, my teacher does and has a good laugh!
Starting to get my head around some of the colloquialisms, they have soooo many words for the same thing though, it's confusing, however I it's the same in any language and I can often relate the subtle differences to English contextual differences, but I'm definitely better reading it than hearing it at the mo, takes me a while to figure out where words end and begin they talk so fast.
Anyhoo, even in my early stages I would urge anyone to give it a go, so much fun and as has been said, so they appear so accommodating why wouldn't you?
All part of the fun of learning another language.
So if you are in Thailand and someone asks you if you like eating shell then they are probably having a joke with you , or not as the case may be .
Jun 18th 2011, 6:17 am
#53
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Re: Have you learnt Malay?
Haha people love to take the Mickey. The first thing Cantonese tried to teach me was "hai", which has, like nearly all,Cantonese words, 7 unrelated meanings. So they get you to sa "Hi" as in a western greeting, then fall about laughing as the meaning sung that way in Cantonese is the same as Thai "clam". Maybe why they giggle when they see matt salleh's (mad sailors?) greeting each other.
Jun 18th 2011, 9:04 am
#54
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Joined: May 2011
Location: Mont Kiara
Posts: 33
Re: Have you learnt Malay?
Haha, love it! I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to tell of my language blunders!! I already managed to get the words besar (big) and bagus (good) mixed up, not too bad unless the context is talking about a woman!
My next session later today starts with Maafkan saya, which I think I'll be using quite a bit seeing as it means "Please excuse me"
My next session later today starts with Maafkan saya, which I think I'll be using quite a bit seeing as it means "Please excuse me"
Jun 21st 2011, 4:36 am
#55
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Joined: Apr 2011
Location: Penang
Posts: 92
Re: Have you learnt Malay?
When I arrived here I worked for a German company who had a worldwide policy of all employees must speak English so initially I rarely got exposed to Bahasa.
One thing you will learn quite quickly is the term 'Lah' can be put onto the end of many sentences; 'Going to the restoran lah'....etc
The other is the use of Manglish which is a combination of English & Bahasa that is quite commonly used.
One thing you will learn quite quickly is the term 'Lah' can be put onto the end of many sentences; 'Going to the restoran lah'....etc
The other is the use of Manglish which is a combination of English & Bahasa that is quite commonly used.
Jun 21st 2011, 8:54 pm
#56
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Joined: May 2011
Location: Mont Kiara
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Re: Have you learnt Malay?
Ya Encik Cat, I am fortunate to have a really good teacher who has enlightened me to the famous "lah", she even gave me an article called The Adorable Lah - Authentically Malaysian by Lee Su Kim, which is funny and educational at the same time!
As for Manglish, my teacher says that when we exchange a few text messages catching up between lessons (although I'm sure she's checking I'm revising!) that I sound just like one of her Malaysian friends, mixing up the English and Malay, thing is though it's not done on purpose, I only have limited Malay and so it's a case of I'll say in Malay what I know and around it fit in the odd Malay word or two!
Biggest thing I'm struggling with at the moment is the prefix and suffix stuff and general grammar, which isn't a major thing in everyday "street" talk, however we are covering this off in the next lesson on Thursday so I'm hoping it'll become less samar-samar (blurry)!
Looking forward to trying it out for real!
As for Manglish, my teacher says that when we exchange a few text messages catching up between lessons (although I'm sure she's checking I'm revising!) that I sound just like one of her Malaysian friends, mixing up the English and Malay, thing is though it's not done on purpose, I only have limited Malay and so it's a case of I'll say in Malay what I know and around it fit in the odd Malay word or two!
Biggest thing I'm struggling with at the moment is the prefix and suffix stuff and general grammar, which isn't a major thing in everyday "street" talk, however we are covering this off in the next lesson on Thursday so I'm hoping it'll become less samar-samar (blurry)!
Looking forward to trying it out for real!
Jun 22nd 2011, 5:42 am
#57
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Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2009
Location: Far North Queensland
Posts: 17,625
Re: Have you learnt Malay?
Sounds like you're romping away OJ.
Jun 22nd 2011, 5:49 am
#58
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Joined: Oct 2008
Location: Perth
Posts: 6,775
Re: Have you learnt Malay?
Ya Encik Cat, I am fortunate to have a really good teacher who has enlightened me to the famous "lah", she even gave me an article called The Adorable Lah - Authentically Malaysian by Lee Su Kim, which is funny and educational at the same time!
As for Manglish, my teacher says that when we exchange a few text messages catching up between lessons (although I'm sure she's checking I'm revising!) that I sound just like one of her Malaysian friends, mixing up the English and Malay, thing is though it's not done on purpose, I only have limited Malay and so it's a case of I'll say in Malay what I know and around it fit in the odd Malay word or two!
Biggest thing I'm struggling with at the moment is the prefix and suffix stuff and general grammar, which isn't a major thing in everyday "street" talk, however we are covering this off in the next lesson on Thursday so I'm hoping it'll become less samar-samar (blurry)!
Looking forward to trying it out for real!
As for Manglish, my teacher says that when we exchange a few text messages catching up between lessons (although I'm sure she's checking I'm revising!) that I sound just like one of her Malaysian friends, mixing up the English and Malay, thing is though it's not done on purpose, I only have limited Malay and so it's a case of I'll say in Malay what I know and around it fit in the odd Malay word or two!
Biggest thing I'm struggling with at the moment is the prefix and suffix stuff and general grammar, which isn't a major thing in everyday "street" talk, however we are covering this off in the next lesson on Thursday so I'm hoping it'll become less samar-samar (blurry)!
Looking forward to trying it out for real!
I used to sit in Malay stall and just talk to whoever was around. Write down what I didn't know or ask them to.
Malay is a rather rich language in idioisms as well.
Jul 7th 2011, 8:00 am
#59
Joined: Feb 2010
Location: Buraydah , Saudi Arabia
Posts: 2,863
Re: Have you learnt Malay?
Ha ha, you better get over to the Thai sub-forum 
I learnt a bit when I was living there. Forgive me correcting you, but I see you are female, so you must say Sawadi-kar. A man will say Sawadi-khap. I enjoyed learning it but the characters... whorrrr... and they don't all go left to right either. And after I discovered that they don't put gaps in between words, that finished it off for me. A bit too challenging for my senior brain 
Anyway best of luck with that. It's an interesting language and I'm sure your braincells function a little better than mine
How many languages do you speak, Stranded?
I learnt a bit when I was living there. Forgive me correcting you, but I see you are female, so you must say Sawadi-kar. A man will say Sawadi-khap. I enjoyed learning it but the characters... whorrrr... and they don't all go left to right either. And after I discovered that they don't put gaps in between words, that finished it off for me. A bit too challenging for my senior brain Anyway best of luck with that. It's an interesting language and I'm sure your braincells function a little better than mine How many languages do you speak, Stranded?
e
it's actually written something like this : o l ng r a n
then words can sort of spread from the middle. If we look at the word for call which sounds like riak or reeyak.
it's written a bit like this : ee
a r y k
you do get the hang of sort of looking for the word and when you have sufficient vocabulary it's not really that hard to see where one word ends and another begins. Still with 44 consonants and 32 vowels plus a few other things just to f@#$ you up it's not that easy.
Not as bad as Chinese though surely. I read somewhere that there were about 1000 characters !
Jul 7th 2011, 8:01 am
#60
Joined: Feb 2010
Location: Buraydah , Saudi Arabia
Posts: 2,863
Re: Have you learnt Malay?
Indeed it doesn't all go left to right. It can go forwards and backwards and up and down all in the same word. My reading is not great but I can do it. As I'll try and demonstrate. I don;t know how to switch to Thai on my computer and it takes ages to find the letters on the keyboard too. But if we look at the Thai word for school which sounds like longrian. long ree an.
e
it's actually written something like this : o l ng r a n
then words can sort of spread from the middle. If we look at the word for call which sounds like riak or reeyak.
it's written a bit like this : ee
a r y k
you do get the hang of sort of looking for the word and when you have sufficient vocabulary it's not really that hard to see where one word ends and another begins. Still with 44 consonants and 32 vowels plus a few other things just to f@#$ you up it's not that easy.
Not as bad as Chinese though surely. I read somewhere that there were about 1000 characters !
e
it's actually written something like this : o l ng r a n
then words can sort of spread from the middle. If we look at the word for call which sounds like riak or reeyak.
it's written a bit like this : ee
a r y k
you do get the hang of sort of looking for the word and when you have sufficient vocabulary it's not really that hard to see where one word ends and another begins. Still with 44 consonants and 32 vowels plus a few other things just to f@#$ you up it's not that easy.
Not as bad as Chinese though surely. I read somewhere that there were about 1000 characters !
