bakedbean

Me neither, but I enjoy "having a go". Jack of all trades, master of none.

stranded traveller

Don't worry I will be your teacher with no chargers...within 1 month, guarantee you can speak lah

stranded traveller

You might right bakedbeanSo, early correction Sawadi-kar...khap?

just wanna sharing something with you here, actually learning others languages always am facsinating about,not much...at least I can speak in general like how are you- good morning-good night-and some love words thingsdon't laugh

so far I have a few words that I confident to say if this people around me,
Arabic, Italian, Thais..off course English

how about you?

bakedbean

No... leave off the khap completely unless you are a man

My only fluent language is English I'm afraid. Did French for years at school and never could master it. Bits and pieces of Thai and German. My Greek was quite good at one time, but forget most of it now. Having a little go at Malay. I think it'll be useful here.

stranded traveller

So you are Greek bean?

bakedbean

No I am an English bean

But I thought you said you were local? I'm sure you must speak some of the local languages. C'mon... don't be shy.

stranded traveller

I'm not shy at all!

Apa khabar bakedbean? you remind me the movie "Nothing to lose"
was the guy name bakedbean...he's real funny

bakedbean

Khabar baik

Wonderful - now I've got someone to bombard with questions, heh heh.

Tell me.... when you put a kah on the end of a word - is this to make it a question?

I mean....... Mana = where

but if you say Di Manakah = Where is/are?

And noticed the same with Ada and Adakah. Have I got this right?

So you speak Malay - brilliant. Any other of the local languages? I've noticed that most local Malaysians seems to speak quite a few languages.

stranded traveller

Bakedbean,

We not really using -Dimanakah-its sound serious way..we normaly said -Mana lah? -mean is where? we made in easy way to pronounce..and simple

always LAH..in many words,

are you ok? I'm ok lah! how are you lah? I'm ok lah!....very common in KL

jom pergi pasar-let's go to the market, ok lah

sudah makan? have you eat yet
we won't say in proper way example- kamu sudah makan? we make it simple as much we could...but malay language seem lazy one..

bakedbean

Oh thanks for that

I wondered if that might possibly be some "formal" Malay. So, if I said Di Manakah, people would think I'm a bit stuck up, heh heh.

Ya I know about the Lahs from my Singapore days.

the troubadour

So how is the Malay progressing,Bakedbean? Penang Island is far from the best place to learn.

If you are serious,may i suggest that you pay a Malay person a few ringett for a few hours each week. You will progress in no time.

I lived many more years in France than Malaysia and found Malay far easier...maybe now though my French is considerably better but took double and more the work....

bakedbean

Malay is just one of many hobbies and it's going fine. Can eavesdrop a little bit now. Was able to tell a Malay in the Pos Office that they were queue jumping Saya pertama (I'm first) heh heh. Yeh I'm sure i could pay someone but I don't want a commitment right now (other things going on right now) and in any case so many people I can practice on for free :-) it's Judy a half serious hobby.

BTW referring to a previous posting re -kah. It's used for emphasis. Eg Di mana tandas... Equals... Where's the toilet?

Di manakah tandas .... Equals... WHERE is the toilet (like emergency) LOL

optimistic_jim

I love learning languages and have already started on Malay, only problem is that I'm probably learning the very formal stuff as previously pointed out in the kah, lah, posts. Paying someone local to learn the colloquial way sounds like a great idea once I land in MY. I guess the course I'm doing will help give me the grasp of the language then I should pick up the conversational colloquial stuff more quickly.

Only just completed the fist section on introductions and already getting a sense of the many ways to say the same thing! Saya juga, begitu; Saya gembira berkenalan dengan anda juga; Begitu juga dengan saya; I guess you just pick one and stick with it!

jonboy

I have found that it is not that I have been mis-understood when I ask for an item in a shop, it is that they do not have the exact item but may have a similar item and instead of disappointing me by saying they do not have the item originally asked for they proffer the alternative.
So I ask for a pair of shoes in a certain style, size 9 in brown and when they are brought to me I see a pair of size 5 in black. I point this out to the assistant as being size 5 and not size 9 and is black in colour and not brown as I had requested. The assiastant replies "that is correct sir".

The point being, that I have not been told that they do not have, what I want, as that would be like saying "No" to a customer and therefore lose the customer and lose "face" into the bargain.
Very frustrating for us westeners who like a direct answer but supposedly "face" saving for all concerned.
Of course I may be wrong, it is just my interpretation

Best reards

jonboy

bakedbean

That's funny jonboy. I had a similar experience when buying a bra recently. Found one I liked, asked for another and got offered one 2 sizes larger. Tried very hard not to laugh