The first step is to assess your motive. While it is not my business to query
the purity of your motive, bear in mind that purer motive is the more powerful motivation in learning a language. For example, a desire to communicate Malay-speaking people is a motivation that lasts longer than...flirting.
Next, work on your qualities as a learner:
Adaptability-Learning Bahasa Malaysia implies learning the Malay and Malaysian culture which is not synonymous with monetary gain, prestige and super power. Do you have an open mind? Are you willing to show interest in the food, music and life-style of the Malaysians? can you accept them just the way they are?
Humility-Children have no problem with this quality. For an adult, this may be a challenge as the book How to Learn a Foreign Language points out:"When you are new to the language, you must be willing to speak like-and in many
respects, be treated like a child...You have to shed some of your own self- importance and your worries about dignity if you really want to make progress ."
That includes facing the inevitable prospect of other people laughing at your mistakes...just laugh along with them.
Reasonableness-Set reasonable goals for yourself. Don't compare your progress with that of others. Don't force yourself to read books claiming to teach Bahasa Malaysia but bore you stiff or you can never understand with your great IQ. If you don't have the potential to pass for a native speaker, concentrate on communicating clearly.
Patience-It can take a long time to learn Bahasa Malaysia. Adult learners have to put aside time from their busy schedules to study only to notice a lot of inconsistencies. Well, look at it this way, scholars are still sorting things out and everyone is still waiting.
Now, we can talk about the basic learning methods:
Set aside time to study-The good news is regular short periods of time to study is more effective than irregular large chunks of time. Take word lists with you and have a look a them whenever you have a few minutes to spare or
paste the list on your bathroom door.
Practise,practise,practise-You cannot learn to swim just by reading, you have to get into the water. So it is with learning Bahasa Malaysia. Interact with people whenever you can.
Put yourself in Malaysia-The best place to absorb the flavour of language, if your circumstances allow you to do so. If not, try to get radio, TV and video programmes in Bahasa Malaysia.
Caution: At times you maybe struggling along at the same level without much improvement. Don't give up. Reflect on your goals, progress and expectations. Don't be shy to ask friends to help and speak to you in Bahasa
Malaysia on a regular basis.
When you reach a stage where you can understand Malaysian jokes, you will know it's worth the effort.
English To Bahasa Malaysia
First, the inedible flowers. In Bahasa Malaysia, flowers on tyres does not mean the pretty part of a plant enveloped by delicate petals. When a traffic policeman warns you that there are "no flowers" on your tyres, he is actually saying the tyres are so badly worn that he himself cannot see the tread patterns anymore. Oh, oh! You are in trouble with the Malaysian traffic law.
At the end of a financial year, employees look forward to "flowers" from Malaysian bosses. Most probably, an extra month's bonus of salary is as beautiful as flowers in their eyes. The same thought applies to "flowers" given by the banks, in this case, it is the interest. The lucky worker who receives "flowers" from his boss and bank can afford to buy "fiery flowers". He ignites the fuse of a "fiery flower" to send it shooting high up into the sky where it blossoms into a grand display of fireworks.
As with other cultures, the female gender is considered a figurative flower in Bahasa Malaysia. A teenage girl is a "bud" who soon matures into "a flower in the garden" meaning she is single and available to be picked as a wife. If a man chooses her to be "the flower adorning" his hair, he marries her. By using beauty products flooding the Malaysian market, a married woman doesn't have to go out of shape after having children. She can still be "the flower" of a social gathering, that is, the fairest of them all.
A grand social event such as a Malay wedding calls for "assorted flowers". Various flowers are mixed with shredded leaves of pandanus, rough skinned lime and perfume in a small basket. This basket is placed in the nuptial chamber and smoked with incense. Imagine the fragrance that fills up the room. The newlyweds are flanked by replicas of coconut blossoms as they sit together on a dais fit for a king. A gift of "egg flower" is given to the guests to a Malay wedding. Traditionally, it is made by inserting the stalk of artificial flower to an egg. A modern way of making "egg flower" these days is to hang the egg in an attractive way on the stalk of a flower.
The flower with the strangest identity is the national flower of Malaysia, namely, the hibiscus. From here, we are talking about edible flowers. The Malays boiled roots of the white hibiscus to cure a range of diseases such as flu, eye and skin ailments. Chinese used hibiscus juice to colour their hairs while the Portuguese used it to colour their shoes. In view of its usefulness and elevated national status, it is strange there fore that "hibiscus" also refers to an immoral woman in Bahasa Malaysia!
Folks who love blue cheese should be able to understand Malaysians' attachment to their blue-colour rice salad and desserts. The food colouring is produced naturally from the "pea flower". It is of little wonder then, the mention of "pea flower" in Bahasa Malaysia makes one's mouth waters. To spice up the conclusion, cloves are not "just cloves" but the indispensable " clove flowers" in many Malay cuisines.
Wan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Language. Wan is an ordinary Malaysian who observes idiosyncrasies in Bahasa Malaysia and is currently uploading them to . Wan's top article generates over 4400 views. to your Favourites.
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