Hey all
I wonder if any of you still blog or reads this. But whatever I'll write anyway...
Just came back from Genting Malaysia and had a great holiday with my family. Genting was fun and a great tourist spot. Although Malaysia isn't far from Singapore the default language used in Malaysia is malay rather than english in Singapore.
I am a Singaporean who sadly cannot count to ten in malay. It caused me many inconveniences when everyone you meet and buy something from always tells you the price in malay. It is rather awkward to have to say "pardon me?" and then try to converse with them in english.
Perhaps it is because they assumed i was a malaysian which by default would have received training in the language. I was fortunate that malaysians speak english, if not i would probably have to resort to non verbal cues.
To conclude, language and words are vital in communication. It is always good to learn at least the basics of the language of your neighbouring country or the country you are going to travel to and that would give you a huge convenience. For singaporean chinese who can't speak a word of malay, i suggest you at least learn the bare minimum to get you by.(this is not hard if you have malay or malaysian friends)
A side reason perhaps is because Singaporean and Malaysians have so much in common and we look so similar that in Malaysia it is inevitable that people initiate conversations with you in Malay. Being able to understand will really bring about lots of convenience.
Cheers
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HI See Chai,
ReplyDeleteThank you for blogging about your intercultural experience in Malaysia. I totally agree with you about that fact that it will good to learn some basic phrases before visiting another country.That explains why I had an interest in learning several languages. Before I travel to a foreign country, I make it a point to learn the basic greetings and useful word phrases. It's going to be more fun and interesting when you actually make the effort to communicate with them by trying to speak in the same tongue as them.However, this is just my usual practice and my own perception on learning foreign languages. I am sure that they are a handful of people who thinks that it is not necessary to learn a new language before travelling.But to me, learning their language is like having a key to access their cultural world.