Friday, December 02, 2011
இ Baŋäŋaz இ
A Caucasian friend was scratching his head wondering how we Malaysian Chinese speaks English? He may be very surprised to meet someone who speaks impeccable Queen's English with no flaw. Politely he asked Bananaz do we encode our thoughts in Chinese arranged them in proper sequence, decode then speak out in English? Wow never thought it was so complex, maybe Bananaz is exaggerating here by adding salt and vinegar. No longer the case now, but as a kid we do faced that challenge of transferring Chinese data word for word to English. Bananaz neither read English newspapers *none at home only in Chinese but can only browsed at the pictures coz Bananaz can't read Chinese* nor have the habit of reading books during his childhood days therefore you can roughly guess the end result of his grade in English. Dear readers please execute excuse me and bear with my English, it would be even better if you care to point out my mistakes especially my rotten grammer would appreciate it very much.
Take a trip down memory lane with Bananaz and back to school with half-past six Enggrish:
இAbout school fees:
Bananaz : Sir no bring come (Hokkien ~ 'boh gia lai')沒帶來 *pinyin* méi dài lái
இTo the lavatory:
Bananaz: Teacher can go pass water? (Hokkien ~ kee pung jio)
Nikki: Can I take a leak?
இBicycle with flat tyre:
Bananaz: My bicycle no wind. (Hokkien ~ kar chia boh hong)
இMine:Yours:Whose:
Bananaz: That red book is mine one, yours one is the black one. This green pen is whose one?
இOthers:Misc:
Bananaz: Why like that one? (Hokkien ~ aun chua aun neh kuan)
Care to add in more Chinglish? The more the merrier.
Note: Hokkien is the dominating dialect in the Northern Region though Bananaz's mother tongue is Hakka.
Posted in: Back To School
84 Bunchesஇ:
LOL! I thought it is usually the other way round; the parents having more interest to read than the kids.
Sometimes I communicate with my kids' tuition teacher via SMS and my kids told me I should not write the way I did because the teacher wouldn't understand. I should instead use the examples you showed; translating from Chinese to English directly. Example... My way : What time does the tuition class starts today? His way : Tuition what time?
LOL
I speak that way too now since I am surrounded by Chinese colleagues. I actually blog to retain whatever good English I still have before I start thinking in CHinglish too! ^^
Harry Potter memang syok mah...
Si pek ho liao (hokkien) : Tremendously good!!
bicycles no wind?? LOL! i like this. Also chinese always say 'die' as in 死。Work not done, die lah this time, for got something, die lah , die lah!
The encoding thing...the students here do that - that's why their English sucks big time. You don't have: "Bicycle tyre no flower" leh? LOL!!!
Bonza joke with the two kids made me smile big time. Encouraging children to read without restrictions is a good thing :-).
As a librarian, you know I'm always glad to hear when someone likes to read! Good for your daughter. That habit will serve her well. :)
Bananaz, jiat lat lei.... long time no speak Enggerish due to don't want my children to pick up. Most words that we used in school all forgotten liao. How ah???
I only know got food must eat lah, got sales must shop lah. hahahaha
Have a nice weekend and enjoy go makan-mania.
Actually I think most of our English is ok and acceptable.. Except that we love to add rojak at the back like 'la, lo, ma...' haha :P
LOL! Early early make me laugh die already (Hokkein - Chit char bek char zho wa chio xi liao). Cannot like that one (Hokkien - Beh sai aun neh kuan).
Yalar, this Chinglish is very addictive one. I use it quite regular at home, because my English is half pile sh*t (Hokkien - pua tang sai). Sorry for the vulgar word :p
One இ:Luckily my daughter didn't pick up my bad habit haha. Kids nowadays KISS *keep it short & sweet* their sms. Received one reply 'k' with nothing else which normally Bananaz would stretch a bit like "OK cfm the date|time|venue Rgds" but they lolz said this way is old horse liao haha.
Lina இ: You no come I no go kinda of conversation huh lolz.
Small Kucing இ: You memang syok coz looking at the tons of books you always buy know you are a bookworm haha. Its an absolutely good habit to read which Bananaz is catching up with blogging and google search. Still not to late to learn.
MRC இ:Kamsia lu chay chay (hokkien) tQ very much.
lena இ: Everything sure to have 'die' one. Aiya die loh didn't do this. Oops die lah late to pick up mother-in-law haha.
suituapui இ:Haha no flower. Yup missed this one shall add in my entry kamsia lu chay chay.
Windsmoke இ: This Caucasian friend is a dinky di Aussie who was puzzled when I said "I follow your car". He asked "you have no car how to follow my car?". What I meant was to hop into his car. Encode and decode translation from Chinese to English.
Daisy இ:Guess you guys don't face this problem like we do as English is your first language. Reading truly helps to improve the command of words and vocab.
Amelia's De-ssert இ:Don't throw back in the rubbish again which you have dumped long donkey years haha.
Hayley இ:We love short cut to talk faster now mixed rojak lah.
Yvonne இ:7 early 8 early ka-ka cau cau haha. Even Hokkien also campur-ed. Bananaz very chiak lat one, ang moh sai but also pua tang sai. Think 'sai' is acceptable in Hokkien so very common. Even those with beer belly, Hokkien said "sai thor" mah (sh*t tummy). lolz
so your caucasian friend is implying that he doesn't understand the way we speak english or the english we speak??
haha.. well, i guess it's really a norm to have localised english everywhere since we are not the native speakers.. in fact, if you find somebody very local who speaks impeccable Queen's English with no flaw, it's instead weird and you might thought that's fake~~ :D
oh, you are asking us to suggest more enggrish in the chinese way?? haha.. i tell you lah, got many many one, just that you donch know how to think suddenly only.. :D
Example of Chingrish:
how come you like that gostan one?? you like that gostan never see people at the back one meh?? you like that crash onto people's car then how??
aiyah, you like that talk talk talk no stop one.. i also no gas to talk to you lah!!
I say man, you want some Canto-Chinglish? 'Wet, wet pieces' only mah. Aiyoh, now you got so many commenters, like 'people mountain people sea' - all coming here to visit your blog leh.
[SK] இ: My gwailo friend not used to my English yet, like what I replied to Windsmoke. When I said "I follow your car". He scratched his head and asked me 'you got no car how to follow my car?'. Hahaha you can really talk 3 talk 4 quoting one of the most common we hear everyday. lolz. Kamsia lu chay chay.
Autmn Belle இ: Aiyo! No lah where got? Little bit only paiseh man. Kamsia lu chay chay for the support, eng kar lai chay lah hor. Chaik lat liao sudah rojak-ed. tQ..~;).
"Why like that?" - these days it's more like "what the hell!" that's what I'd say. At home I would say "apa macam?"
I didn't read much when I was young. Mom was from chinese medium and she forced me to learn all those chinese proverbs which I refused to learn.
Mom always said that I knew how to speak english before I could read english. How funny was that? When there's a book in front of me, oops! what is that?
Quite the reverse, I read more now than before. To keep me occupied. :o)
I encode my thoughts in Tai Shan (台山), arranged them in proper sequence in Chinese, and decode and write out in English.
So my writing in English is always very slow.
You may find some Hokkien in my English writing since I stay in Penang.
my cousin asked the same when i speak chinese, i said, when i speak in chinese, i thk in chinese, when i do malay, i think malay and english the same.... weird huh.
Ai Shiang இ: Ma Mama & Papa both were illiterate. Me only picked up reading but mostly motivational books when started working. Younger days like comics with pixz and dont like words.
Rainfield61 இ:Tai Shan (台山) aka 'Carry Mountain' dialect. Sing neng toi, like the HKG movie the bald Police Inpsector, Albert's dialect?. Bananaz hm ee tooi Sing neng dialect only few words haha. Often hear my mechanic friend scolding his son 'ah sei nei tu mood ti koi yong?' lolz.
Heaaah... thanks for the laugh, my friend... especially the Hokkien translations...
Got many more lah.
Like go gostan.
Ang moh here don't know that one. ;)
Lily Riani இ:Naturally should be the way you mentioned but at times if say you are more proficient in that language you used regularly like for me counting 1 to 100 I would be more comfortable counting in Hokkien haha.
Lrong இ:Sama sama
London Caller இ:Bananaz posted about gostan once ang moh may not know coz its a slang here.lolz
i'll add another to the Chinglish list. No school ~ Boh tak chek in Hokkien. :)
While Chinglish and Manglish are commonly used among us everyday, the dialects sometimes cause confusion and laughter for Ang moh tourists.
I still speak English like I speak Chinese to my Quay Lo for example: When I go to bed before him, I tell him, "I go sleep first ar". When in a shopping mall and I see really expensive thing and he asked me to buy, I told him, "This thing so expensive, how to buy?" When he asked me something and I don't know the answer, I said, "I also don't know." When giving direction on the road, I asked him to go up and go down. Then when he hurried me, I told him, "Wait lah, why so fast?", Then when he did something that annoyed me, I said "Why you like that one!" haha, there are so many more and if I list everything, it will be like yards of fabric (yat part po kam cheong) lah. When I go visit my step daughter in US, I know she does not understand my Chinglish so I tried to speak proper English so that she will not confused by me. LOL! Just like when we were in Bangkok sometime ago at a jewellery shop, where there were a whole cabinet of silver jewellery in front of her and one of gold jewellery behind her. The Thai sales guy told her this, "Ma'am, your frontside is silver and your backside is gold." My step daughter laughed so hard! She turned to me and she stuck her butt up and pointed to it and said to me, "Ha? my backside is gold!" It was hilarious!
LOL although I really wanted to brush up my English, but it's weird talking proper English with friends who speak Chinglish. So hor, I will switch my language depending on my friend's preference hahaha
Bananaz, your word " donkey" remind me of the games we use to play in school. Ok, here it goes...
Pinky, pinky, ponky
Father had a donkey,
Donkey si liao,
Father cried.
Sori ah... chit char, pek char, boh tua boh suay, kacau kacau our role model. hahaha...
LOL
You are the unique BananaZ!
Aloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
> < } } ( ° >
><}}(°>
< ° ) } } > <
gosh! jk rowling for 4 hours??? that's very fast.
i took a week to finish twilight series :(
salute her!
I wish I can train my daughter to be like yours. :p
Just like Singlish, we don't call ours Chinglish for nothing. Ooh iyah boh? LOL
Some mat sallehs are even picking up our "Aiyah!" when exasperated.
Life Ramblings இ: That applies to Bananaz for he's boh tak chek during childhood days haha.
Quay Po Cooks இ: Wow long & nice Chinglish Bananaz slow slow come to read. You & your Quay Lo 'yat tum tum' perfect humorous couple. Gold price has sky rocketed your backside is worth ton$ by now haha.
Charmaine Puaஇ: Read more blog more sure to improve English. Got shadow one.
Amelia's De-ssert இ: Donkey got pinky poem haha. Boh yau kin oo kong oo chio, tai khir huah huah hee hee. lolz
Cloudia இ: Oops hope you get tuned into our Chinglish or Manglish slowly haha.
Faisal Admar இ:Bananaz may take years to finish haha.
Tekkaus இ: Can be train one start from small.
HappySurfer இ:Sureeee got shadow one..haha. Paul Moss said few lahs before while as judge for 'One in a Million'.
Good for Nikki! Reading is a wondrous thing to be passionate about since it takes readers to many places and events without even requiring them to be physically present.
i bet manglish is like this, hahas. whatever we speak, we just can't eliminate our malaysian 'culture' of speaking english
-FiSh
ohFISHiee.blogspot.com
Jo இ: Yup another form of cheaper way to travel without leaving the home, but of course better to combine the two.
FiSh இ: Manglish, Chinglish or Singlish stays in our blood lah haha.
LOL! Funny post! Amazingly, I like the way we Malaysians speak Manglish and the Singaporeans speak Singlish. Haha!
That's also one reason why I enjoyed watching Phua Chu Kang with the Singlish widely used! Too bad they tried to make the cast speaks better English at the later seasons : D
Yeah one of the problems Chinese people learning how to speak in English is they like to translate word by word resulting in funny sounding English sentences! But the same is true when I try to translate English to Mandarin - the result is no one understands my Mandarin LOL!!
Hahahaaaaa!!!! Like that meh? Like that ah? Thanks for a great laugh, Bananaz.
Yoong ;)
The last picture is so funny. Yes ah? Where got like that one? Don't make me laugh la!
Foongpc இ:Kamsia lu many many. Yeah works likewise for bananas to speak Mandarin too.
Yoong இ:tQ for dropping by you must be the 'Yoong' who often drop by at STP's blog?. Its like that one no bluff bluff one got shadow one. haha
Sheoh Yan இ: When my daughter was 3 or 4 years was upstairs playing with her cousin brothers who are almost the same ages, my bro-in-law & wife who are very open minded said 'better check them up why suddenly so silent upstairs worried they might be doing the damnedest things. Kids being kids take no chances haha. Got like that one no cheat you one. lolz.
Yes, I am that Yoong....remember the WATA?!! heh heh!!! Kena scolding from STP about my lack of Malay, so I come and talk to you loh! ;) (AW, I makeeee new friend leh, hah!)
Hahaha! Wa no good English oso ma...
We speak Malaysian English a.k.a Manglish. Hahaha!
the problem is not getting Benghui to read but controlling what he reads.. there is so much undesirable stuff..... on the net and we cant b with him 24 hrs a day. :(
Yoong இ:Yeah the WATA thingy haha..STP always scolds people one
kah he's getting grumpy izzit? lolz
willie a.k.a reptoz இ: We speak rojak actually haha.
Bengbeng இ: Let go and let G~d we can't be sticking our nose 24/7 over the kids, just pray for the best. Benghui looks OK got that obedient goodie goodie look.
Hahaha.. gosh, thanks for sharing this. Have not laughed aloud for quite a while now. Now, you said your England, I mean English not good? You could have fooled me..:p
ahhh your well-read daughter, . congrats..you must be so proud of her.
cheers
Angie இ:Really my England pua tang sai one got shadow one no bluff. Like to repeat one greatest blunder when I was 9-10 years old by asking "Who is you?". Lucky my godfather over heard it and corrected me immediately and even then as adult very fond of saying "I doesn't want"..how's that for my England haha. My daughter is the opposite of me maybe I suffered the hardship and learned my lesson well as not to repeat it. Two wrongs doesn't make one right, right? Have a nice day.
You need to change your "jetty" lah.
Come jump to Wordpress, it'll make us easy to follow your replies.
I swear to god, looking for your replies to my comments here is harder than looking for a young ah moi that can cook, obedient to my parents, and when I say "one" she dares not say "two". Ha ha!
Hi Bananaz, I have been asked several times here whether I speak English? I just shake my head.
Yes, Malaysians are very good, switching from English into other languages or dialects, often in one sentence too.
Good for your daughter. Outstanding!
Best regards.
Lee.
London Caller இ:Mah tau not easy to change. You can't teach old dogs new tricks. You OK lah young and energetic can learn fast haha.
Uncle Lee இ: You shook your head and do sign languages haha. Nowadays quite a number of students doing great scores unlike my time to get an A in any subject is like searching for a pin in haystack. Have a nice day.
Oh I enjoyed this! Why couldn't she read while you drove? I'm sure you had a good reason.
I used to read a lot to my boys. The oldest reads the most though..more than I (ha ha)
I wasn't the greatest student but not too picky about other peoples grammar. I think it's good if we can communicate.
I missed your posts..but haven't been on much these days.
Enjoy your visits-
Regina இ:When reading in a moving vehicle especially in city driving it could be bad for the eyes or I could be a hell driver haha. tQ for dropping by.
read more, learn more, btw Hokkien I learn from my grandparent . . . now watch TV is from Taiwan "Ming Nan" lol . . . I am practically mash up like mash potato now! wee!
Kian Fai Koh இ:Those 'Ming Nan' dialect deeper Hokkien version and if you are aware enough could pick up some Malay words from them like 'diam, sabun' etc too. Very true read more learn more its universal law.
I dunno Chinese English, I only know Malaysian English. My tayar no flower!
Merryn இ: Tayar no flower got to slow slow drive car small heart a little bit..lolz
Fine post. I think will be enjoyable to everyone.Thanks.
Beautiful writings. Good thinking. Keep going. Thanks.
Nice article. Unique thinking. Thanks.
Excelent work. Will be beneficial for others. Thanks.
Beautiful piece of work. Of course an useful post. Thanks.
Friendly Bookmark இ:tQ wish I read more in my younger days but still not too late.
Global Bookmark இ:tQ for dropping by.
World Wide Bookmark இ: Like the saying goes "Sharing is caring". tQ for dropping by.
Good job. Wants more relevant post. Thanks.
After many days such article have read and really enjoyed it. Thanks.
Hai. Beautiful work. Write frequently and be beloved of others.Thanks.
I like your post. Wordless comment. Thanks.
diazepam 5mg diazepam 10 mg te koop - where to buy diazepam online in usa
buy xanax online xanax bars 2 mg street price - buy xanax bars online cheap
buy ambien online ambien cr 12.5 high - zolpidem generic ambien cr
buy ambien online buy ambien no rx online - what are the side effects of long-term ambien cr use
buy soma 350mg carisoprodol 350 side effects - soma online codes
carisoprodol soma carisoprodol ndc - carisoprodol information
carisoprodol online what is carisoprodol 350 mg side effects - carisoprodol soma scheduled drug
buy valium online dosage of valium for anxiety - buy cheap valium mastercard
Post a Comment