Malaysian English Impossible To Understand
I was checking out the new site Overheard in Malaysia when I realized that I don’t understand it all, although it appears to be written in English. Check out this random post about … well, I’m not sure:
MrBf: Blah blah blah.. why you damn clown? Don’t know how to look where you’re going ah? *lecture lecture*
naeboo: *gives hard look*
MrBf: Why you give me one kind look? Not happy isit?? What look is it ar?
naeboo:YATT LOOK! One look! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. *layan sendiri* I’m sucha smartass!
MrBf: -_______________-”
The Flesch-Kincaid grade level of this text is 4. The first thing currently on Overheardinnewyork scores a (still low) 7. Apparently there is a class-split around the use of English in the Malaysian educational system.
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 at 9:15 pm and is tagged with flesch kincaid grade level, overheardinnewyork, naeboo, smartass, educational system, blah, clown. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.
3 Responses to 'Malaysian English Impossible To Understand'
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- Get over it! (:
Of recent, I've been listening to bEnglish/b songs. Guess I've finally got my phone's music bank filled with more bEnglish/b songs than Mandarin Songs.Miraculously, my Japanese songs are more than Mandarin Songs.Gosh, all filled with Misia, b.../b - today i went to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts (2 minute walk b.../b
and James said from bMalaysia/b and i found out that Northern accents are bimpossible/b for me to bunderstand/b. London-y accents are fine but Northern-y accents are just bimpossible/b! they like to tease my inability to bunderstand/b their accents b.../b - Adventure Highlands
On reaching a nearby police station, we are greeted by not so friendly police officers who unfortunately do not bunderstand/b a lot of benglish/b. Our driver then assumes the role of our translator and helps us communicate with them. b.../b - Getting Printed
Well, it’s not such an bimpossible/b dream. Some teenagers have gotten their work published, with some talent and lots of determination. If you harbour such a dream but don’t know where to start, MPH Group Publishing editor Janet Tay has a b.../b - 50 More Facts
32. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated. 33. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing. 34. Dreamt is the only word in the bEnglish/b language that ends in mt. 35. It's bimpossible/b to sneeze with your eyes open. b.../b
on July 23rd, 2007 at 1:17 am
it’s a pun using cantonese chinese spelt in english.you won’t understand it unless u speak canto and english.
on August 22nd, 2007 at 12:07 am
Lol. its just the Malaysian chatting style. where its a mixture of Malay language, chinese, english, cantonese to express some gesture or live interaction.
Most of Malaysian excels in english. and if you’re in Malaysia., you will find that almost everyone is English literate.
on September 4th, 2007 at 6:18 am
It’s a very complicated cultural habit if you ask me. Similar to Singapore’s Singlish.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlish
I’m sure most of us here can read/write/talk in proper English. Just that after 50 years of Independence, we’ve more or less “blended” all the cultures found in Malaysia into one, especially Languages.
It’s very identifiable with the use of words like “ah”, “lah” behind sentences. Just treat it as a “casual” use of English language. While Tony, of the EducationMalaysia blog is a political figure now, he has to be “formal”.