Today i would like to share with you all about one of the biggest challenge i faced ever since I've been in Sabah. As i was walking back from my class today, I was stopped by one of my course mates whom I've never spoken to. Peter* (name has been changed just in case Peter* reads this hehe) was from Sarawak and probably the most good looking guy in our entire class (which consisted of around 110 students.) He asked me where was i from and we made small talk. Then he asked the question which I'm sure has been playing in his mind the whole time. He said.. 'So Hilda, why do you speak.. differently?' I politely asked him what did he mean by that although i already knew what he meant. And he began to explain. "Um.. when you speak Malay. Its different. You have a slang". I laughed and gave him the one reason that seems to satisfy everyone. "Oh my mom is an English lecturer". And like everyone else who had asked me the same question, he goes like "Ohhhhh patutlah" and gave me the 'that-explains-it' look. Peter* wasn't the first though. Just last week, my lecturer apologized because she forgot to make a bilingual exam paper for me. Somehow she seem to think I'm some Malaysian kid who doesn't understand Malay.
My mom being an English lecturer probably only played a tiny part with the fact that i speak Malay with a "slang" so as they would put it. The truth is, I'm just not used to it. In my family, we all speak English. Despite being so "rojak", I speak none of the languages. No i do not speak Punjabi, or Chinese and definitely not Portuguese. So English and Malay are practically the only languages i know. Yes its a shame i know. In school, I've always been the weakest in the class for the subject BM. But I went to a convent, and then to a Lasallian school. Where everyone was good in English. My friends always consisted of a variety of different races BUT we all had one thing in common. We spoke English. I'm not saying that my English was perfect. I still use Malay in my conversations, but i was never comfortable with it and i did not have the right environment to improved myself. I dont blame anyone though, I should have taken the effort, being a Malaysian and all, but i did not.
So when i came here, you can only imagine my situation. My Malay is on a level below average. Maybe even lower? Sabahans take the Malay language to a level that's way above average. They have their own slang. They talk fast. They have their own words for certain stuff and they use alot of "bah"s in their conversation. Its amazing really. And i adore the sabahans for that. But it definitely took a lot of getting use to for me. Even their texts were difficult to understand.
I guess i made it sound like it was a bad thing. But its not really. I come to realize that this was the beauty of going to a different place. There are days when I feel extremely embarrassed and intimidated but there are days when things like these makes me smile. I could have an entire conversation with a sabahan in my broken Malay and at the same time he or she would be replying in broken English. And we would both be assuring each other that its okay to just speak in our own mother tongue but still refuse to give in. We're two groups that are still trying to improve. Plus i get to learn some really cool words. Like just yesterday, I learned a few. Like "punyit" which means bat. As in the animal bat. And "gobuk" which meant monkey. And also "vogok" haha. They laugh because the way i pronounce the words tickles them. I laugh because likewise they take English to a whole new level as well.
So yea, for all you "bananas" or "coconuts" who are coming to Sabah. Dont worry. Because sabahans will do whatever it takes to make you feel welcome. Even if its out of their language barrier.
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