Thursday, April 06, 2006

The Beauty of The Malay Language

For someone who thinks in English and writes in English most of the time, it would be easy for others to perceive that I don’t appreciate my mother tongue, the Malay language. Maybe during my single days, I had been more western-influenced such that I preferred not to be associated to anything Malay. Maybe, it was due to the perceived mentality that the Malays were a conservative lot.

But as the years added on to my age together with maturity and wisdom (I hope), I have learnt to appreciate the Malay language in a deeper sense. In my younger days, I could never understand others who kept on saying how beautiful the Malay language was. I didn’t bother to study the language. Instead, I followed the crowd and learnt French. And followed the crowd again in my comments on how beautiful the French language was! Well, the French language is beautiful in its own ways but so is the Malay language.

There are certain words in Malay that could not be described as well in English. For example, just mention “naluri” – listen to the sound and compare with this in English “instinct”. The gentleness in the Malay language is so evident. There are many idioms in Malay that is like music to the ears – “Tak kenal maka tak cinta” or in English would be “To know somebody is to love somebody?” Any direct translation just does not sound right or does not have the right impact.

In the Malay language, we have “syair”, “puisi”, “gurindam”, “pantun” – all are different versions of rhyming words but the English language only have poetry or poems. Unfortunately, not many Malays are actually interested in expanding or cultivating the Malay language. Just look around us, the Professors that teach the Malay Language in NUS are not Malays. If I remember correctly, one is a Thai and the other is a Malaysian Chinese. The latter even wrote a book on the Malay language. So what happened to the Malays? I think I know. They are just like me – learning another language! We prefer to learn other people’s language instead of our own. And this is when this Malay proverb becomes an apt advice “Yang dikejar tak dapat, yang digendung keciciran.” The closest English translation that I can think of is - Not only do you lose what you hold close but you will not get what you want. In the end, we lost and become experts in none.

It sounds negative, doesn’t it? But to me, it is true. When we do not know who we are, how can we know what we really want and what is good for us? So before we start learning about other people’s language and religion, shouldn’t we be experts in our own language and religion first? Why must we think that other people’s language is better than ours? Can we make it different for our future generations so that they can be effective bilinguals since English has become a “necessary” language?

I think we can. We just need to change the way we think about the Malay language and that we will not become second-class citizens just because we are Malays who speak Malay. Otherwise, we will just be like those Singaporean “bananas”, who are yellow on the outside but think they are white in the inside. We can create a “Gemilang” Malay generation for our children.

I leave you with the chorus of a Malay song titled “Gemilang”. I think if it is translated in English, it will do injustice to the song. Enjoy.

Lalu ku redah onak duri
Dan lautan api
Kemuncaknya ingin ku tawan
Aku jelajahi

Kini Gemilang itu semakin
Pasti ku genggam
Gemilang suara keyakinan kian dalam
Gementar harus jangan
Jiwa ku harus bertenaga
Mungkinkah ini menjadi realiti

18 comments:

Em said...

Salaams

Saya setuju sangat dengan "post" anda yang baru.

Kita sebagai Anak Melayu yang mesti memperkenalkan dan memgembangkan bahasa kita ke seluruh dunia.

Anonymous said...

hmm ... i used to be good in malay, well that was in school and it was the ONLY subject i scored A1 during 'O' levels. *hehe* (muka tak malu) yang lain awak jangan tanyer. suah terang, hancai berkecai! =P

my command of english on the other hand, is mediocre. half past six. that's why when i express my innermost thoughts, they'll come out all jumbled up - rojak! and the only motivation that is able to gear me up into writing proper malay is by listening to radio warna. going through my kid's mother tongue books works too. *hee*

pathetic, i admit but what to do? nowadays, people perceived one as lowly educated (tak pergi sekolah punyer olang), old fashion and geeky (obit) if you speak perfect malay. however, you'll definitely be considered as "up-up people" if you happen to be fluent in 3rd or 4th language (eventhough in retrospect you're no different from tom, dick or harry).

sad but true. even malay names nowadays are considered as "kampung". parents westernized their children's name to give it more erm ... sophistication? i don't know. *shrug*

i agree that something needs to be done in order to change the newer generation's mindset. offer monetary rewards, maybe? free tickets to some holiday destination? *heh heh - not!* maybe, malay dept in schools can come up with more innovative ways to generate more understanding and interest in our youngs to explore our mother tongue in a more hip and unconventional classroom curricular. cause shoving lists of penjodoh bilangan, perkataan seerti/seiras, berlawan/berpasang, peribahasa and what's not, down the kids' throats every week are not exactly the most effective way. it'll only succeed in making them memorize those just so they could score in assessments. other than that, utilising them to punctuate our daily conversations would only sound foreign.

just my 2 cents worth. =)

Asha said...

Yes, french is a beautiful language. And so is one's own mother tongue.

Anonymous said...

i scored A* for my Malay, too, but now dun ask la..i used to love the subj and the language spoken (in a proper way)..not the bahasa pasar one la. I love writing karangan and pantun during my skool time.

citer P Ramlee got nice refine ways of expressing their bahasa...very gurindam jiwa u know..hehehe

Lynnette said...

saya suke lagu gemilang..

*nyanyi*

Kini Gemilang itu semakin
Pasti ku genggam
Gemilang suara keyakinan kian dalam
Gementar harus jangan
Jiwa ku harus bertenaga
Mungkinkah ini menjadi realiti

Dory said...

i luv dis song too..! ;)

Al Sayf said...

My Malay is crap and so is everything else. I flunked almost all my subjects for my "O" levels. When I try to speak Malay, I would sound rude because the only one I know is the pasar one. All of us speak English at home almost all the time because my wife speaks Tamil. So when I don't speak Malay, it's not because I'm arrogant or find the Malay language inferior. It's just easier so I don't have to repeat the whole conversation twice in 2 different languages.

I don't know why people like French so much but I seriously have always thought it's gay. Nothing wrong with liking it though. It's just my opinion anyway.

And here's another thing about the Malay language. No offence (especially not to you BQ) but I'm just trying to explain things here. Many of the words in the Malay language are borrowed. It's either taken from the Arabic language or Sanskrit (which is not really Malay). The "naluri" word you used originates from an Arabic word "nazuri". Besides this, there are plenty others which we use more commonly like taat, iman, maut and many more. As for Sanskrit, we take from them words like raja, ratu, suria and so on. Don't get the wrong idea though. I'm not saying Malay is not a beautiful language. But it's not as original as some of us think.

If I could learn a language, I'd like to learn Arabic. It would be great to know what I read when I read the Qur'an without depending on English or Bahasa translations.

I don't mean to voice out any disagreements here BQ. I hope you will not hate me for whatever I have to say here but I personally don't think language is a requirement in knowing who you really are. Religion, yes. But not language. I think being Malay has more to do with belonging to a race than it is to speak the language. At least that is how most of us think and it's not wrong either way.

The scary thing about quite a number of Malays though... some of them have this unnecessary pride borne in them that I sometimes find a little too racist for my own liking. To be honest, I avoid visiting my relatives even during special days like Hari Raya because of this. Because everytime they have to ridicule someone, it's someone who isn't Malay. I understand humour and I use it all the time but mockery is a totally different thing because it makes the other person belonging to another race feel inferior. I avoid these people so my wife won't have to listen to their nonsense (just in case it offends her) which isn't even funny most times.

Having pride in being a Muslim is what I have always preferred than to be proud for belonging to a Malay race or for speaking the Malay language even. Because Islam is a very fair religion that does not see colour, language, rank, status, etc as a requirement to enter paradise. We all bleed red. We are all the same.

*prasan telinga BQ dah keluar asap pasal Al Sayf banyak colok*

Erk!! Okay lah okay lah... last punya.

If there are Malay Muslims out there who would like to learn another language other than Malay, I say go for it (even if it's French) even if they understand very little of the Malay language. I remember one makcik long time ago who spoke to my son in Malay and my son didn't understand her. I told her "Melayu dia tak paham sangat" and she asked "Abih second language dia cakap apa?" and I said "Sekarang dia lagi paham Tamil daripada Melayu. Saya kalau boleh nak dia belajar bahasa Tamil" and she said "Buat apa? Kita kan orang Melayu... belajarlah bahasa Melayu" and I said "Kalau dia tau bahasa Tamil lagi bagus. Orang yang berbahasa Tamil tak banyak yang Islam. Bahasa Tamil tu boleh dia gunakan untuk tarik mereka ke agama kita." Then satu pakcik tu menyampok "Ah betol jugak eh..." and makcik tu diam.

We always need to look at the bigger picture. Religion should matter most over anything else. And we need to use everything we can to spread the word. One good way of doing it is to learn another language, even if it's not your own. Even if you suck at your own mother tongue. Because sometimes, not knowing another person's language may be the only barrier there is to invite them to becoming a Muslim. That would be a waste.

*BQ bodyslam Al Sayf*

*Al Sayf pengsan 7 tahun macam Steven Seagal*

Al Sayf said...

God... that was long. I'm very, very sorry. :(

Anonymous said...

as salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh

Interesting post... I'd just like to pen down a few thoughts and I hope that in shaa Allah I don't appear contentious.

First of all, I don't deny the advantages of learning a language or, for that matter, more than one language - it helps to build rapport and forge friendships and it is certainly an asset for da`wah. I also agree that the Malay language is profoundly beautiful.

My take on the Malay language is simply this: that it is just another language. I confess, I do not have the interest to expand or cultivate the Malay language nor do I feel mortified that people other than Malays who are teaching Malay at varsity level.

I may draw a lot of flak for what I am about to say, but you see, even though I am a Malay, I do not find it necessary. By this, I mean necessary to my identity or mission in life. Lest I be misconstrued as a "banana", let me clarify that I do not think that English is superior to Malay either *S*

So what makes a Malay "Malay"? Is it the language? Is it the mores he adopts? I remember the Malay movies I watched when I was growing up. They emphasized certain traits like honour, hospitality and gentility (sopan-santun) and back then, I thought these were important to our identity. But the more I think about the matter, the more convinced I am that race or culture are secondary at best and irrelevant at worst.

I have a HUGE problem with the Malay culture (and here I stress once again that I am a Malay in case someone feels like walloping me), especially when people place it above religion. I am tired of attending events with music and free mixing. I am tired of hearing how a man must provide hantaran for his bride. I am tired of people saying, "Tapi ini budaya kita" even when told that a certain action is bid`ah and haram.

I used to work in a Malay/Muslim (I hate that term... why not just "Muslim"? but I digress...) organisation and come Bulan Bahasa, we would get requests from other organisations asking us to support or sponsor their efforts to promote the Malay language/culture. There were a few worthy causes but many involved things that are questionable or haram (music, dance etc). In general, it was a reflection of how we Malays are just not understanding the reality of our sad situation. We can't gain honour or achieve kegemilangan by promoting our culture or language. We can only get it by striving for the pleasure of Allah and we can only do this if we obey Him and put our deen supreme. This we can only do with knowledge and how can we truly understand if we do not know the language in which Allah spoke to us?

You mentioned in your piece, "So before we start learning about other people’s language and religion, shouldn’t we be experts in our own language and religion first?" If we were to try to be experts in our own religion first, then I think that our time and effort would be better spent, not on Malay, but on Arabic. It is infinitely more beautiful and complex than any other language. Most of all, it is the language of our faith.

Language can shape one's character, so if we were to hope for excellence or kegemilangan for the Malays, then again, I think the best language would be through Arabic. Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah said, "Using a language has a profound effect on one's thinking, behavior and religious commitment. It also affects one's resemblance to the early generations of this Ummah, the Companions and the Taabi'een. Trying to emulate them refines one's thinking, religious commitment and behavior."

Why do many of us harp on how important Malay is? Why are we so sad that our youngsters are not fluent in it? Why are we not grieving over the fact that we can't understand the Book that holds the key to our salvation?

I am not trying to say one should simply sweep Malay under the carpet... neither am I saying that we should deny our Malay heritage. I am just saying that we are Muslims first and last and that Arabic should be our lingua franca.

After all, what are the Malays without Islam? Nothing much really.

Blur Queen aka BQ said...

BQ pengsan with the comments! 8P

But seriously, I enjoy reading your long comments. And I understand where you (Iman, Ayong and Tipah) are coming from. And I also believe that religion should come first. I am a Muslim first but Malay is a race that I cannot run away from. I want to learn Arabic because it is the language of the Quran.

I think there is nothing in the Quran or hadis that said that we should not pay attention to our own language or not be "proud" about it. Arab is also a race. And the Arabs also have cultures that are not within the Islamic teachings, just like the Malay culture - no different. 8)

All of us Muslims, want to be good Muslims. We strive to be one. And if we come from a certain race, our circle of influence lies within that race - our network, our community. If we don't know our own language, let alone speak it, how are we going to spread the word of Allah to our people? How can we improve our own community if we prefer to be away from our own people? What happens to our dakwah? If we cannot reach out to our own Malays, how can we reach out to others whose culture and language we do not know?

The Chinese Muslims in China does dakwah in Chinese. The Indian Muslims in Tamil and naturally, the Malay Muslims in Malay. If by knowing Malay, we can bring more of the strayed Malays back to Islam, then why not learn Malay?

Anonymous said...

bq: i understand what you're driving at...but here's the but. our asatizahs are generally fluent in malay and insyaAllah we have more than enough to bring the strayed malay-speaking ke pangkal jalan. but i think this is only applicable to >50yrs old.

i think that the targetted group should be our very own teenagers because it is them who will start a family in future and it is them who will shape the future. And these targetted group speaks both English and Malay tapi berterabor!

Young people prefer to speak English though because they think the Malay language is soooooo boring (though dikir barat, pretty girls joget melayu, etc are very interesting to them). what we need in our society are asatizahs who have the best of 2 worlds (duniawi and ukhrawi) who will be able to answer these teens' questions with wisdom. not just the 'buat nih dosa..buat tuh dosa.' i don't think speaking proper malay will help in this case either.

and i know i'm out of topic already. ^_^

Blur Queen aka BQ said...

Shesays - Actually, I also terkeluar ring...heheh. This is what happens when I talk/write too much, I end up forgetting what I want to write in the first place! LOL. Semuanya main hentam aje...hehe.

Al Sayf said...

shesays said...
Young people prefer to speak English though because they think the Malay language is soooooo boring (though dikir barat, pretty girls joget melayu, etc are very interesting to them).

Tengok ah BQ si shesays nie?!! She always want to sakat me you know. Please tell her to stop this nonsense or maybe you can ban her from reading your blog so she can't harass me with those hurtful words. Why do people hate me so much? Why?!! *buat muka sedih macam pondan... konon cute ah padahal macam nak kena tampar lagi ada*

On a more serious note, if you were to master the Malay language and tried to do da'wah to the Malay-speaking community and I was there listening to you, I'd probably say "Eh, deni tak tau cakap Melayu ke apa? Apa dia bebual?"

My point is, you don't need to master a language (Arabic being the exception because the Qur'an is in that language) to get through to people. If you don't get my point, here's another example. If I were to speak English Shakespeare-style to today's Brits with intent of propagating Islam, they'd probably tell me "Dude, how about you put on some tights (think: really old Englishmen during Shakespeare's era) and get out of my face!!"

It is easier to reach out to people if we speak their tongue. If they speak ghetto, then we speak ghetto. If they speak Malay pasar, we speak Malay pasar. As long as it's not rude, I guess it's fine. If I know a language well enough to communicate with others and get my message across, then to me that language has served its good purpose.

I am not against those who want to preserve their language. But as far as communications go, sometimes proper use of the Malay language IS the barrier to getting our points across. Even my mother don't speak like that anymore.

PS: I am not saying Malay pasar should be taught in schools either (before anyone misunderstands me). That would be way absurd.

Al Sayf said...

To Iman:
My hats off to her for her eloquence in writing and getting her point across.

Blur Queen aka BQ said...

Ayong - Agree. agree. Btw, why so sensitive...didn't get a "plunge" over the weekend? LOL! 8P

Al Sayf said...

didn't get a "plunge" over the weekend?

BQ, you are right on the money. No plunge since last week. Was it that obvious? Hahahah!! Eh salah... *sedih mode on* :(

But no... I wasn't being sensitive. I was just giving my opinion. And even if you disagree with it, I really don't mind. I can agree to disagree. No kidding.

Pssttt...!! *tolak BQ $7.95 under the table* Please block dia. *pouts bibir ke arah shesays* She always hurt my feelings.

Anonymous said...

ahhh...al_sayf's typed it clearly. we don't need to master proper malay to da'wah. mite even piss some people off even!

al_sayf: hey, only $7.95??? *takes rotten apples and stuffs them down al_sayf's throat* nyeh nyeh nyeh..dah besar pon nak merajok!

Ace said...

Blur Queen:
Yes, you are right in saying that each language is indeed beautiful in its own way. Malay holds a very prominent number of roles in our country, not least as the language for official business, but also as a source of pride and self-identity for its speakers, and a compulsory subject in schools.

In any case, I have to object to your perspective on Singaporeans. I find their level of bilingualism, whether English/Malay, English/Mandarin or English/Tamil, admirable and definitely something we should emulate. Definitely we in Malaysia have many more language issues and have a long way to go before attaining true bi/trilingualism.

Linguistic pride is great, as is linguistic ability.

Ace