I was revising Bahasa Malaysia (BM) with little b the other day. I haven't been using nor reading BM for gazillion years... but now I have no choice... little b really needs help. His BM is so atrocious! He doesn't know what's "Saya" or "Satu" ... yeah, it's that bad... So I had to do something...
I went out to buy a few simple BM story books and a tri-lingual picture dictionary. And I asked him to read a page, then I test him...
Me : What's "mother" in BM?
little b: "Emak"
Me : What's "father" in BM?
little b: "Papa"
Me : (Press lips to pronounce clearly) "BA-PA la!!"
Me : What's "cousin" in BM?
little b: Errr,... Err.... Se... Se....
Me : Yes?
little b: Se.... Su.... Yes! SUSUPU!!!
Me : (in between muffled laughs...) NOOOO!!! You wanna drink Susu is it? (*knowing that Bryan hates milk)
little b: I know I know.... SESUPU!
Me : (Roll eyes) SE-PUPU lar!!!
Me : How to say "stupid" in BM?
little b: Stares and blink at me blankly!!
Me : BO..... (Trying to help him remember by giving him the first syllable)
little b: I know I know... BO-DAH!!!! (*PODAH means "go away" in Tamil)
Me : (Tries very hard to refrain from laughing)... It's BO-DOH, honey... Say "Bodoh" 10 times so that you will remember.
little b: Bo-do-bo-do-bo-do-bo-do....
Me : How to say "clever" in BM?
little b: (confidently) GAYA.
Me : What?
little b: Yehhhhssss (while nodding his head).... GAYA means smart... (very confident and adamant that his answer is right because he watches Ultraman Gaia a lot)
Me : hahaha.. ok... ok... But I want Clever, not Smart....
little b: ..Umm.... Pandai...
Me : Good, Pandai pun... So how to say "stupid"?
little b: stunned for a while, and stares at me blankly again, indicating that he had once again forgotten ...
Me : BO.... (trying to prompt him again)
little b: I know! BO-DAH!!!!
Me : (Faints!)
I went out to buy a few simple BM story books and a tri-lingual picture dictionary. And I asked him to read a page, then I test him...
Me : What's "mother" in BM?
little b: "Emak"
Me : What's "father" in BM?
little b: "Papa"
Me : (Press lips to pronounce clearly) "BA-PA la!!"
Me : What's "cousin" in BM?
little b: Errr,... Err.... Se... Se....
Me : Yes?
little b: Se.... Su.... Yes! SUSUPU!!!
Me : (in between muffled laughs...) NOOOO!!! You wanna drink Susu is it? (*knowing that Bryan hates milk)
little b: I know I know.... SESUPU!
Me : (Roll eyes) SE-PUPU lar!!!
Me : How to say "stupid" in BM?
little b: Stares and blink at me blankly!!
Me : BO..... (Trying to help him remember by giving him the first syllable)
little b: I know I know... BO-DAH!!!! (*PODAH means "go away" in Tamil)
Me : (Tries very hard to refrain from laughing)... It's BO-DOH, honey... Say "Bodoh" 10 times so that you will remember.
little b: Bo-do-bo-do-bo-do-bo-do....
Me : How to say "clever" in BM?
little b: (confidently) GAYA.
Me : What?
little b: Yehhhhssss (while nodding his head).... GAYA means smart... (very confident and adamant that his answer is right because he watches Ultraman Gaia a lot)
Me : hahaha.. ok... ok... But I want Clever, not Smart....
little b: ..Umm.... Pandai...
Me : Good, Pandai pun... So how to say "stupid"?
little b: stunned for a while, and stares at me blankly again, indicating that he had once again forgotten ...
Me : BO.... (trying to prompt him again)
little b: I know! BO-DAH!!!!
Me : (Faints!)
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2 comments:
yeas... but it bet his english is way better than his peers, eh? :)
Yeah, you bet his English is good. The first day of Kindergarten, he already learnt how to say "Shit you!" when fighting with other kids for he washing basin ahhaha (He picks up words very fast, sometimes without knowing what they mean.)
He can repeat words from cartoons and movies or advertisements .... and say it with the same intonation.... which sometimes makes me chuckle... for example, one day while driving home, I had a can of milo and he wanted it and exclaimed with all honesty, "Mom, you shouldn't drink and drive."...
And with that Mr. Smarty Pants gulped the whole can...
I couldn't be mad at him because, well, he's right, we shouldn't drink and drive.. hahaha....
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