Tuesday 19 May 2009

People asked me kalau I membebel kat my family, guna bahasa apa? I wish I could say, guna both Malay and English which would be so cool! But…….unfortunately, I only use English 100% of the time (well, unless I want to membebel at the walls and the kitchen and the plants, then I guna Malay lah sebab bukannya I kisah diaorang paham ke tak, hehehehe). I’ve tried it a few times, membebel to The Little Misses in Malay, diaorang ternganga aje sekejap pastu gelak2 pastu they asked The Other Half what I was saying! Macam lah The Other Half paham I cakap apa, dua kali lima aje dengan The Little Misses tu, hehehehe. So, it defeats the purpose of membebel lah kan when your kids start to gelak2 instead of feeling sorry.

I know, I am to be blamed for their lack of verbal knowledge of my mother tongue. At first, dolu2 masa tengah preggy with Miss 10, I had such high hopes of teaching all my kids (read: 2 :-)) to be bilingual. Bukan susah pun Malay language ni kan. And if I start talking to them in Malay from early on, it would be easier for them to absorb the language. But, after a while, I got complacent and a bit lazy in talking to them in Malay. Masa Miss 10 kecik2 dulu and duduk kat M’sia, everyone around her spoke Malay so it was easy for her to absorb the language while I talked to her in English and Malay. Then when we moved to OZ and she started going to nursery, I continued talking to her in English and dropping the Malay gradually. Masa tu, I wanted her to pick up English quickly so tu yg guna English 100%. By the time, she could properly talk and converse with everyone, English has become her mother tongue instead of Malay :-(. And it was quite difficult to keep the Malay up sebab I sorang aje yang speak the language. More to being lazy and impatient I guess. I know, I know, excuses excuses :-).

And now, with Miss 5 who’s a bit like her Dad when it comes to learning a second language i.e hopeless (hehehe, his words, not mine), memang terus fully English lah. I guess I like to take the easy way by using English fully since dari kecik2 dulu pun I was used to the language. It’s not like I baru terpaksa belajar English sebab kahwin dengan The Other Half. I think my English was pretty good even way before that, if I may say so, hehehehe. So, tu yang lagi senang nak guna English with The Little Misses everytime. Sekarang ni pun I dream in English so macam mana lah tu, hehehe. The sad bit is kadang2 tu I have to think for a few minutes to find the right malay word when I’m talking to my parents. Bila you dah jarang guna that language, ada lah a few words yang terslip from your active parts of your brains so kena dig deep baru terjumpa balik kan, hehehehe. Maybe I pun kena belajar Malay balik lah sama2 dengan The Little Misses kan, baru lah terer we all sama2 :-).

The Little Misses are very interested and eager to learn Malay especially when they go to M’sia for holidays and surrounded with the language everywhere :-). And it’s quite funny how Miss 10 picked up the language quite quickly while Miss 5 still ternganga2 aje everytime, hehehehe. I don’t blame Miss 5 sebab she was born here, surrounded with English everywhere and baru 3 kali aje dia balik kampung pun, hehehe. So probably susah sikit lah for her to serap the language.

But I really really hope one day I can converse with them in Malay and I know I would feel so proud when that happens. Maybe one day hey! Who knows :-).

Ok lah, Ok lah, I’ll stop my rambling now and show you oour dinner tonite. Don’t ask me what it’s called because I pakai taram aje masak nya.

 

DSCF5859

Mee daging berkuah.

18 comments:

CS said...

LG, I 'think' in English too, ngader kan? hehe. Masa my anak2 kecik, bila I naik sheikh, I marah in English. Kadang2 memang terlupa certain words - either in English or Malay more so cos of age factor (mine not yours, hehe). As for your children, it's never too late to start now LG.. Good luck.

Hanim Benziane said...

Lg, kita in the same boat. Masa i pregnant my first kid, i pun berkobar nak cakap melayu which i did tapi once dia dah start bercakap, we all talked 100% french sebab time tu i pun tengah reinforce my french. Tapi nasib baik sekarang ni my kids start to pick up again cakap melayu since balik dari KL.

ain said...

keadaan sekeliling you pun mamainkan peranan dlm penggunaan bahasa. Since they are in english background country, so they all have to speak more english. lg pun min sorang je yg ckp melayu kan, 3 lwn 1, mana boleh menang dear ooi.hihihi

akak pun kalau dah mengamuk, ckp eng aje, sdp2 sikit words yg nak digunakan.hahaha

p/s..mee u tu sedap lah!!

Mat Gebu said...

LG....walaupun malay u macam tak lancar..tapi u faham bahasa "Jowo" kannn..hahaha...

Anonymous said...

I baru nak suggest u speaking jowo dgn ur gals...tp CikMat dah mention dah pun hehehe ;) slowly la LG....maybe u can start with Malay cartoons ker...kat cni byk dvd cartoons yg dah di translate tu Malay....nnt u balik cni u can check it out...and yg penting, murah...murah....if u opt for piirated ones la hahahaha ;p

Anonymous said...

Well...it's not to late, lagi pun kids cepat tangkap bila belajar new things ni :) Good luck! Btw...saya yg kat KL ni pun mengamuk (hehehe...anak udah 5...dah tak boleh mantain cool dah)...always in english...sampai anak jiran pernah tanya my kids kenapa your mum marah je jadik org putih, hahaha!!!! Or well...for me, senang nak xpress love & anger in english compare to Malay :)

lemongrass said...

Somuffins,
masa kecik2 dulu I used to think in Malay n then translate it to English in my english classes.Tapi skrg like u said, straight away think in English, hehehe. But I love to count in Malay, funny kan, hehehehe.....

Hanim,
Tu lah, semangat masa preggy berkobar2 kan, hehehe, but nak practice it tu yg for me ada sikit malas :-).But like yr kids,bila balik M'sia, they pick up the language really easily kan so hopefully I can teach them slowly :-).

Kak Ain,
Memang kan, klu tgh marah, I thnk lagi snng guna English words, nmpk mcm 'polite' sikit pulak, hehehe.

Cik Mat,
Takkan jowo hilang di dunia, wakakaka.....

Lynna,
I pun fail speaking jowo, lagi lah nak ajar my kids, ada yg nanti habis berterabur bahasa diaorang :-). Masa balik M'sia, diaorang mmng tengok kartun in Malay but they really didn't enjoy it sbb tak faham apa kan and I kena duk sama tengok kartun tu sbb kena translate for them, heheheh

Nina,
orang lain mengamuk tukar jadi Hulk, you mengamuk tukar jadi orang putih ye, hehehhe, kelakar betul :-).

jana said...

mynn,
Anak-anak you tak dapatlah kongsi keseronokkan menonton cerita P.Ramlee dengan you,nanti balik malaysia Auntie Zana Belanja DVD Upin dan Ipin
very good malaysian cartoon, mummy dia kenalah fahamkan jalan cerita tu pada anak-anak ya.Nak Balik nanti bagi tahulah ya.

akak Roosni said...

salam,
akak silent reader kat sini,selalu juga jengok bokg anda,tp maaflah tak pandai tulis bahasa inggeris tp baca bolehlah faham,kekalkan jati diri anda sebagai melayu dan islam..

masz_73 said...

kakkakaka.... mmg larr kalo u mengamuk/mmbebel cakap melayu/jowo .. sure ternganga luas mulut omputih kat umah u tu... nk jadi lagi kelakar bak kata seafrost @ nina tu... tetiba je bila nk marah.. cakap omputihs... myKing sll ckp kalo yg mcm tu.. satu bangsa yg sll buat camtu.. bila marah jer terus spekong engling.. kekekkeke... moh kita gelak guling2... :))

pssstt... u tau ke sapa yg myking ckp tu? :P

Unknown said...

org kata mkn sambal belacan boleh pandai ckp melayu.
dusta semata2 je.if slalu dgr,then bolehlah ckp melayu.

yours is not bad what..
ada tu baru duduk setahun kat oversea,tak reti ckp bahasa melayu dah.terus nak speaking walhal overseanya di seberang tambak saje.how?

i like your rojak2 words.mcm rasa dekat je. :)

my little family / kaftanbatik said...

Lg, klu MA lak rsnya akan kuar loghat Kelate. Tu klu time hyper membebel la..klu biasa2 je both Kedah/ Kelate...hehehe

lemongrass said...

Zana,
tu lah, I dengar cerita semua kata Upin n Ipin best.Nanti lah klu balik M'sia boleh I dgn the kids tercongok dpn tv tengok kartun tu :-).

Akak Roosni,
tq sbb sudi singgah my blog ni :-).

Masz,
wehehehe...Klu spekong english volume soft aje takpe lah gak, ini 1 perumahan boleh dengar dia 'berbicara' . I tau sape yg your king maksud kan tu, hehehehe

Hi chada JD,
best betul kan klu mkn benda tu hari2 boleh speak that language, klu that's the case, sure dah lama I terer ckp Italian, Japanese, sbb suka mkn pasta n pizza n sushi, hehehehe....

Mama Anis,
sure cute giler kan klu membebel guna loghat kelate n kedah sbb jauh beza dua2 tu, hehehhe

Ummi Qisti said...

aik terbalik le plak..akak anak-branak nak bljr bhs melayu, yg kitorang ni kena bljr bhs english..wahaha..ape kata kita tukau suke same suke je le..hiiiii :)

Syana said...

Hi,
love to read ur blog.

BTW, i dah try ur pavlova recipe and muesli slice. But my pavlova tak secantik u punya.

TQ for the recipe ;)

lemongrass said...

UmmiQisti,
wah best betul klu dpt tukar suka sama suka pastu semua2 jadi fluent both languages kan, caya lah, hehehe

Miss Syana,
thanks ye sbb sudi read my blog and thanks sbb sudi try the recipes. I pun first time buat, tak jadi sgt, dah lama2 n bnyk kali buat, baru cantik aje, hehehe

Fazlinil Irma said...

akak, tengok lah upin dgn ipin kat youtube..
siap ada translation dlm BI..

selamat menonton..

err, nak jd bibik utk anak2 akak boleh.. nak ajar cakap melayu..hehe

lemongrass said...

irma,
ada translation ye yg kat youtube tu? still tak tersempat2 nak tengok lagi tu, hehehe... Nak jadi bibik ke? Kena hantar resumé dulu,hehehe