4896
I went back to Malaysia last Friday and I realised that I am becoming more and more Singaporeanised. What does that mean, you say? Well, I am refering to the way I speak, and the language I speak. My Bahasa has definitely deteriorated to the extent that now I could only converse with the ah Moi at the McDonalds in Malaysia. So now the only Malay sentences I can say are:
"Saya nak itu, itu, itu dan itu."
"Ber...rapa?"
"Oh okay" (oops, that's english)
"Bagi receipt"
"terima kasih"
"sayonara"
The above sentences I said are REAL when i talked to this young Malay girl at MD at Holiday Plaza, I wanted to buy Big Mac, Milkshakes, McFlurry and Apple Pie. Oh, "sayonara" is Jap hor... damn. I said it accidentally when i left the counter. =P
Life in JB is still the same, just that I see more police patrols and MORE drunk 印度 robbers. In general, JB is as safe as Vice City.
GTA Johor Bahru? Why not. I am going to set up Pow Star when I graduate and take over the franchise.
One of the most obvious changes is my grasp of Chinese language. My Chinese standard has reached an alarming level. I can't seem to write some hard, more-than-20-stroke words. Fortunately, I forgot how to write the word “馨”, the word just creeps me out whenever i see it. Besides that, I seem to have a little problem in forming a complete sentence in chinese, awesome. (to Daoteng: I wonder what will happen to my language if i were to serve NS =P)
But worst of all, I seem to have cultural shock with my own culture. Does that make any sense? No, I don't either. I will try to explain to you, my fellow brethren. I feel like an alien when I talk to my siblings, everything seems to be so different and unfamiliar to me. The way they dress, they way they speak are so, um, simply put, Malaysian. Yes, Malaysian. That means I have been growing more and more localised as the time goes by. I am no longer speaking chinese with Malaysian accent properly anymore (but that's not something I should be sad of), and that shows how detached I am from my country, my family, and my 麻坡的华语.
Sigh, let's set those sad stuffs aside. Today I am going to talk about Malaysian's Chinese, in this case, the language. When we talk about Malaysian Mandarin, one would immediately think of the unique accent we possess. Many Singaporeans tried to imitate the accent, but failed to do so. And I doubt Zhi Xiong can master it one day.
Apparently, there are several "factions" in Malaysia, and there are 2 major divisions, dividing the penisular into north and south. The north, led by Penang Island, speaks the language in their own way. Imagine you are playing piano, say C major. Now, play the C major with all the notes up with one key, and now you are officially playing the "North's Way". Similarly, say "四四方方" as "accurately" as you can. And then try to say it with one key up, and now you are saying the "North's Way".
The people from the south are directly the opposite. They speak with one key down. Just try my method and find out. KL people and JB people are different, you can't determine the accent they possess, apparently all the people around the world (or the provinces) are rushing towards here to work, be it Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka, etc. Hence, their accents are mixed and cannot be determined.
Muar, dun dun dun dun, is perhaps the most ultimate of all. This is because their accent is unique and often accompanied with slang or 语病. They speak with some words up by one key and some words down by one key. And their slang and 语病 are even more interesting. Phrases like: "死爸够力" (try to say 4896 in Hokkien), "几够力一下"，"哇兰"(the ancestor of the word "walao") can make you confused for all day long. The phrase "几够力" is perhaps one of the most具代表性的phrase.
"几够力" can mean a lot of things: sign of "imba"ness, "How strong", "Oh dear", "You/I/We are doomed", "very effective", "very nice", "very shitty". Sometimes, you may even use it as a form of exclamation, for example: "够力! 你还没有抄完我的功课!"
The word is so popular that even the Soviets' Lada was named after it
In case you still can't get an image out in your mind about the "factions" in Malaysia, here's a map i made to aide you:
I know, "Malaysian accent" is so notoriously funny and when one exhibits that trait (露出“马”脚), people would look at him funny. But one should not mock at other's accent, because there is no such thing as standard Chinese. 《麻坡的华语》歌手凌志( His english name is Lexus) once rapped "语言没有标准性，只有地方性", 此rap得以言之. Do you think Singaporeans speak the most "standard" chinese? Do you think there is no accent? Obviously no, it's just that you can't tell. Malaysians also cannot tell that they are possessing any accent what.
Again, do you really think the Taiwanese are speaking standard Chinese? No. The word "standard" is perceptive, Singaporeans think their Chinese is standard, Malaysians think there is nothing wrong about their Chinese, Taiwanese argue that their Chinese is the most accurate of all. The PRCs claim their Chinese is the most primal and therefore their Chinese should the most standard one. In this case, the Mainland wins.
操... 几够力.
Posted by Pow at 8:36 AM 
