Yummilicious ROJAK!

Can you relate the above picture with our Malaysian language?

Previously we talked about the usage of 'lah' in Manglish. Today, we look into the different things that makes Manglish, Manglish.

Above you see a popular Malaysian fruit salad known as 'Rojak". It is a mixed of freshly cut slices of unripe mangoes, pineapple. turnip, cucumber covered in a black sauce dressing with generous sprinkle of crushed peanuts and some chopped spicy chili. The taste is tangy and sweet and simply yummylicious! You can find this dish selling by the road side, at a little stall, at a market, at coffee shops, at cafes, restaurants...

However, there's another favourite 'rojak' among Malaysians. It is our 'rojak' language that we use in everyday conversation. Rojak is a Malay word, which can be translated to 'a mixture of'. In terms of 'rojak' English, it means Malaysians tend to use English by mixing in some Malay words, Chinese and Tamil dialects. To any language purist out there, they might want to scream in exasperation seeing how we abuse the language. Some English native speakers have even commented, "It sounds like English, but I don't quite understand it."

Weird, but speaking 'Rojak' / Manglish has become very much an identity of being a Malaysian. Our neighbour country Singapore, termed their 'rojak' English as 'Singlish'. It is slightly different from Manglish as Singlish is mixed with more Chinese dialects such as Mandarin and Hokkien. This is common deduction as there are more Chinese speaking nationales in Singapore than Malay speaking citizens in Malaysia.

The only difference between the people speaking Manglish and Singlish is, Singapore government tries to deter people from speaking Singlish while Malaysians are proud of our Rojak English! Even books are written to specially help our foreigners adapt to our Manglish.

I think it is quirkly and amusing. In such a multi-lingual environment, it does add more flavours to the English language that creates a creole with our own lexicon, phonology and even grammar, just like all of our fellow Malaysians, in a rojak environment.

To learn a little more about our local Malaysian rojak culture, view this video.

Based on the video, post your comments on how Malaysians from all walks of life use English in different setting. Give examples.