The Downfall of Bahasa Melayu
Bahasa Melayu or the Malay language has a tune of classical poetry to it. Used properly, every sentence constructed will be music to the ear and it amazes me how people from yonder use them without being in awe. As wonderful as it may be, it wouldn’t be my first choice if I were to explain something technical as the structure and the vocabulary of the language restrict me from doing so.
Many times the people native to this language, the Malays, have fought relentlessly to defend its pride and identity, the most recent being the use of Bahasa Melayu in the teaching of science and mathematics. Though I wonder how many of those advocating furiously actually do use proper Bahasa Melayu.
With the advance of wireless communication and the rise of social networking in recent times, I am able to observe how the national language of Malaysia degrades from a classy language to trash language though the blame should not be put on the two. I am utterly convinced that the majority of the current generation of Malays, encompassing those from the 80’s up till now has no idea how to construct a proper, grammatically-correct Bahasa Melayu sentence, which is a pity.
I have to admit that I cringe to the sound and sight of an English sentence filled with grammatical errors, and I do the same with Bahasa Melayu but one thing about English is that there will be a group of people (especially in the internet) who find themselves inescapable from correcting incorrect usage of the English language, these people are known as “Grammar Nazis”. Too bad there aren’t any equivalents of them for the Malay language.
Simple grammar rules:
1. The words used to describe the intensity of an adjective like “paling” cannot be ended with the word “sekali” after the said adjective. E.g.,
a. “Paling baik sekali” is wrong and it can only be “Paling baik”. As using “sekali” is redundant
2. There’s also the “Kata sendi” rule such as “ter-…-kan”, “meng-….-kan”, “me-…-kan”
a. A common mistake that people do and blindly ignore is the addition of a non-existent “kata sendi” which is “mer-…”. Little do they know the word “merbahaya” do not exist.
b. There’s also the common mistake in the usage of “ter-…-kan” and “paling”. “Paling terbaik” is redundant and in a worse case would be “Paling terbaik sekali” which is redundant times two.
Sadly, 11 years of taking the core subject Bahasa Melayu does nothing to teach the average Malays on how to construct a proper sentence. Even more regrettable is that every single Malay show on national television blatantly uses error-ridden Bahasa Melayu up to the point that it seems that it is NOT wrong to do so. The line between proper and improper usage of Bahasa Melayu is blurred and convoluted, a blaspheme to the language in my opinion. It destroys the language.
A particular trait commonly attributed to the average Malays unfortunately is that they are lazy and this laziness has spread to their usage of their own mother tongue. The stupendous amount of “abbreviations” to simplify the use of the language is pretty amazing and very annoying at the same time. I would say this culture of using simplified version of words started when the Malays gained access to public education, while taking notes during lessons and such.
I’ve personally witnessed how these “abbreviations” evolved in the hands of my uncanny and witty schoolmates who seek to make note-taking a whole lot easier. I do not blame them or myself (as I too use such short-forms) for doing so as it is a necessity for survival in high school and even in college (assuming that Bahasa Melayu is the medium).
There are also individuals who try so hard to be cute that they in turn try to incorporate their “cuteness” in their writing which I find stupid and irritating. Let’s look at a few examples of these abbreviations and “cutesy” words.
1. Abbreviations
a. Yg, Xkn, Blh, m’derma, thn, tlg, t’baik etc.
2. “Cute” words
a. Jew, kew, cubew, tipow, etc.
A common pattern in creating abbreviations is that you purge the vowels from existence and any “kata sendi” can be replaced with the first letter and an apostrophe. I believe that such practice should be confined within note-taking and SMSes, and not when expressing ideas on the internet or even when updating Facebook statuses.
It’s an eyesore. The beauty of the language is destroyed and in the end, there would nothing to be proud of about the language. As much as I don’t prefer to use Bahasa Melayu as my medium of communicating, seeing a language being violated due to ignorance is disheartening. And because of ignorance too a person using proper spelling and grammar in their Bahasa Melayu will be subjected to teasing and labeling, such is the foolishness of the average Malays who claim they take pride in their mother tongue.
I hate to ponder on the fate of this language in 30 years time.
I’ll translate this post into Bahasa Melayu later
May 2, 2010 at 10:59 PM
very interesting post. :)
I was doing a research project on this issue and found your post. I definitely agree with your viewpoint.
can't stand those who attempt to be "cute" with their abbreviations. eyesore.