Yes, Ya, Shi, Oui.
Languages have always been an interesting topic for me in life. It has always been my dream to learn as many languages as possible. (Or is it not possible? Especially for a woman who learns the basic and assumes she can start a conversation already? Like me? Hmphh.)
I was born a Malay. My mum's a Malay. My dad's a Malay. And so is my brother, sister, Atuk, Wan, Paklong, Maklong, Pakngah, Makngah..bla..bla..bla.. So naturally, I am a Malay-spoken person.
I started my educational background going to a Chinese kindergarten. We learnt to speak and write basic Mandarins. And as far as I remember, I never quite applied the lessons among friends. I preferred using the Malay language (a.k.a Bahasa). After 2 years in kindergarten, our family flew to Taiwan.
I was enrolled in Taipei British School, an international school in Taipei. It was really tough at first. My English was really poor. I couldn't join in conversations. But I thanked God for giving me 2 Malay friends in class; Nana and Nadiah. We'd usually sneaked to speak Malay in class. Cuz if we got caught speaking foreign language other than English, we'd be given a warning. I guess since there were so many cases like this, they provided a subject, specialized only for new foreign students called English as a Second Language (ESL). Being around foreign students and teachers from various countries, and having gone to ESL classes, my English improved drastically. I no longer speak Malay with my friends. And at one point, it felt more embarrassing than proud to speak Malay among ourselves.
I'm not saying this because I'm glorifying other languages than my own mother-tongue language. I was surrounded by foreign environment. I was young, and I knew I had to adapt to such environment well and quick.
English was not the only subject learnt at school. We also learnt Mandarin and French, and it was part of the syllabus at school. Both languages were fun to learn. There were many activities involved in learning the languages i.e. writing essays, role-playing, sing songs, and even cooking!
For extra-curricular activities and clubs, and apart from joining Brownies and Arts & Crafts club, I also joined Cantonese class. All for the sake of love in learning new languages. (And because they were a lot of Hong Kong movies playing on TV).
At home from school, apart from watching Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, MTV, HBO and Cinemax, I also liked watching Chinese movies. I couldnt speak, write nor understand a thing they said!!! I guess I just liked the way it was, and because the movie was good.
Devastatingly, all the foreign languages learnt seem to be of no use. I later enrolled in a school with a Malay majority population. I was placed in a class with everyone a Malay. No Indians. No Chinese. So I started speaking Malay at all times. During exam, the only subject I got an A was for English. I failed in all the other subjects including Bahasa. Rest assured, I speak good Bahasa. It's just that I'm still in the process of writing good Bahasa.
To recall the Most-Regretting-Feeling moments of my life, it is the loss of my notebooks to each language learnt. It must've gotten lost or misplaced or thrown away without noticing when we got back to Malaysia. *sigh*
In university, there was a Third Language class. I was given the choice of Mandarin or Arabic. I wanted to take up Arabic cuz I've never learned it. But then again, my aim in life is to be able to communicate well in foreign languages. So I chose Mandarin instead, mainly cuz I already have the basics.
Now my only problem is... to make use if these languages. I tried watching Chinese movies and hiding the subtitles. But I'm still far off to really understand every word they say. But one thing I can assure you and myself, I'll never stop learning.
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Hello, my name is Nabila. I am 23 years old. I live in Kuala Lumpur. I love you!
Hai, nama saya Nabila. Saya berumur 23 tahun. Saya tinggal di Kuala Lumpur. Saya cintakan awak!
Ni hao, wo jiao Nabila. Wo shi 23 sui le. Wo zhu zai Jilongpo. Wo ai ni!
Bonjour, mon nom est Nabila. Je suis 23 ans. Je taime!
Goodbye. Selamat tinggal. Zaijian. Au revoir.
For extra-curricular activities and clubs, and apart from joining Brownies and Arts & Crafts club, I also joined Cantonese class. All for the sake of love in learning new languages. (And because they were a lot of Hong Kong movies playing on TV).
At home from school, apart from watching Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, MTV, HBO and Cinemax, I also liked watching Chinese movies. I couldnt speak, write nor understand a thing they said!!! I guess I just liked the way it was, and because the movie was good.
Devastatingly, all the foreign languages learnt seem to be of no use. I later enrolled in a school with a Malay majority population. I was placed in a class with everyone a Malay. No Indians. No Chinese. So I started speaking Malay at all times. During exam, the only subject I got an A was for English. I failed in all the other subjects including Bahasa. Rest assured, I speak good Bahasa. It's just that I'm still in the process of writing good Bahasa.
To recall the Most-Regretting-Feeling moments of my life, it is the loss of my notebooks to each language learnt. It must've gotten lost or misplaced or thrown away without noticing when we got back to Malaysia. *sigh*
In university, there was a Third Language class. I was given the choice of Mandarin or Arabic. I wanted to take up Arabic cuz I've never learned it. But then again, my aim in life is to be able to communicate well in foreign languages. So I chose Mandarin instead, mainly cuz I already have the basics.
Now my only problem is... to make use if these languages. I tried watching Chinese movies and hiding the subtitles. But I'm still far off to really understand every word they say. But one thing I can assure you and myself, I'll never stop learning.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Hello, my name is Nabila. I am 23 years old. I live in Kuala Lumpur. I love you!
Hai, nama saya Nabila. Saya berumur 23 tahun. Saya tinggal di Kuala Lumpur. Saya cintakan awak!
Ni hao, wo jiao Nabila. Wo shi 23 sui le. Wo zhu zai Jilongpo. Wo ai ni!
Bonjour, mon nom est Nabila. Je suis 23 ans. Je taime!
Goodbye. Selamat tinggal. Zaijian. Au revoir.
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