Thursday, November 19, 2009

Tren vs Train vs Kereta Api

I really do not understand the mindset of our language experts. On the one hand, the government wants to promote the use of Malay Language to the point of ridicule. Of all people, it is our deputy education minister who wants us to converse in Bahasa Malaysia at the workplace. How on earth are we going to get foreign investors to invest in Malaysia.

Then in the same breath, they start bastardising English language and call it Bahasa.
Examples,
physical becomes fizikal
hose becomes hos
complex becomes kompleks

and you got it, tren


In time to come, train (verb) may well be tren too. How trendy

I believe it was in 1996 when China won the bid to host the Olympics Games in 2008. From the day of the announcement, tens of thousands of Chinese nationals start to learn English. They want to be able to communicate with the visitors to China before, during, and after the Games. No doubt it was a huge success.

In Malaysia, the very well educated minister wants foreigners to use Bahasa Malaysia when they are in Malaysia. Would investors in their right mind want to bother with investing in our country? I doubt it. No wonder Thailand and Indonesia has crept ahead of us in recent years.

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