Malaysian being Malaysian, our languages have many slangs or jargons. Oddly, all of us understand each other even if we can’t speak fluent English, Malay or Chinese dialects.
You could sometime see a Chinese and Indian who both do not speak each other dialects, still able to interact with each other. Or perhaps seeing two Chinese people, one spoke Cantonese and the other spoke Mandarin, able to engage in a conversation.
Ever since coming to Australia, I have to learn to speak proper English. It’s not that my English is bad or broken, but there are a few words that I’m so used to saying them the way Malaysian would do and I just couldn’t figure out how to say them in proper English terms.
Here are a few sentences or words, is anyone of you are able to decipher for me:
1. Don’t be so “perasan”.
2. Where got?, in another word “mana ada”?
3. “Walau wei”!
4. Why you so like that!
5. Can ah? Can meh? Can wor.
6. Mengada-ngada
Kedah, Malaysia