Monday, January 01, 2007

ambigram: komunikasi
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Malay for 'communication'. ("Sad, another loan word in the Malay Kamus(dictionary)," sighed the language purists..)
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One of the most - if not THE most - essential tenet of marriage. Much-discussed on during nagfa's 'Kursus Persiapan Rumahtangga' ('Marriage Preparation Course'), an obligatory course for soon-to-be Muslim couples in Singapore.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would totally agree with that!

The only Malay I know is "Belajar la(?) bahasa kebansaan". I am British and we lived in Singapore for two years in the 60's just when it became independent. I was about 8 years old then and we lived near Seletar where my father was based.

There was a short 5 minute program by that name on after the news every evening in an attempt to get everyone to "Learn Your National Langauge". Ironically that is the only phrase that stuck in my mind. In those days there were four common languages - English, Malay, Cantonese and an Indian language - Hindi - I think. Is it still the same? I know a lot else has changed.

3:39 PM  
Blogger nagfa said...

hi, jacquie,

nice of you to visit our blog. and nicer still to know someone which had lived in singapore in the 60s. (it feels kinda weird: like getting a message from a distant time traveller!) :) but you are right. there used to be a campaign to promote National Language (Malay then).

There are still campaigns on languages today: Tamil, Malay, Mandarin and English (all official languages, national language is still Malay, by the way).

When language is concerned, there is a subtle promotion now for us to include Hindi and Arab as an 'important' language. (not surprising as most business dealings now flows through India and the Middle Eastern nations)

Hope to be hearing from you again,

salam (peace)
nagfa
singapore

10:16 AM  

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