Manglish Essay

753 Words4 Pages
Welcome to Manglish! Ladies and gentlemen, we hear a lot about our local variety of English these days. Like our much loved rojak, this local variety of English is a unique mixture of words from English, Malay or other languages. Some people may think that it’s an alien language; others may think it’s for nincompoops, but the fact is this is just Malaysian English. Should we accept it as a new brand of English or should we eliminate and replace it with Standard English? Well, what do you think? Accept or reject? Well, I personally love the local English. It is the most overwhelming English in the entire world! So unique yet sometimes difficult to understand, even by me. And frankly speaking, I do not think that it’s possible to eliminate Manglish because linguistic habits are very difficult to break. Let me illustrate this with an experience I had with my cousin. Last week, my 24 year-old cousin was commanding his younger sister to ‘open’ her shoes. Then I came to save the day and corrected him by saying that it is take off your shoes and not ‘open’ them. Do you know what his response was? He said that the shoes are not airplanes to take off. I especially love the infamous two word phrases that Malaysians use, like ‘how can’, ‘where got’, ‘see how’ and ‘see first’. Like the other day, I was bargaining with a saleswoman to buy a pair of sneakers when I proposed a fair price. She said, “How can! How can! I sell you so cheap already la! Don’t la!” She left me in stunned silence with her wonderful way of communication. Malaysian English is easier spoken and understood by Malaysians rather than Standard English. In my opinion, I think that the intonations are perfect in Manglish because it brings life to the words that are being spoken. For example, the suffix ‘la’ emphasises the message you are trying to convey and

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