More Languages, Less Strangers

Monet, together with his colleague comes to mow my lawn once a month. I speak no Indian, and he speaks no Chinese or English. We found our middle ground in Malay. Monet has been in Brunei for 3 years, his command of Malay is exceptional. Compare that to my English friend who’s been in Brunei for the approximate same time; at his best, he could only utter the word “Alamak” to express his displeasure.

Difference here is, Monet, along with 10,000 Indians residing in Brunei have no choice but to adapt. Hence picked up the language much more quickly than the brilliant Englishmen.

Having been away from Brunei for a while, my wife’s spoken Malay is a little rusty. I often stood back to quietly observe the animation of her trying to give instruction to our casual Indonesian maid. Brutal as it may be, it is always pleasurable to watch in the spirit of fun.

On a regular basis, I will walk my dog, Maki to a construction site nearby to help supervise my brother’s new house. I could not go beyond "Sawadeekup" with my hands joined together as a gesture of friendship and goodwill to the Thai construction workers.

As a simple boy from KB, I offer no sophisticated thesis on Vision for a better Asia, other than; More Languages, Less Strangers.

My life would have been a lot more colorful if only I could speak Indian, Thai and a dozen of other languages. I am immensely fascinated by the stories Monet could have told me, only to be limited by the barrier of language.

We spoke the last time on the topic of arranged marriage. These are people, who have the very real firsthand experience of these occurrences in their life, if only it could be articulated better, I could have been enriched by the experiences of Monet and his family.

I took up Korean as an elective unit for my last year of University 10 years ago. You do not just learn a new language when you learn a new language. I learned the striking similarity between my culture and theirs, and I also learned the distinct differences; such as how far I have been westernized while my Korean friends uphold very traditional Confucious value. I hated the idea of Kimchi in my first encounter. For a period of our life in Australia, Deon and I could not live without adding Kimchi in our every meal.

This proposition goes beyond just adding a third language in every kid’s curriculum. Recommendation for a good night school for Indian, please!!!

End note:

I recently stumbled upon this quote from a great man:

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." Nelson Mandella

AMEN!