Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Love is Cinta

Somewhere in a rural part of Malaysia, a couple is walking together. After a day of hanky-panky both of them headed home and after the balak reached his girlfriend's house, they waved each other good bye and said "I love u!"

Now the thing is with Malaysians is they like to rojak their language, as i'm doing right now. Youngsters prefer to say "Thank you" instead of "Trime kaseh" , but thats fine by me. However have you heard Malaysian couples saying "Aku cinta kamu" (I love you) to each other? No right? Why? Of course, me and my dudes agree saying that IS cheesy, and using the phrase in front of your friends is like commiting social suicide. What about people in other country? Are they like us? Ashamed of saying "I love you" in their own language?

"I love you" in France is "Je t'aime". In Italy it's "Ti amo", in Japan "Aishiteru" and in Mandarin "Wo ai ni". All mentioned are proud of their language, unlike here in Malaysia. As a Malaysian, I swear with my life that i've NEVER encountered a Malay saying "Aku cinta kamu" or "Aku sayang kamu" . The closest is "I sayang you", and thank god the verb is in Malay but other than that it's foreign.

What made this intimate and very special suppose-to-be Malay phrase not special? Why is it used in a rojak way? Is it because love is like rojak? Where it is hot and sweet and sour at the same time? (Ignore this paragraph)

It is sad to know that Malays neglect to use pure Bahasa Malaysia in everyday life. Where is the poetry in that? Italian and French is considered by many the most beautiful language in the world. Part of the reason why it is so is because they don't mix it with other languages when they're using it, which makes it beautiful, they conserve it's beauty by using the language as it is.

To all Malays, i beg of you, from now on, instead of saying "I luv u" which sounds so cliché and boring and so very much overused, instead use "Aku cinta kamu" or "Aku sayang kamu" That might put up smile on your love ones.