Over the years, I have picked up languages, little by little. And for me, knowing about different languages has helped me to build bridges and relationships with many groups of people throughout different stages of my life. 

Growing up, my language environment at home was quite diverse. I was exposed to a lot of English, which my parents spoke at home. Sometimes, Mandarin was spoken at home, but less so. Besides English and Mandarin, I was also exposed to Hokkien at home as my grandparents stayed with my family until I was in Primary 2. Unfortunately, I did not learn much Hokkien from them, and mainly spoke in Mandarin to them. I could only utter short phrases or sentences in Hokkien to them, such as “jiak ba liao (吃饱了)!” (Ate already!). 

While it was probably a conscious decision by my parents not to teach me Hokkien, I regret not learning Hokkien early in life. I often ended up using Mandarin for most daily interactions in Chinese, seldom replying to others with short Hokkien phrases. Yet, there have been times where I reply to seniors in Hokkien, and they become happier to hear my limited Hokkien.  

In secondary school, I became friends with somebody who belonged to a common online community related to buses. (Yes, I have been interested in buses since I was young!) He introduced me to Cantonese music and Hong Kong dramas that he watched and listened to, and I slowly started listening to Cantonese music on my own. I also attempted to pick up a little Cantonese, although I currently can only utter short phrases without switching to Mandarin. Fortunately, there was once when I managed to give directions in Cantonese to somebody when I holidayed in Kuala Lumpur! 

Besides knowing limited Hokkien and Cantonese, I have surprised people by speaking and writing in yet another language: Malay. In fact, I consider Malay to be my third language after English and Mandarin, on the virtue of my frequent usage of Malay almost daily. Additionally, I listen to Malay pop songs daily, with my favourite Malay singers including Arni Om and Nora. 

While often a stylistic shift, I have used basic Malay to communicate with different groups of people I jumpa (Malay for meet), including my Malay friends and colleagues, as well as Malay hawker stall owners. In addition, I sometimes greet Malay bus captains (BCs) in Malay and have even made some BC friends through my greetings to them! 

In Malaysia, while I can often get by using English, being able to speak and understand Malay has often come in handy. Similar to how I managed to give directions in Cantonese, being able to speak in Malay allows me to give directions to others who also speak Malay, including Malay Grab drivers. Additionally, speaking in Malay helps me to communicate better with Malay shop assistants, who often become friendlier towards me due to my knowledge of Malay. 

While some of my peers do speak Malay, including my non-Malay friends, many of my friends are surprised to hear me speaking in Malay, or a mix of English and Malay. Besides hearing me speak in Malay, another thing surprising to them is how I only began learning Malay intensely in the second semester of Year 1 in university, after several years of wanting to pick up the language. 

In my journey of learning Malay, there has been many struggles. Owing to a lack of knowledge of Malay vocabulary, and struggling in knowing what to say, I often speak slower than my Malay friends, and sometimes stumble in my speech. The road to learning Malay as a non-native speaker is still steep for me! 

Yet, despite these changes, the benefits of learning Malay have been tangible. Through my usage of Malay, I have had warmer and friendlier conversations with both friends and strangers alike. Additionally, I have written posts on social media in Malay, albeit often in combination with English and sometimes Mandarin Chinese. My multilingual posts, and particularly my usage of Malay, have fascinated many friends who view my Instagram and Facebook posts, and compliment my Malay speaking and writing skills. 

While becoming an effective communicator in Malay will be a lifelong journey, I am blessed that learning Malay has helped me to have closer relationships with my Malay friends and has given me a chance to engage with native Malay speakers more effectively and intimately. With Malay continuing to be an important lingua franca (“bridging language” between speakers of different native languages) in the region, I hope that my endeavours in Malay will continue to reach new heights, and that I may one day know how to write, speak and know Malay the best way I can. 

Indeed, languages are bridges across cultures, ethnicities, and ages. Just like food, languages provide a common ground for all of us to unite and be harmonious as a society. With Singapore’s uniquely multilingual society, knowing different languages is a blessing that ties everyone together. And it is on this note that I hope you may appreciate the power of multilingualism, one way to a person’s heart just like food (yum!).  

Makasih kerana baca pos ini! (Thank you for reading this post!)  

Regards,
Adik Andrew 

This post was written by our intern, Andrew. Andrew is a Year 2 Linguistics and Multilingual Studies student with a Second Major in Theatre and Drama, likes to wear many hats, and speaks English and Mandarin, some Hokkien and Cantonese, and basic Malay.

Multilingual Memories is a collection of stories about our experiences learning language growing up as a bi- or multilingual! Childhood is when most of us start learning languages, and we think that it would be fun to reminisce about those memories together. Want to read more Multilingual Memories? Click here!

At BLIP Lab, we’re keen on investigating these language mixes at home! If you have a child between the ages of 0-4 years old, we’d love to invite you on our journey to understand more about this. Click here to know more about the Baby Talk-a-thon: https://blogs.ntu.edu.sg/blip/baby/talkathon/

We’re also on Instagram @bliplabntu – follow us there!