Ni bu xiang chi fan ma?

If you’re not a Mandarin speaker, have you ever wanted to know what your friends are saying? Maybe it’s the kaypoh Singaporean self in me—but I’ve always been curious. Of course, we all might know the basic Mandarin words because of how they’re inserted in our everyday use of Singlish—like hao or mei you—but when they speak in full sentences, my ears feel itchy and I simply must know what they’re talking about.

When I noticed that my university was offering Mandarin as an elective, I immediately took up the opportunity to learn. And I never regretted a second of it! (My friends even asked if I was studying Psychology or Chinese because of the amount of effort I’m putting into the latter—oops.) I’m also currently learning Korean and Japanese by myself, besides having learnt Arabic since primary school, French during my diploma course, and having Malay as my Mother Tongue language (if my grandmother were still alive, maybe I would’ve picked up Javanese too! My mom only ever uses it when she’s scolding us.)

I guess language has always been interesting to me  as I enjoy meeting new people. For me, it’s a tool that closes the gap between people who come from a different linguistic background. Plus, it’s fun! Knowing languages came in handy while I was studying in Australia because I made a lot of friends through attending language classes and through speaking in others’ languages while playing badminton—besides, I love how surprised my friends are when I say tasukete onegaishimasu [please help me] or i noraega neomu johda [I love this song] when they least expected it. (Although my friend did ask me—teasingly—to stop speaking to him in Mandarin because my pronunciation was so bad.)

While English can be used as a common language with most people these days,  I still find that communicating with others in their mother tongue bridges people together on a deeper level. Maybe it’s because I would feel the same way too if someone starts talking to me in Malay! It’s like language is a part of my identity, and when someone shows that they’re familiar with that part of me, I naturally feel comfortable around them 🙂