I'm of mix descendants from Hokkien and Cantonese families. You would think that my first words would naturally be one of the Chinese dialects. But they weren't. The first language that I picked up as a toddler was Bahasa Malaysia.
When I was a toddler, Mom and Dad worked out of the country and I was left with my maternal grandparents in JB. They too couldn't look after me full time. So they left me with a nanny who was grandparents' neighbour. My nannies were an elderly malay couple.
Since I spent most of my time being taken care by them, I learned my first words through them. My ability to speak in Malay was a big amusement to my family members. Apparently, these were my "famous" words:
Referring to Mom - Kakak
Referring to a plus-sized Aunt - Becar (besar)
Referring to an emporium - yium
Referring to nasi lemak - naci emak
When whining - Nak ikan, nak ikan!! (Not to eat, but to play with fishes!)
I was also a big time cry baby who can cry an entire flight from KL to JB. Because of this, my aunts nick-named me "ham pau ching" in Cantonese (which translates to cry baby). Hearing this often, I tried to imitate the words and it came out as "empat sen". This is further amusement for everyone.
When I was a toddler, Mom and Dad worked out of the country and I was left with my maternal grandparents in JB. They too couldn't look after me full time. So they left me with a nanny who was grandparents' neighbour. My nannies were an elderly malay couple.
Since I spent most of my time being taken care by them, I learned my first words through them. My ability to speak in Malay was a big amusement to my family members. Apparently, these were my "famous" words:
Referring to Mom - Kakak
Referring to a plus-sized Aunt - Becar (besar)
Referring to an emporium - yium
Referring to nasi lemak - naci emak
When whining - Nak ikan, nak ikan!! (Not to eat, but to play with fishes!)
I was also a big time cry baby who can cry an entire flight from KL to JB. Because of this, my aunts nick-named me "ham pau ching" in Cantonese (which translates to cry baby). Hearing this often, I tried to imitate the words and it came out as "empat sen". This is further amusement for everyone.
As I got older, I started learning Cantonese and English. Though we call ourselves Hokkien, I am challenged in that dialect till now.
..............................................................................................
I don't know when I started picking up the other languages. In fact, I don't even remember Makcik and Pakcik. I was way too young. I only heard of them from my parents and the rest of my family members many years after, when they were no longer around.
If only I had a chance to see them, I would very much like to thank them for sharing their lives with me and for loving me so much. According to my parents, when they took me to live in KL at the age of 2 or 3, the couple was so heartbroken, especially PakCik. He rode on his bicycle as fast as he could to the railway station to see us off. But he was too late, for all he saw was the tail of the train pulling away from the station. And then he cried. That was the last time they ever saw me.
« back home