In Plain Words, They Made All The Difference

Malaysia Chinese Standardisation Council vice-president Goh Hin San with a copy of the Hakka dictionary, which was entitled `Learning Bahasa Melayu through Hakka`

Johor Baru, Malaysia - Chinese traders and immigrants who came to Malaya over a century ago relied on small handwritten dictionaries to communicate with the Malays, it was discovered recently.

These special dictionaries contained only Chinese characters and were used to learn simple Bahasa Melayu words and phrases through similar-sounding Chinese characters.

Their usefulness soon saw the immigrants making copies and sharing those among themselves, although each clan, such as the Hakka and Cantonese, would have their own version based on their dialects.

The dictionaries were significant as they marked the early contact established between China and Malaya, or Chinese and Malays in particular, for trade and commerce.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong found out about these unique manuscripts when he was given a Hakka copy of the dictionary by the Tianjin Education Committee during his visit to China recently.

Wee later passed the copy to Goh Hin San, vice-president of the Malaysia Chinese Standardisation Council, who will ensure it is delivered to Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka to be archived.

Goh said there were about 2,500 items in the 76-page dictionary, split into several sections.

"Among the sections are vegetables, fruits, animals, birds and commonly-used verbs. Although the booklet is handwritten and not as glamorous as modern-day dictionaries, it has historical and cultural significance as it reflected the efforts taken by the Chinese from the various provinces in China to establish contact and trading activities with the Malays.

"In fact, many had to work hard to memorise the content of the dictionary before they came to Malaya. From being traders, they slowly settled in the peninsula and became part of the Straits community," he said.

Citing examples from the Hakka dictionary, he said bird was pronounced as "wulong" (burung), goat as "kam min" (kambing), papaya as "wa butek" (buah betik), flower as "bu ngia" (bunga) and crocodile as "wa yia" (buaya).

The council is under the Education Ministry and works to standardise the use of proper Chinese grammar, pronunciations and translations.

Goh said the dictionary was important because there were no schools teaching Bahasa Melayu in China in those days.

He added that the dictionary symbolised an important link in the country‘s race relations.

"The message for the people is that it was not easy for the Chinese and the Malays to establish early contact.

"Therefore, it is only proper for the present generation to cherish the relationship and maintain the friendship built in those days," he said.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my (28 May 2009)

Write your comment !