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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| owshawng Senior Member United States Joined 6829 days ago 202 posts - 217 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 9 of 20 01 December 2007 at 6:03am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Thank you ryuukohito,
I've heard that Malay is an easier language to learn for a native English speaker. I'm thinking about starting to learn it in a year or 2 since I do love the food and have almost been to Malaysia (Singapore twice). That's why I was so interested when I saw Bluejay's Mandarin and Malay log. I thought that could be me in 2009 or so. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| bluejay390 Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6221 days ago 227 posts - 259 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Malay, Italian | Message 10 of 20 01 December 2007 at 7:22pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
Personality, I have found that learning Malay is easier then learning Mandarin. With Malay the grammar is simple and I don't have to worry about tones (I just did a tone exercises and I swear that I am deaf). I actually made a list of all of the links that I use to study Malay. This way I can study during my free time when I am away from my computer. Here is the list if you want to check some sites out. I have wanted to try some Malay food. I'll have to see if that restaurant is close by. Thanks. Do you have any food recommendations? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| owshawng Senior Member United States Joined 6829 days ago 202 posts - 217 votes Speaks: English* | Message 11 of 20 01 December 2007 at 9:33pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Thanks for the links.
I always order an appetizer called rati canai(I think that's the spelling). It's a deep fried bread kind of like a tortilla that you tear into bits and dip into a sauce. The menu is really different from Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai. Lots of choices. I used to order Salted Fish Fried rice but I figured out how to make it at home. Most westerners don't like it due to the heavy fishy and salty flavor. The beef rendang is good and tasted like the one I had in Singapore, but I don't think it comes with vegetables. The last 2 times I've gone I had fish congee which is rice cooked with 4 or 5 times the usual amount of water so it's like a porridge with slices of a white fish and ginger and has a mild flavor. I've also had two noodle dishes. The first was duck and ginger in a house sauce #33 on the menu. The other noodle dish was pork in the same sauce #35 on the menu. They were under the list for noodles. The sauce was great. I think it's Char Siu sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar or honey, and garlic oil (garlic flavor without the bits of garlic). The name of the sauce is 2 words and starts with an m. Can't remember its name. They also make a deep fried taro dish which used the taro as a bowl and they put some kind of seafood combo in it. The chain is in Boston, NYC,and Northern New Jersey, not sure where else. Just remember chicken and duck are served chopped up and still on the bone. So you need to take less aggressive bites since their could be bone fragments in the meat. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| bluejay390 Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6221 days ago 227 posts - 259 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Malay, Italian | Message 12 of 20 02 December 2007 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I spoke Chinese with my cat today. :) The conversation went a little something like this (please correct anything that is wrong):
Me: 你好！你好吗？(Hello! How are you?) The Cat: 。。。(Silence) Me: 我很好，谢谢。你呢？(I am very well, thank you. And you?) The Cat: 。。。(Silence) Me: 我叫Lisa。你是小猫。(I am Lisa. You are a kitty.) The Cat closes her eyes and falls asleep I went back and reviewed Mandarin lessons 1 and 2, and I also made flashcards for lesson 3. Besides that I have not really done much. I reviewed some flashcards and wrote a little something in Malay to celebrate the little bit of snow that we got today. I had to look up some new words so I’m not sure that everything is correct. Please correct anything that you see wrong with my writing. Yang pertama salji turun! :D Saya amat gembira. Saya suka salji. Salji nampaknya amat cantik, yang selimut putih sedang meliputi bumi. Musim sejuk, kegemaran saya musim. Mengapa? Saya suka cuaca sejuk. Saya suka bertelur di katil di bawah selimut panas dan tidur sehari suntuk. Saya suka sedang mencampakkan kucing saya di salji, dan sedang memerhatikan dia mencuba menangkap emping salji. (What would be the right word for snowflake? I got two different answers: emping salji and kepingan salji. And how would you make that plural?) Saya suka api panas. Salji turun suka berkhayal~ Musim sejuk!~ Haiku Musim Sejuk! Cantik salji turun Menukar bumi putih Suka berkhayal 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| furyou_gaijin Senior Member Japan Joined 6329 days ago 540 posts - 631 votes Speaks: Latin* | Message 13 of 20 02 December 2007 at 6:49pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
The Cat is clearly snobbing you and should be suitably punished. Yet this is the most satisfactory dialogue I've read in weeks. :-) Thank you for making my day. :-)))))) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| ryuukohito Bilingual Diglot Groupie Malaysia Joined 6179 days ago 89 posts - 98 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Malay* Studies: French, Japanese | Message 14 of 20 03 December 2007 at 6:46am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Thank you for posting your dialogue with the cat, it was indeed funny :)
Now, on to corrections. -------
I gather that you are trying to say, "Firstly," or "I must mention first". It is unnatural to begin like this in the Malay language. Rather, one usually starts by mentioning the time of when the event happened. E.g. "Salji turun tadi!" (It snowed just now!) "Hari ini salji turun!" (It began snowing today!) However, it is possible to use 'firstly' or 'secondly' like this: "Pertama sekali, ..." or "Yang kedua, ..." Unfortunately, unlike in English, these terms have rather formal connotations in Malay, and are a bit unnatural ('iffy', so to say) to use during informal occasions (such as when one exclaims happiness at the sight of snow).
I see you are attempting a stylistic form of written Malay, and I must commend you for it. Your meaning gets through well. However, I must correct some parts. "Salji nampaknya amat cantik" -> "Salji kelihatan cantik" Explanation: When you say that some object (usually a noun) 'seems' like something, you use 'kelihatan', 'nampaknya' is usually used in colloquial phrases to mean, "Hmm, it seems like..." Also, 'cantik' seems a bit unnatural to use here. In Malay, 'cantik' is usually used to describe people or items that you like. But your use of 'cantik' is perfectly fine, because we do not have snow anyway and it is just that I've never heard anyone say that salji is cantik. (Also, a classier word for 'salji' is 'salju', used in very much the same way as how literature replaces the word 'fire' with 'crimson blaze' for poetic effect, etc.) "Musim sejuk, kegemaran saya musim." -> "Musim sejuk, (adalah) musim kegemaran saya." Explanation: I gather that you were trying to say, "Winter, my favourite season," or "Winter is my favourite season." If so, keep in mind that adjectives always come after the noun in the Malay language. So here, since 'season' is the noun and 'favourite' the adjective, it should be 'musim kegemaran'. The words I put in bracket may be omitted or included as you wish. If it is included it makes the sentence feel a bit more formal. So, the corrected sentence would be: "Saya amat gembira. Saya suka salji. Salji kelihatan cantik, bagaikan selimut putih yang melitupi bumi. Musim salju, musim kegemaran saya." (A not-so-literal translation: "I'm very happy. I love snow. The snow, beautiful as it seemingly is, like a white blanket that covers the earth. The winter... my favourite season.") Note of course, that your sentences seems rather jarring, as one cannot see the flow of reason between them. (i.e. Why are you happy? Because you love snow? Why do you like winter? Because snow is beautiful?)
"Saya suka bertelur"? That is a very weird phrase. What were you trying to say? Literally, the whole phrase means, "I like to lay eggs under hot blankets." "Saya suka sedang"? It translates to "I like while"? Also, 'campak' has the connotation of 'hurl' or 'throw'. I will try to correct the whole sentence for you: "Saya mencampakkan kucing (saya) ke salji, lalu memberi perhatian kepadanya yang sedang cuba menangkap emping salji." (I'm sorry, but I'm not quite sure as to whether 'memerhati' or 'memperhati' (observe) is the more common conjugation, as this is rather formal Malay whose proper usage evades many of us. The dictionary lists down both conjugation as being proper though. However, to be on the safe side, I have substituted it with 'memberi perhatian kepada' (to pay attention to), which sounds very natural.)
The plural would be 'emping-emping salji', whilst 'kepingan salji' can be both plural and singular. "Saya suka api panas." -> "Saya suka api yang panas." Explanation: Although api panas is fine, it's a bit unnatural. It's more natural to say in Malay, "I like the fire that is hot," than "I like hot fire." "Salji turun suka berkhayal"? I do not get the meaning of this sentence.
It's "cantiknya salji turun," then, "Memutihkan bumi," OR "Yang menukar bumi keputihan," then, "Saya suka berkhayal." Of course, by changing all that it beats the 5-7-5 rhythm of a haiku, rendering it a non-haiku, no? Haha! Nice attempt at a haiku though! A commendable effort! Edited by ryuukohito on 03 December 2007 at 6:54am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| bluejay390 Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6221 days ago 227 posts - 259 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Malay, Italian | Message 15 of 20 07 December 2007 at 6:10pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
Really? Wow, I really messed up there, haha. I was trying to say that I like to lie in my bed under the warm blankets and sleep all day. What if I change it to "Saya suka cuaca sejuk, sebab saya boleh tidur sehari suntuk di katil saya di bawah selimut panas." Does that sound better?
I think that I used suka the wrong way there. I think that I was trying to say that the snowfall is like a dream/magic. What if I change it to "Salji turun kelihatan magical." Can you understand it now?
Haha, I had a feeling that my haiku would be completely wrong. I'll stick to writing poetry in English for now. Thank you so much for taking the time to correct everything. Salji Turun - The Edited Version Hari ini salji turun! :D Saya amat gembira kerana hari ini salji turun. Saya suka salji. Salji kelihatan cantik, bagaikan selimut putih yang melitupi bumi. Ah, musim salju... musim kegemaran saya kerana ia kelihatan amat cantik. Saya suka cuaca sejuk, kerana saya boleh tidur sehari suntuk di katil saya di bawah selimut panas. Saya tidak boleh tidur bila cuaca panas. Saya suka mencampakkan kucing saya ke salji, lalu memberi perhatian kepadanya yang sedang cuba menangkap emping-emping salji. Dan, saya suka api yang panas. Salji turun kelihatan magical!~ Haiku... in English! Beautiful snowfall Covering the Earth in white Slow dancing snowflakes Edited by bluejay390 on 11 December 2007 at 6:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| ryuukohito Bilingual Diglot Groupie Malaysia Joined 6179 days ago 89 posts - 98 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Malay* Studies: French, Japanese | Message 16 of 20 14 December 2007 at 8:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Hi bluejay390,
I apologize for answering so late, as I am unavailable during weekdays. Anyway, to answer your questions: 1. "Saya suka cuaca sejuk, sebab saya boleh tidur sehari suntuk di katil saya di bawah selimut panas." That is much better; but a suggestion, perhaps it'd be best to change 'sebab' to 'kerana'. Both mean the same thing; the difference of course being that using the former word ('sebab') is akin to using 'as' instead of 'because' to connect two sentences. Also, use 'di atas katil' (on the bed), and 'dengan/dibaluti selimut panas'. 2. "Salji turun kelihatan magical." That sounds very good; also, the Malay word for 'magical', if you're interested, is 'ajaib'. (Actually, the way you put it, 'salji turun kelihatan magical' is the way nearly all colloquial conversations take place these days. Especially by city people -- it is extremely common to hear an English word or two taking place in nearly all of their conversations.) 3. Corrections, that should make it sound slightly more natural: "Saya suka cuaca sejuk kerana saya boleh tidur sehari suntuk di atas katil saya; juga, kerana saya mempunyai selimut yang panas. Saya tidak boleh tidur langsung apabila cuaca sedang panas. Saya suka melihat dan memerhati kucing yang telah saya campak pada salji cuba menangkap empingan salji. Dan, saya juga suka api yang panas. " Hope that helped. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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