A bunch of politicians and self-appointed defender of Bahasa Malaysia is calling the Malaysian Rulers to rule that Maths and Science in schools must be taught in Bahasa Malaysia. They say, this is to defend the national language.
The problems starts with "Matematik dan Sains". That's Maths and Science in Bahasa Malaysia (BM). BM nowadays is nothing more than a systematic mispelt version of English. "Matematik" was Ilmu Hisab (which was probably from Arabic anyway). "Sains" use to be "Ilmu Alam". Even the word "isu" is from English. "Canggih" has long been replaced by mispelt "sofistikated" or it should be sophisticated. Other words (no pun intended): edisi (edition), kualiti (quality - used to be "mutu"), nasional (national), klinik (clinic), dokumen (document), projek (project), bajet (budget)... and the list goes on.
With so many English words in the Malay language, the language is essentially dead. That's sad. Mind you, I am all for a national language, but it must be preserved. Having it peppered with mispelt words doesn't give it any heart or soul. It's not that there are lack of words in BM that we have to borrow English words. Most words to exist in BM, but the English version just sounds better, I guess. Of course, in Science and Maths - a fair deal of words must be borrowed from "English"...
The problems starts with "Matematik dan Sains". That's Maths and Science in Bahasa Malaysia (BM). BM nowadays is nothing more than a systematic mispelt version of English. "Matematik" was Ilmu Hisab (which was probably from Arabic anyway). "Sains" use to be "Ilmu Alam". Even the word "isu" is from English. "Canggih" has long been replaced by mispelt "sofistikated" or it should be sophisticated. Other words (no pun intended): edisi (edition), kualiti (quality - used to be "mutu"), nasional (national), klinik (clinic), dokumen (document), projek (project), bajet (budget)... and the list goes on.
With so many English words in the Malay language, the language is essentially dead. That's sad. Mind you, I am all for a national language, but it must be preserved. Having it peppered with mispelt words doesn't give it any heart or soul. It's not that there are lack of words in BM that we have to borrow English words. Most words to exist in BM, but the English version just sounds better, I guess. Of course, in Science and Maths - a fair deal of words must be borrowed from "English"...
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