Eight.Eight.Eight

This is actually my assignment that needs to be submitted today, and since i don't have any idea of what to blog about (although i had pending posts hehe) i had decided to share this with my viewers. This is basically on how I acquire my language.

My way of learning language differs from other people too. My first language, which is also my mother tongue, was hardly spoken by me when I was small. This is because my father used to converse to me in English, so do my relatives. When I was 6 years old, I was sent to a Chinese kindergarden. There, I learn how to sing and speak in Mandarin. My teacher was a strict one, and I can still remember the way she used to punish us in class whenever we forgot or did out homework incorrectly. She will draw a circle on the floor and force us to stand there for a long time. In that fear, I acquire Mandarin quite fast and there ended my year of kindergarten.

I was sent to a Malay-based Primary school. There was when I started to use my National language- Bahasa Malaysia a lot. The area which I was staying at that time is surrounded by Malays, and in order to survive and to have friends, I acquired Bahasa Malaysia quite fast and become very fluent. I gradually overlook Mandarin, and forget the language as I do not have anyone to converse in with. I didn’t know the meaning of the famous quote “Use it or lose it” then, at that time or I would have found somebody to talk Mandarin with.

My schooling days played a very crucial role in my choice of language usage. A person who is speaking in English means that they are trying to show off that they are superior. They won’t be accepted in any group of friends at that time. So, I had zero English usage, and I even start to speak in Bahasa Malaysia to my father without him realizing it. Bahasa Malaysia did also turn to be the primary language spoken in my family. My siblings started to converse with each other in Bahasa Malaysia despite receiving tons of scolding from my mother who dislikes the idea of using Bahasa Malaysia in my house. (don't get me wrong, we siblings used b.m so much until the extend of forgetting our own mother tongue hehe)

Time flew off and soon I was in my secondary schooling years. Till I’m in form 2, my bunch of friends consist Malays only. I hardly speak in Tamil and can’t utter a single sentence properly. Then I started to mix with my Indian friends - I used Bahasa Malaysia to speak with them too. With a lot of encouragements and threatening from my seniors, I gradually start to speak in Tamil despite being laughed at my pronunciation. Then my father sent me to learn Tamil from a private tutor. There, I learned how to read and write in Tamil, for almost 3 months. Till to date, although I had improve so much in my spoken Tamil, I still have to spell out Tamil like a standard two student. But I’m still proud as I can speak and read in my mother tongue better than some people.

That's all about me, actually there is more but i had decided not to post all because you might get bored with my grandmother and grandfather stories..hehe, and the reason I'm posting this is to

Welcome 08.08.08!

The Grand Opening Tonight!!!