おいしい米

 

Oishii Okome

That what it says on the brown paper. "Oishii Okome" and if you stay in Japan without knowing this simple word you might die of starvation. That writing means Yummy Rice.

The Japanese don't go about writing in two languages. You take it or leave it. This is their country, nobody has any right to tell them to write in any other language except their own Nippon-go.

Right, that is the rice I use. I like the packing, brown paper. True paper, not some indissoluble, non-biodegradable that will take up to 30 years to blend in with the soil. I keep those brown paper, they don't come easy nowadays.

You see the writing on the packing says "Okome". Rice in its original form is called kome or to say politely O-kome. But when you cooked it, it transforms into gohan. This means you don't go around saying "I finished my okome". That is very native and a big insult to the Japanese because they want to laugh in your face but due to the pressure of keeping polite, they have to keep that straight face. This kind of prevention into making a joke out of you is like a big insult to them.

Another thing about rice is that man says it in another way. Like going to the toilet. Men go their way and women go another way. Same with rice. Men says it "ku". But warning to the ladies, however manly you want to be, do not say "ku, ku'! The ladies saying it sound more like pigeons nesting their eggs.

There goes some Japanese language tip.

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Sa-bisu

Tree House Diner going towards Naha Airport (pic. by google)

After paying for my grocery, I saw a counter with coffee machine and some cups. On the counter was written "Service Counter". It has been a while I haven't been to this shop. I feel some things have changed.
I asked a shop assistant walking passed, "kofi wa legi de harau desuka" (do I pay at the cashier for the coffee?)"
She said, "sa-bisu deshou"!
Sa-bisu to mean "service".
When you send you car for service, that means you are doing a service for your car. So when the Japanese says sa-bisu to you it means they are doing you a service. Basically, service means free. No payment.
If you want something free, you don't say, "Give me free!"
You say, "sa-bisu kudasai!"
This is English Japanese. A kind of English only the Japanese understand.

At the counter, two elderly couple were sipping the sa-bisu kofi. As I approached I asked the lady, "tsumetai desuka" meaning is it cold?
I got from her, "hotto kohi!"
Hah, hot coffee! I should have used English in the first place, I told myself, feeling small.


See? Who says the Japanese cannot speak English. They speak English very well.

Buraku Hotto kofi sa-bisu beri naisu! (Strange but true, this is English!)

*****

Kui

"Mano poi eh kui padi dopan ghumah?"

Setakat ini, belum ada orang berani menjawab soalan ini apabila saya masukkan di dalam Facebook.

Mungkin ini kerana:

1] Ada pembaca beranggapan ayat ini bukan dalam Bahasa Melayu.

2] Ada pembaca tidak faham Bahasa Noghori.

3] Ada pembaca faham Bahasa Noghori tapi tak tahu apa itu "kui".

4] Ada pembaca memang faham Bahasa Noghori dan tahu pula makna "kui" tapi memang tak tahu jawapan pada soalan ini.

Satu lagi tentang usul-usul perkataan.

"Beca" berasal dari Bahasa Inggeris yang dicampur-adukkan dari perkataan "rickshaw".
Tapi "rickshaw" bukan juga berasal dari bahasa Inggeris.

"Rickshaw" keluar dari lidah cair yang mengalir dari perkataan asal "ricksya".

"Ricksya" pula dipendekkan dari perkataan "jinrikisya!"
　
"Jinrikisya" atau 人力車 (bahasa Jepun) yang bermaksud 人　orang, 力 tenaga, 車　kereta. Cantumkan menjadi orang-tenaga-kereta.

Huraiannya menjadi kereta yang mengguna tenaga orang...beca!

"Mano poi eh kui padi dopan ghumah?"

*******

Anata to iru kagiri...

Lagu dwibahasa. Dua buah negara yang membanggakan bahasa ibunda.
Mu buat lagumu, ku buat laguku tapi kita gabung bersama.
Mu tak rugi, ku pun tak rugi.

Kita win-win.

Kata SatuMalaysia? Satukanlah...

********

Tatkala bahasa terpinggir...

Saya dilantik sebagai ahli penel temuduga untuk Jabatan Sumber Manusia Negeri Okinawa.

Mereka akan menaja seorang peserta ke Malaysia untuk menjalani kursus Masters selama dua tahun dalam program Pelancongan.
Setelah tamat kursus ini, peserta tersebut diharapkan dapat memperkenalkan pulau ini sebagai salah satu destinasi pelancongan yang menarik untuk rakyat Malaysia.
Duit rakyat akan dicurahkan kepada peserta ini sebanyak hyakuman setahun (lebih kurang RM3,200 /bulan) dan kursusnya berlangsung selama 2 tahun.

Peserta ini pernah belajar di sebuah kolej di Petaling Jaya selama 4 tahun. Pembelajarannya selama empat tahun di KL itu menggunakan hanya BI.

Saya bertanya kepada peserta ini kenapa memilih belajar lagi di Malaysia.
Katanya senang!
Semua pelajaran dijalankan dalam BI. Lagi pun kawan-kawannya bercakap dalam BI. Tak perlu membuang masa lagi belajar BM.

Saya minta beliau menyebut perkataan Melayu yang beliau masih ingat. Beliau menyebut nasi ayam, makan, air, ikan.

Adakah selama empat tahun, itu sahaja perkataan yang beliau tahu?

Bandingkan dengan pelajar-pelajar Malaysia yang belajar di Jepun selama empat tahun.
Mereka membawa balik ke Malaysia kemahiran Bahasa Jepun!

Saya tanya apa yang bagus sangat di Malaysia.
Peserta kata dia suka orang Malaysia yang laid-back, yang tak fussy.

Saya tanya lagi apa yang dimaksudkan dengan tak fussy.

Peserta itu menjelaskan bahawa orang Malaysia tak kisahkan apa-apa. Tak kisahkan masa, tak kisahkan bahasa. Itu senang, katanya.

Peserta itu menyatakan kalau dia belajar di negara Thai, dia harus belajar bahasa Thai. Sama juga negara-negara lain tapi untuk negara Malaysia, tak perlu belajar BM!

Saya terdiam. Mengeluh dalam batin.
Jengkel betul. Benci bukan kepada peserta itu. Jengkel kepada sikap orang Malaysia.

Orang Malaysia rugi betul.

Mana hilangnya maruah orang Malaysia sehingga begini tanggapan anak-anak muda dari negara lain.

Universiti Ryukyu di pulau ini mengadakan kelas bahasa Thai, kelas bahasa Indonesia, kelas bahasa Cina, kelas bahasa Sepanyol, kelas bahasa Perancis tapi tak ada kelas bahasa Melayu.

Agaknya pihak Malaysia sendiri memandang BM tidak penting.
Mana salahnya kita?

Saya di Okinawa. Hidup saya di Malayisa hanya beberapa tahun sahaja. Saya tidak bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu lagi di sini dan saya terasa sangat kehilangan sesuatu yang sungguh berharga. Sebab itu saya mengambil kesempatan menulis dalam Bahasa Melayu di blog ini untuk terus menghidupkannya di pulau ini.
Tidak ada apa yang saya boleh banggakan darihal bahasa Melayu lagi. Apa yang ada pada bahasa Melayu, jika pelajar yang pergi ke Malaysia pun tidak perlu belajar BM?

Kata-kata "Tidak hilang Melayu (Baca:BM) di dunia", sudah tidak relevan.

Bahasa Melayu sudah pun separuh hilang.

Mungkin orang Melayu sendiri tidak sedar hal ini.
Mereka tidak sedar.
Mereka betul-betul tidak sedar (kecuali beberapa orang sahaja!).

*********

Tatkala momo itu momo...

Japanese proverb

Sumomo mo momo mo momo no uchi

********

Can you say the whole proveb with a straight lip?

Literally, if you take the sentence it means.

Prune and apricot are both from the peach family.

***********

Cuba baca peribahasa Jepun di atas itu dengan bibir yang lurus. Mustahil!

Prun pun aprikot pun dari keluarga pic.

****************

Dancing the word tyme

I am writing in three languages. Sometimes, I feel my head is so bogged with words and terminalogy of all the three languages that I can't feel the head exist anymore.
Sometimes, I touched my head just to make sure it is still there.
All the mixture of word floats in my head, searching for an opening, wanting to be free but the thing is, there is NO EXIT POINT!
I am so frustrated when those words refused to come out of its comfortable and warm zone. Hard as I tried to force it out.
Otto suggested I danced, so the words would slowly seep out of this body.
No, that is out. Way out.
Otto reminded me to bring back all those dancing steps and movements that I learnt every week when I was 37 and 38 years young.
That time, after learning every new dance routine, I would do the whole performance for Otto. He'd loved to see me dancing. Though he never comment anything. He would just sit and looked at me dancing away and stay quiet that way.

The video below is one of the dance routine I did minus the IPOD, of course. Where in the world would one have an IPOD at that time? Those time, the latest in-thing is the WalkMan with the big CD player hanging on the belt.
Now, instead of dancing, I'm very contend to just listen to the fast beat. I do shake from the belt up but that is so minimal.

Talking about languages, tell me the name of a vegetable that sound almost alike in all these three languages (Bahasa Malaysia, English and Japanese).

Bad mispelling

The holiest city for the Muslims is Makkah-tul-Mukarramah.

It is not "Mecca".

Saudi Arabia had officially changed the spelling of the name of this city to "Makkah" a few years ago after realizing the derogatory usage of the word by the Western media and Western authors.

The word MECCA means "Sharab Khaana/(whisky house)".
So let all of us careful when writing the word "MECCA".


It has been observed that most of us write "MOSQUE" for "Masjid" and even calling it as Mosque in daily routine.
What elders and teachers say that the word "MOSQUE" means
the house of mosquitoes.
So lets be careful, the next time instead of writing mosque, please write MASJID.

Many people, whose names start with MUHAMMAD/Mohamad/Mohammad, write in a short form as "Mohd". This "Mohd" means "A dog which has a big mouth".

The above advice is given by an arab brother, Dr. Mohamad Ismail, staying in Eygpt.

Bahasa Jepun 2

Blog ini juga ada buat Belajar Bahasa Jepun Hankitae

Irashai mase.............Selamat datang (penjual atau jurujual di kedai)

Yokoso irashi mase.......Selamat datang (untuk kawan atau tetamu dari luar negara)

wakarimasen..............tak tahu, tak faham (bahasa resmi)
wakara nai...............tak tahu, tak faham (bahasa tidak resmi)

sumimasen................(bila minta perhatian),(bila minta maaf kesalahan kecil), (bila menghargai jasa baik yg kecil seperti diberi laluan dulu atau dibukakan pintu)

Gomenasai................Ma'af (kesalahan besar)

Domo sumimasen...........(minta maaf kesalahan kecil-resmi), (terima kasih)

Itadakimasu..............(bila memulakan makanan)

Gochiso sama deshita......(bila habis makanan...ditujukan pada orang yang memberi makanan-orang rumah atau orang yg meyiyapkan makanan-di kedai)

Okawari shimasu...........(bila nak minta tambah makanan)

Onaka ga ippai desu.......(bila dah kenyang)

Onaka ga sukimashita......(bila perut lapar)

Ikaga desu ka?.............How? What (about you?) (bila menanyakan nak tambah makanan)

Iie, kekko desu...........(bila menolak tambah makanan)

Bahasa Jepun 1

Daily expressions (word in bracket is optional)

ohayo (gozaimasu)................selamat pagi (use until 10 am)

konnichiwa.......................hello-selamat siang (use from 10 am til sundown)

kombanwa.........................selamat petang

sayonara.........................selamat tinggal

ja mata..........................jumpa lagi

oyasumi..........................selamat malam (addressing children)

oyasumi nasai....................selamat malam (addressing somebody older)

(domo)arigato (gozaimasu)........terima kasih

ogenki desu ka...................apa khabar?

genki desu-arigato...............baik-terima kasih

omedeto (gozaimasu)..............tahniah

do itashimashite.................sama-sama (jawab pada terima-kasih)

chotto matte (kudasai)...........tunggu kejap

dozo.............................silakan, sila awak dulu

dame............................ tak boleh

gambatte (kudasai)...............cuba sedaya upaya

shitsurei shimasu................tumpang lalu, tumpang tanya.