Rojak Language

An example of Malaysia's Rojak language (Bahasa Rojak), taken randomly from a Malaysian forum.

A common signboard in Malaysia.

Rojak Language or Bahasa Rojak is a Malaysian term, literally meaning "mixed-up language" in Malay, to define a person who code-switches between 2, 3, 4 or more languages in a conversation similar to pidgin, Manglish and Singlish. The base language, however is Malay.

History

Rojak Language of Malaysia can be traced from the early Malacca of Parameswara at year 1402, an international port where more than 80 languages from a variety of cultures were spoken. Worldwide traders, settlers and original dwellers speaking multiple languages in a coversation was so common. According to Encyclopedia of Malaysia (vol. Languages and Literature), this was part of the contact languages, a pidgin, known in modern Malaysia as Rojak Language. The uniqueness of Rojak Language is in its code-switching style, a person who speaks Rojak Language may begin with Bahasa Malaysia and then continue with English, then mixed one or two words in Cantonese, garnished with Tamil and finished with Mandarin or some fashionable Japanese words. During Parameswara's time, when two groups of traders without a shared language met, they would speak any possible languages to get the best results in understanding each others, and the result may be a pidgin or Rojak. To understand the origin of Rojak Language of Malaysia, one may need to read the history of Malaysia especially the Malacca of Parameswara. In the early 1500s, Portuguese visitor Tome Pires found in Malacca "Moors from Cairo, Mecca, Aden, Abyssinians, men of Kilwa, Malindi, Ormuz, Parsees, Rumes, Turks, Turkomans, Christian Armenians, Gujaratees, men of Chaul, Dabhol, Goa, of the kingdom of Deccan, Malabars and Klings, merchants from Orissa, Ceylon, Bengal, Arakan, Pegu, Siamese, men of Kedah, Malays, men of Pahang, Patani, Cambodia, Champa, Cochin China, Chinese, Lequeos, men of Brunei, Lucoes, men of Tamjompura, Laue, Banka, Linga, Moluccas, Banda, Bima, Timor, Madura, Java, Sunda, Palembang, Jambi, Tongkal, Indragiri, Kappatta, Menangkabau, Siak, Arqua (Arcat?), Aru, Bata, country of the Tomjano, Pase, Pedir, Maldives...". These peoples come to Malacca with junks, pangajavas and ships, and by 1511, Malacca had a population of 50,000 people, including a resident trade community that spoke 84 languages.

Issues with Bahasa Rojak

Bahasa Rojak is widely used especially by Malaysian urban youths, which triggers fears and concerns about the correct usages of Malay language. Recently, the government of Malaysia decided to empower the correct usage of Malay language, especially in the private sector, by discouraging the usage of Bahasa Rojak. For example, TV3 recently changed the name of Karnival Sure Heboh into Karnival Jom Heboh as a result of public concern.

Comic magazines are often blamed for the usage of Bahasa Rojak, and this issue is often debated. Words or phrases written in Bahasa Rojak are often printed in boldface to enable readers to identify them. In particular, by the end of 2003, Gempak magazine began using a more formal language style and minimizing Bahasa Rojak occurrences.

Bahasa Rojak (Malay mixed English)

* Kau memang terror la! - You're really great! / You're really daring!
* Awek tu cun siot! - That girl is very hot (beautiful/cute)!
* Tempat makan ni best sangat! - This food court is really cool!

Bahasa Rojak (English mixed Chinese)

* Can meh? That one can like that meh?
* Tonight ar we'all go KLCC, after that we'all can go Cheong Kor (singing) mah.

Bahasa Rojak (Malay mixed English and Chinese)

* Eh boss cakap ar, after makan ah, we'all go mabuk, want or not, once in a while only mah, taikah happy mah, ok.

Education system in Malaysia

Rojak Language controversy

In modern Malaysia, Rojak Language is a highly controversial topic, as language purists accuse it was merely bad use of English and may cause a crisis in language proficiency. They fear that graduates will lack proper writing and speaking skills should the practice continue. A suggested way to avoid this perceived use of bad language is to speak pure Bahasa Malaysia in one whole sentence without other languages. This will conserve the grammar of the component language. After one sentence, the speaker may continue with another language. However for the poverty-stricken and students of rural schools, usually the only way to practice the English language is to speak to villagers. With themselves having a poor grasp of the language, it gives listeners a direct impression of Rojak Language. This is also a phenomenon that is spreading to the cities.

Jangan lupa diri

"Do not forget your roots" or "Jangan lupa diri" is commonly heard among Malaysian rural and urban areas. This is a phrase that states that regardless of race, each should have their own roots and ancestral origin to protect, own schools to build and own languages to speak, although this is racialist. In 2002, Tun Dr. Mahathir proposed that English be 'a tool' to obtain knowledge in the sciences and mathematics, as part of education in Malaysia.

Colonial immigrants

4 languages on random signboards of Malaysia

The British brought in large numbers of immigrants from China and India in between late 1700s to mid 1900s. Local Malays, Orang Asli, Baba Nyonya, Portuguese settlers, others and together with newly arrived Chinese and Indians resulted in the wide use of mix languages.