todei my off day. so todei i layan /k, catching up on animes, play game abit... suddenly theres a knock at my house door. open it, i saw one chinese uncle standing in front of my house. he spoke to me in chinese, i replied 'sorry, can you speak in english, i couldnt understand chinese'

he then say 'ah, english ah' and some other chinese words. so thinking that he couldnt speak english, i ask him 'kalau english tak boleh, malay boleh cakap?'... he replied 'ok malay'

the next part shocked me. he couldnt even string a broken malay sentence, let alone a proper one.

unker:- 'bawah ah... bocor'
me:- 'apa yang bocor. gas? air? unker mau saya tolong apa?' (here i tot he was asking me to help him on something)
unker:- 'bukan... *pause* um... air bocor'
me:- 'air bocor? unker punya paip pecah?' (me thinking why call me, call plumber la )
unker:- 'bukan. atas *pointing at ceiling* bocor'
me:- (confused, just now say bawah bocor, now atas bocor... )

seeing that im confused, he whipped out his phone, and show me some photo. turns out the water from my toilet is leaking into his unit

so i ask him whether i can look at it (the unit) myself.

me:- 'boleh saya tengok kah?'
unker:- 'tengok?'
me:- 'tengok itu leaking'
unker :- 'tengok itu leaking?'
me:- 'saya mau tengok (pointing at my eyes) itu bocor'
unker:- 'ahh... okok'

we went to his house, i inspect the leaking, and took some picture. while looking around, i ask him
me:- 'unker, u orang malaysia?'
unker:- ya orang malaysia
me:- sudah lama tinggal kl?
unker :- 'tinggal kl?'
me:- gave up trying to speak to unker

this makes me think.. how this unker, cant speak english, barely even understand malay, can live in malaysia for so long? in my line of work, i sometimes meet rural ppl who cant to speak english, or malay, but can at least speak either one of the language. but this is the 1st time i meet someone who struggles with both language

srsly, how this unker survive in malaysia for so long, in the heart of KL sumore? and why he struggles with BM and english? he never went to school?

or hes a PRC?
As a proof that i am not simply opening a racial baiting thread, this is the water leaking photo

This post has been edited by kurangak: Jan 15 2020, 12:30 PM

nope. not chinese. tho ive been mistaken as chinese alot of time, coz the area im currently living is a chinese area.

dun understand

how they survive?!

dun tell me they never deal with JPJ, or JPN before?

tak faham

but he looks like, 50+ only oh... dun tell me he only live among chinese, never mingles with other race?

but how come cant even speak at least malay? he only interact with chinese his whole life, never mingles with other races?

This post has been edited by kurangak: Jan 15 2020, 01:22 PM

im not making fun!! im just wondering, how u live in malaysia for so long, but barely can speak english and malay... if hes early teen or just entering adulthood, i can understand abit la... but 50+ old unker oh!!

u telling me he never speak with other races his whole entire life?

hes not that old... prolly 50+, 60 tops.

i suspect that too

sabah sarawak or rural area, i can understand la... but in heart of kl, cant speak english or malay, how he survive? bring translator everywhere?

this is typical for ppl who lives in rumah panjang their whole entire life. close community, minimal interaction with outsiders, understandable la. i oso met a few before.

but how he deal with JPN, JPJ, or any govt body, bring translator everywhere?

so no driving license? correct me if im wrong, JPJ test only conducted in Malay, rite?

i lived in a non english speaking country before. so i know the hardship of not understanding anything the natives speak. hence i took the effort of learning their language, at least enough so that so that i can speak my way out if im in a pinch.

sign language can help u to an extent. but what if ure stopped by police, or u need to go to a dr, or explain anything that cant be interpreted using sign language? bring translator everywhere? hard oh...

how about when they are young? bring translator everywhere?

but in MALAYSIA oh...how he survive? can barely understand malay? if can understand, but hard to string a malay/english sentences, ive met plenty before,

dis one, malay and english can barely understand?

but not to this extent. u live in a country for so long, u gonna pick their language, one way or another..

dis one, english cannot, malay oso struggles to understand...

thats a different issue altogether

how u know im not irked about that?

yes, i understand that. the one i cant understand, u live for so long in malaysia, still struggles to understand malay, if dunno english, can blame on education, but dun even understand malay, how u survive for so long? why struggles instead of learning the language?

sa tau boss.. banyak kali suda sa jumpa... masalahnya not to this extent...

pls explain to me what hes trying to say

sharing my exp, and asking view, how he survives for so long in malaysia without understanding malay,..

not everything revolves around racial politic u know

u missed the point of my reply

i know the struggles of not understanding the spoken language in my daily life. hence i at least try to learn the basics.

in the end i still struggles to speak, but i at least understand the language,

this unker, live for so long in malaysia, not understanding malay or english, he just tahan with the struggle?

kawan, do u know everybody who lives in ur whole neighbourhood/building?

plus, he didnt live there. im sure coz that unit was empty for a long time. he prolly realised the water was leaking coz hes inspecting the unit, before renting it out or something

sa tau ba... tapi belum pernah sa jumpa, orang struggle faham bm... kalau struggle becakap mmg banyak, tapi struggle mau faham? ni 1st time sa jumpa oh boss...

eh, i know who live on my floor ok

yes, i understand that... but in the heart of kl? how do u live ur whole life without picking up at least a bit of the spoken language?

i srsly not mocking him la

im just wondering, why he choose to struggle instead of learning, and how he lives his daily lives, since ive been in his shoe before; struggling to understand the spoken language