Of PPSMI and the whole language mix-up

Just a catchy topic to attract you. Gotcha! What actually I'd like to write today is about how confused kids can be when you mix up Malay and English at once.

Story 1:

Do you know why I wanted to become a doctor? The story goes like this. When I was a kid (before I even went to school) my family thought I wanted to be a fireman, or ‘ahli bomba’ in Malay. What I really wanted to be was a ‘bomber’. Yep, bomber as in suicide bomber (except for the suicide part). All because I love this video game called 'bomberman' (it was a classic riff! Phenomenal back then…old school gamers like Ismayudin Ismail would know). So I told my parents: “Dah besar nanti Opie nak jadi bomber!” They must have misinterpreted bomber as ‘ahli bomba’ because every time a fire engine passed by, my parents will say “Opie, tgk tu…bomba! nampak tak?”…and little me would believe that somewhere inside that long, red vehicle, people armed with dynamites are ready to blow up some bad-arses. My parents must be proud thinking that their one and only son aspire to save some lives, courageously putting off fires, sacrificing himself for the sake of strangers. But little did they know, deep inside the little mind of mine, I was secretly planning to blast off bad-arses into smithereens. Just like Mr.Bomberman! But sometime later, my parents (still thinking I'm interested in becoming a fireman) showed me a fireman cartoon show on TV. I was so excited! Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, I waited and waited, but there’s still not a single explosion in sight! Nothing can compare to my disappointment at that time. So, the moment the cartoon show ended, I swore I wouldn’t want to be a bomberman anymore, and become a doctor instead!

Thank you cartoon show, you saved my life!

Owh, I miss this classic riff. 1987? The year I was born!

Story 2:

When I was a kid, I thought that Kenny Rogers was a 'singa'. Yep, ‘singa’ as in Lion King? (Singa means lion in Malay). While we were having dinner at Kenny Rogers, I overheard my parents saying 'Kenny Rogers ni dulu 'singer' tau. Popular zaman mak ayah dulu'. So, since then, I thought Kenny Rogers was formerly a lion, and somehow transformed into a human being. Miracles happen, I thought...just like in Disney movies (beast turns into a prince, frog turns into a prince...owh, it happens all the time, but lion turns into Kenny Rogers?)

Owh, come on...even you cannot tell their difference!