Introduction Post

[orchidfire]

So we've gotten a lot of members really quickly, and, as I'm still getting the community set up, I figured that we could introduce ourselves (if you guys want to). :)

Some relevant fields to include in the comments, perhaps:

Name/Alias:
Location:
Native language:
Other language(s): It would be helpful to mark the languages as languages you're proficient in, learning, or simply interested in.
Linguistic background and interests: Could be an academic linguistics background, or just stuff about language and languages you like geeking out about, or that you find language and languages to be a fun hobby. Interpret this in whatever way you'd like.
Anything else:

Code/Form:
<b>Name/Alias:</b> <b>Location:</b> <b>Native language:</b> <b>Other language(s):</b> <b>Linguistic background and interests:</b> <b>Anything else:</b>

Have fun! You are totally welcome to strike up conversation with other members; that's what this post is for, after all!

Comments

[horusporus]

Well, Malaysian Malay and Indonesian are basically sister languages, sharing the same linguistic roots, with standard Indonesian being influence more by Javanese, reflecting the difference in the ethnic componsition of both countries. Certainly the textbook forms of both are very similar, not the least of which due to the efforts of Malay Archipelago countries language... bureaus (rather like France's Academie Francaise) to standardise the language (the countries involved are Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore; not too sure about the Philippines). So... that's the long answer. :D In short, yes, I understand Indonesian ESPECIALLY if it's textbook Indonesian. The problem comes when it's casual/spoken/slang - it's not unlike the communication breakdown that happens between British and American people, lol.

[orchidfire]

Ah, okay. That's really interesting—I get to study abroad in Southeast Asia (Singapore and Thailand) this summer, and I'm just floored by the linguistic diversity there. Discovering Singlish made my nerdbits so happy. XP

[horusporus]

omg, sweet! If you can speak Singlish, you can totally speak Manglish! (i.e. Malaysian English... or mangled English, hahahaha) How's your mastery of the -lah? :D

[orchidfire]

Oh, I mean, I discovered it, but I didn't actually learn it... I was just staring at the page on Wikipedia going, "omg! omg! omg! THIS IS SO AMAZING."

I'm guessing the -lah functions in a similar way as the sentence-final particles in Chinese, which don't really mean anything, but just add this flair to your sentence. :P

[horusporus]

lol, that is so not true-lah! :D

[orchidfire]

Haha, I can't tell if that's being said in jest or seriously... :P

[horusporus]

let's go with half of a dozen and six of twelve. :P

(but yes, the -lah is used in most instances as an emphasis syllable.)

[orchidfire]

Haha, okay. Yeah, Chinese has a bunch of them, and I think Japanese have even more that divide along gender lines too... people outside of Asian languages get so confused by them XP

[horusporus]

mmm indeed. A lot of the Chinese verbal tics (as I'd call 'em) has been absorbed into Manglish/Singlish.

Oh man, I better stop hijacking this post!

[orchidfire]

Haha! It's totally okay; I was planning on replying to everyone's threads, but I was procrastinating on it until I saw yours and was like "o hay!" :P