Hello 411, I'm Nina from Malaysia

[NinaZara]

hello everyone,

I`m Nina. I found this fabulous site yesterday, and I like it alot, especially the esl stories section.

I`m currently doing my final year in Kyushu University (Japan). I have quite a lot of friends from different countries here (which is a blast!), we converse both in English and Japanese. Confusing sometimes, but fun. And oh yes, I`m from Malaysia.

Anyhow, I hope to learn a lot from you guys and enrich my vocabs too. You can also ask me anything about Malaysia or Japan. I will try to answer them.

Nina

[Conchita]

Hello Nina and welcome to the site!

We, too, hope to learn a lot from you.

I've got a riddle for you (it was one of our teenage jokes) -- it doesn't really work in English, since it plays on the French word for 'Malaysian women': 'malaises', which also means 'uneasy or sick feeling', as in English (though it isn't so formal in French).

The riddle is all but solved now (sorry!), but here it goes anyway: What is the only country in the world where men like malaises? I'm afraid it's not very good, but it's the only one I know about your country.

[NinaZara]

Hi Conchita!
Thank you for the riddle, what an interesting one I must say, didn`t expect something like that would come up;).

Anyways, in Malaysia,the word 'malaise' comes from 'malays' (since they have the same pronunciation),which is an english word for 'melayu', one of the many many races in Malaysia.Although we live in peace and harmony there, there are still some who still make racist comment to each other.'Malaise' is one of the name calling that the other races call the malays.

However, I didn`t know that the french made fun of the word too.I never heard of malaises with the meaning of malaysian women.The misconception is that many Malaysians think that 'malaise' means lazy which is again the common word assosiated to the malays.

Be that as it may,on behalf of us who aren't, I beg to differ.(my grandmama from my mother's site is malay and she is more hardworking than me!)Come on! the word doesn't even mean lazy! Or is it because when we are dizzy, it makes us lazy?...they might have a point there. What do you think?

N

[Conchita]

[prezbucky]

Hello, Nina

My "real" (what is real? that's a good question. well... it's "royal" in Spanish. hehe) name is Tom.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[NinaZara]

Conchita,

I don`t think so too..ka ka ka . It`s just that dizzy and lazy rhyme

And Tom,

Conchita mentioned the story of tom alias prezbucky.Which forum was it in? And how may languages do you speak? and what does your signature mean?

Nina

[cornelius]

welcome to the site nina!!!!
_________________
"I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..." - Philippians 3:8

[prezbucky]

Nina

1) The signature is a spoof... but it actually is a song. This is one of the greatest songs ever recorded... I'm sure you'll agree!

http://www.bertc.com/dropkick.htm

2) My online chat-name is about seven years old. I created it (and first used it) at cbs.sportsline.com message boards. I now use it here and at fanssportsboard.com.

Meaning:

prez = president
bucky = Bucky Badger (the University of Wisconsin's mascot -- we're the Wisconsin Badgers, much like Bolton are the Wanderers and Blackburn are the Rovers).

3) Siggy History

In my brief time here I've changed my signature a few times. Here are past signatures I remember using:

- Cheesehead (people from Wisconsin are called Cheeseheads by some other USians)

- Michigan Wolverines vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (#2 vs. #1 at that time) college football game announcement

- BA UW-Madison, MBA Belmont University (that was soooo lame... I didn't know it would be seen by others. When I found out that it was, I changed it.)

4. I only speak one language really fluently, and that is my native tongue (English). I am about two-thirds fluent in Spanish -- I can hold up my end of a conversation, if my counterpart speaks verrrrrry sloooooowly. hehe

I know bits and pieces of Italian and French, and a little bit of German.

I can make a very offensive statement in Cantonese (taught by a college dorm-mate from Shanghai) and can say "I love you" in Russian and a few other languages besides those mentioned above. etc.

So really... I speak 1.67 languages. hehe
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[NinaZara]

Tom,

Thanks for taking the trouble to explain yourself, but what`s siggy? do u mean soggy?

and hey, you and I share one same thing here, I know how to curse in cantonese too, since primary school.Here`s my story.

See, I was only quarter malay, but I was raised fully as one because I`m a muslim. In Malaysia the malays are associated with moslims and it`s really really hard to find a malay who isn`t one. Even my chinese grandmama from my father side of the family doesn`t know a word in chinese, because she`s a muslim and therefore brought up as a malay.

Do you still follow me here? However,as absurd as it may sound, although a muslim, I attended a convent school, St. Theresa, well, a co-ed convent school but was run by nuns and still is I think, so I had a lot of chinese friends, the majority of the pupils.And that`s where I learnt to curse in chinese..

am I boring you yet?anyhow, let me teach you how to say 'I love you' in malay:

Aku cinta kamu-pronounce...akoo chintaa kaamuh

[prezbucky]

"siggy" is an abbreviated/slang form of "signature"

---

I've committed the Malayan version of "I love you" to memory. Thanks for that -- I'll use it soon, and enjoy the dumbfounded look on her face. lol

Then I'll explain the meaning, of course.

As for being a Muslim while being schooled by nuns... was a Bible/Christianity class mandatory (mandatory = required)?

If so, you have the benefit of having studied both the Koran (or Qur'an) and the Bible.

---

Okay, I have no idea how this is correctly rendered in English, so I'll spell it quasi-phonetically. This is what my Chinese dorm-mate taught me:

Doo lay lomo HIGH (hi ; hai)!

Do you comprehend the meaning of that?
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[NinaZara]

Hi Tom,
sorry for the late reply.School has started and now I`m back in the lab.
Thanks for the explaination.Thought I`ve heard it somehere..wait..that`s ciggy! lol

-----

And about being schooled by nuns, it had always came as a normal thing to me until I entered the university (in peninsular malaysia,i`m from the east side) where the integrity amongst the races, well may I say,wasn`t that great. My muslims friends (from the peninsular)were shocked to hear that I actually attended church and learnt lessons from the bible.

I won`t put it as mandatory but I remember taking lessons in the church twice a week(or more than that,I don`t quite remember) and owning a bible under my desk.But I have always known that I`m a muslim because I studied the koran since I was 4. My environment was very islamic, after lunch I was sent to madrasah (to learn islamic teachings) and in the evening after the maghrib prayer I recited the koran with my koran teacher (on the weekdays and with my dad on the weekends)

The reason my parents sent me to the school was merely geographic. And it was a normal thing to do at that time, regardless the faiths. I don`t think my parents were particularly worried about my being confused but I remember my father did ask me to recite an ayat(prayer from the koran) before entering the church.but of course, I always forgot..ha ha.

See, for a 6-year-old muslim girl, a church is like a museum. It felt so different, so mysterious, so exciting.It even smelled different. I remember being awed and I couldn`t close my mouth when I first saw the statue of Jesus and I remember how excited I sounded when I told my father about my first experience in the church and my elder sister yawning and belittling my stories because she was so used to it...ha ha.

As for having the benefit of learning both koran and bible, I guess in terms of being more tolerant and understanding, yes.In terms of knowledge, maybe a little(come on! I couldn`t even remember everything I learnt from the koran). But one thing for sure, I can see clearly which is arab which is islam and which is culture and which is religion.

-----
I think I know what it means(naughty naughty you) but can`t comprehend the HIGH part.Hey, I was a lot younger than you when I learn`t curisng in chinese, I guess I wasn`t up to your level..

[prezbucky]

I don't even know what it means, Nina... that dude never did tell me.

He just said that it was bad.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Lucien_Librarian]

A very warm welcome from me too, Nina! I've held an interest in Japan and its culture for quite some time, even before it became fashionable among youngsters because of the rise of popularity of Japanimation or Anime and Manga in the West. Japan has a long and interesting history, quite strange and exceptionally cruel in parts, but then that's true for every country's history, when examined closely. I also know a few basic Japanese terms, like "Konnichi-wa? Watashi-wa doitsu-jin" but I still have a lot of work to do on my vocabulary and understanding of grammar. Would never dream of learning Kanji, of course.. Sayonara Ralf
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Life, the Universe and Everything = 42

[NinaZara]

Tom,
let me give you a hint. It has something to do with the f word and the m word.Got it?

--------

Hello Ralf,
hajimemashite, Mareishia kara no nina desu. Yasashi kotoba arigataku kokoro kara omottemasu.
(Please to meet you, I`m nina from malaysia. Thank you for the warm welcome.)
It may sounds weird in English but we always tell people where we belong(it can be our country, school or anything at all) everytime we introduce ourselves.
So you`re from Germany? I heard it`s a beautiful country and the shops close at 5 o`clock, is it true?
Any plan on coming to Japan? further your study perhaps?I`m doing my final year now but I`ve got a job offer from an electronic company so I`ll be staying here perhaps two more years, maybe five (still negotiating with my mother..ha ha)
Anyways, don`t be intimidated by kanjis..,they are not as difficult as they seem to be. Once you get used to memorizing it, it will be easier.

Jya, mata ohanashi shimashou!
(talk to you later!)

[prezbucky]

Yeah, wow, I've got it.

I'll make sure I use it sparingly.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.