New spelling in Malay

When Kamus Dewan 4th Edition was published, you will find that some words are given new spelling. These include jawaban (previously jawapan), pelihatan (previously penglihatan) and pelibatan (previously penglibatan). However, the old spelling of each word is still printed and can be used for the time being. For the understanding of international readers, jawaban means answer, pelihatan means eye-sight and pelibatan means involvement.

Some other common errors in spelling committed by users of the Malay language are perletakan (which should be peletakan), and perlantikan (which should be pelantikan). I shall now explain why the spelling in each bracket is correct.

The word peletakan (the act of placing something somewhere) comes from meletakkan or to place. When this verb is transformed into a verbal noun, it should be peletakan and not perletakan. Likewise, pelantikan
9appointment) is derived from melantik (to appoint). Words of the per_an group such as pergaduhan, perlawanan and perlanggaran come from intransitive verbs bergaduh (to quarrel), berlawan (to fight against), and berlanggar (to collide with) respectively.

Similarly pelihatan comes from melihat (to see) and pelibatan comes from melibatkan (to involve). As for jawaban, it is derived from jawab (to answer). I found it awkward to pronounce jawaban when all the while we pronounce it as jawapan.

So much for some aspects of the development in the spelling business of the Malay language.

My Ride on Maglev train

One of my memorable experience while in Shanghai, China was to have a chance to ride on the Maglev train. It is a type of train whose forward movement is caused by a magnetic field. Hence it can travel smoothly and fast. The blurred image of my camera caught the speed at 301 km/hr. In fact it fluactuates between 300 km/hr and 301 km/hr.

According to the tourist guide, the Chinese government bought the patent right of the German technology and had it run in Shanghai - an attraction to foreign touriests.

I really enjoyed my ride on the smooth and almost quiet ride on the Maglev.

This is where you buy your Maglev train ticket



Side view of Maglev train


Waiting to board the Maglev train


Speed of Maglev train: 301 km/hr

When old friends met

Tan Jee Peng (4th from L), me, Boo Cheng Kee, Boo' wife,
Tan Dek's wife and Tan Dek

Imagine meeting your old friends who served as teachers 37 years ago again!

Well, I did meet them. They were Boo Cheng Kee, Tan Dek and Tan Jee Peng. We gathered in front of Royal Selangor Pewter, Straits Quay, Penang.

We talked of old time most of the time. Boo had us in stitches when he related incidents which he could remember vividly. He mentioned Anchor Chong, a teacher whose hobby is drinking Anchor beer. The lockjaw that I suffered three decades ago was also one of the incidents recalled. You can read about the incident in one of the posts under the label 'Reminiscence of Life in Jerantut'.

In one of the incidents mentioned by Boo, one Mr Phang, a Commissioner of Oath for Civil Marriages used to say 'Zhu Shen' (which means 'You Animal' when he meant ' speak louder because his Mandarin was very poor. He could have said 'Shuo da shen yi dian') when he asked the bride and bridegroom in front of him to vow that they were sincere in wanting to tie the nuptial knot.

We took some photos but I could not produce them here because I did not bring my camera along. I will try to put some here if I ever received from my old friends later.

Later we adjourned to Mr Bala's house. He was a lecturer of a teacher's college and Boo's friend. We had more vigorous talk of life in old Jerantut. Then when it was time for lunch we had our fill at a vegetarian restaurant in Burmah Road.

We hope to meet again.