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.

The new Dewan Eja Pro 2010

The Name Technology has done a good job by upgrading Dewan Eja Pro, a Malay spelling checker cum dictionary to the 2010 version. In the new version, Kamus Peribahasa is incorporated in the software making it easier for those who like to upgrade, not having to upgrade both software.

The feature I like about the Dewan Eja Pro 2010 is the display box to display any word we like find. It will be explained in Malay using Kamus Dewan Edisi Keempat, in English using Kamus Bahasa Melayu - Bahasa Inggeis, and in Chinese using the Kamus Bahasa Melayu - Bahasa Cina. The most interesting part is each Malay word will have its jawi equivalent in bracket. I have forgotten my Jawi. With this software, I can be use of the right Jawi transcription then.

Another useful thing about this software is its ability to identify 40 grammatical errors but I have tried out the features as claimed but found that not all can be identified as there might be some programming bugs yet to be fixed. These are the grammatical that this software can identify.

1 Beberapa pelajar melayari Internet di Pusat Sumber Sekolah. [Beberapa pelajar will be underlined in green. When you click grammar to see the explain, it will tell you that beberapa should be followed by a penjodoh bilangan because pelajar is a concrete noun. The sentence should have been : Beberapa orang pelajar melayari Internet di Pusat Sumber Sekolah.]

2 If you type ianya, it will be changed to 'ia' immediately.

3 If you type 'Buku ini dibaca oleh saya, 'oleh saya' will be underlined in green and the explanation given is 'kata ganti nama diri pertama dan kedua tidak boleh hadir selepas kata kerja pasif yang disertai di walaupun wujudnya 'oleh' [The first and second personal pronoun cannot be placed after the passive verb formed by adding 'di' in front of it)]

4 If you tpe mereka-mereka, the suggestion given is 'mereka' and you can click 'chane' to replace the hyphenated word to 'mereka'.

All in all, it is a Malay spelling checker worth buying although it may be a bit expensive as it is priced at RM238. I upgraded mine for RM69. I first bought Dewan Eja for RM199, then upgraded it to Dewan Eja Pro for RM99 and now I had to part with RM69. If you like the software, you can use it free of charge by downloading it from 'The Name Technology' website at http://www.tntsb.com/ for a period of 60 days.

From my experience, if you use it every day, you will buy it after the 60th day because it is so useful that you will not want to leave it.

So much for bragging about Dewan Eja Pro.

How to use 'pinjam' with its affixes correctly

Mastering affixes in the Malay language is good way to write grammatically correct essays.

I shall try my best to make readers have a better grasp of words with affixes or 'kata berimbuhan'.

In this post, I shall deal with one word 'pinjam' [borrow] and add affixes to it and see how these words should be used in sentences.

1 By itself, the transitive verb 'pinjam' should be used in the passive voice.
e.g. Buku cerita ini saya pinjam daripada Ali. [Literally: This story book I borrowed from Ali. It is better to be rendered as 'I borrowed this story book from Ali.]

2 When meN...i is added to 'pinjam', it becomes 'meminjami' which should be used according to the following formula: 1st person + meminjami + 2nd person + thing loaned to the 1st person
e.g Hamid meminjami Ali sebatang pen. [Hamid lent Ali a pen.]

3 With the addition of 'meN...kan', 'pinjam' becomes 'meminjamkan'. You can use it correctly by following the rule below.
1st person + meminjamkan + thing to be loaned + kepada + 2nd person
e.g. Susan meminjamkan sebuah novel kepada Lina. [Susan lent a novel to Lina.]

4 By adding suffix 'i' to 'pinjam', the verb 'pinjami' is formed. The usage is bit tricky here. Just follow this formula: Person + saya / awak + pinjami + thing to be loaned
e.g. Suresh saya pinjami basikalku kelmarin. [Literally: Suresh I lent my bicycle yesterday. It is better translated in the active voice, that is 'I lent my bicycle to Suresh yesterday.]

5 If the suffix 'kan' is added to 'pinjam', 'pinjamkan' is formed. Based on the rule below, you can use it correctly.
Thing to be loaned + saya / awak + pinjamkan + kepada + person
e.g. Nota Sains itu awak pinjamkan kepada Ahmad dua hari yang lalu. [Literally: The Science notes you lent to Ahmad two days ago. It is better to be rendered as 'You lent the Science notes to Ahmad two days ago.]

6 When you add the prefix 'meN' to 'pinjam', the derivative verb 'meminjam' formed should be used in the following way.
Person + meminjam + thing loaned + dari / daripada + place / person
e.g. Saya meminjam buku ini dari perpustakaan. [I borrowed this book from the library.]
Dia meminjam pen itu daripada Azmi. [He borrowed the pen from Azmi.]

7 The word 'dipinjam' is formed when the prefix 'di' is added to 'pinjam'. You should use it according to the rule below.
Thing loaned + dipinjam + oleh + person + dari / daripada + place / person
e.g. Buku ini dipinjam oleh adik dari perpustakaan. [Literally: This book was borrowed by my brother from the library.]
Disket ini dipinjam oleh Abu daripada kawannya. [This diskette was borrowed by Abu from his friend.]

8 If you add affix 'di...i' to 'pinjam' you get the word 'dipinjami'. This is how you use the word in sentences.
1st person (the recipient) + dipinjami + 2nd person (the owner) + thing loaned
Zamri dipinjami Muthu cakera padat video. [Muthu lent a video Cd to Zamri.]

9 When the affix 'di...kan' is added to 'pinjam' to form 'dipinjamkan' you can use it in the following way.
Thing loaned +dipinjamkan + oleh + 1st person (owner) + kepada + 2nd person (recipient)
e.g. Buku itu dipinjamkan oleh Johari kepada Mazlan. [This book was borrowed by Johari to Mazlan.]

I do hope by using rules and formulae readers will be able to remember how to use the above derivative verbs of 'pinjam' better.

Passive voice in Malay

In English, the passive voice does not take into account the persons in personal pronouns but in Malay it does.
For personal pronouns in the first and second person, there is one structure for it. The structure differs when personal pronouns in the third person are involved. To see what I mean, look at the examples given below.

1 Passive voice in the first and second person [Ayat pasif yang melibatkan kata ganti nama diri pertama dan kedua]
a) Saya akan membaca buku ini.(Active Voice – Ayat Aktif) [I will read this book.]
Buku ini akan saya baca. (Passive Voice – Ayat Pasif) [This book will be read by me.]
[Object + auxiliary word + first person + verb in the passive form]

b) Awak harus menghormati gurumu. .(Active Voice – Ayat Aktif) [You should respect your teacher.]
Gurumu harus awak hormati. (Passive Voice – Ayat Pasif) [Your teacher should be respected by you.]
[Object + auxiliary word + second person + verb in the passive form]

2 Passive voice in the third person [Ayat pasif yang melibatkan kata ganti nama diri ketiga
c) Mereka sudah membuat kerja itu. .(Active Voice – Ayat Aktif) [They have done the work.]
Kerja itu sudah dibuat oleh mereka. (Passive Voice – Ayat Pasif) [The work has been done by them.]
[Object + auxiliary word + verb in the passive form + oleh + third person]

The usage of prefix 'se' with nouns and adjectives

In Malay, the use of the prefix 'se' in combination with 'kata nama' (nouns) and 'kata adjektif' (adjectives) is governed by certain rules. These are explained in the following paragraphs.

When 'se' is combined with a 'kata nama', it must be followed by the preposition 'dengan'. Look at the following examples:
1 Saya belajar sekelas dengan Ali. [I study in the same class as Ali.]
(The preposition 'dengan' must be there to be grammatically correct.)

2 Johan tinggal sekampung dengan Muthu. [Johan lives in the same village as Muthu.]
(The prepostion 'dengan' must be present to render the sentence correct.)

On the other hand, when 'se' is combined with a 'kata adjektif' (adjective), it must not be followed by the preposition 'dengan'. The examples below will make this clear to readers.
1 Adikku tidak sepandai adikmu. [My brother is not as clever as your brother.]
(You should not put the preposition 'dengan' after 'sepandai' or the sentence will be grammatically wrong.)

2 Baju ini tidak semahal baju itu. [This shirt is not as expensive as that shirt.]
(The preposition 'dengan' must not be present after 'semahal' or the sentence will be considered incorrect.)

About the word 'pinjam' (borrow)

For today's post, I am going to deal with the Malay language. The word I will discuss here is 'pinjam' (borrow) and its derivatives added with imbuhan (affixes).

1 'pinjam' means borrow. You can make a sentence such as 'Buku cerita ini saya pinjam daripada Ali.' (This book was the one I borrowed Ali.)

2 'meminjami' means to lend someone something. Let us construct a sentence with this word to see how it is used. The sentence is 'Saya meminjami Ali sebuah buku cerita.' (I lent Ali a story book)

3 'meminjamkan' which means lend something to someone has the usage as in the following sentence:
Saya meminjamkan basikalku kepada anak jiran. (I lent my bicycle to my neighbour's son.)

4 'meminjam' means to borrow from. You can use it in a sentence as the one below:
Saya meminjam payung ini daripada Susan. (I borrowed this umbrella from Susan.)

5 'pinjami' is usually used in the passive voice. You see it in a sentence like the one shown below:
Hassan akan saya pinjami buku cerita ini. (Hassan is the one to whom I will lend this story book.)

6 'pinjamkan' is also found in the passive voice. This is one example of a sentence showing its usage.
Buku ini akan saya pinjamkan kepada Hashim. (This book is the one I will lend to Hashim.)

7 'dipinjam' means 'is borrowed from' and one can make a sentence such as the one below to show how it is used.
Buku ini dipinjam oleh Ali dari perpustakaan sekolah. (This book was borrowed from the school library by Ali.)

8 'dipinjamkan' which carries the meaning of 'was lent to' can be used in a sentence like this:
Buku ini dipinjamkan oleh Ali kepada Lina. (This borrowed was lent to Lina by Ali.)

9 'dipinjami' is tricky here. It must be preceded by the person who will receive the thing lent to him by another person. Let us see how it is used in a sentence.
Johari dipinjami Ali sebuah buku. (Johari was the one Ali loaned a book.)

So much for 'pinjam' today. If readers would like to read more posts on Malay usage of words, do indicate to me and I will oblige in future posts.

How to use 'tentang' and 'terhadap'

Malay has its own grammatical rules. Some users of Malay often use 'terhadap' (towards) when 'tentang' (concerning) should be used.

In this post, I will deal with these two words and their correct usage.

Briefly, the kata sendi nama (preposition) 'terhadap' is used in front of 'nama konkrit' (concrete nouns) and 'tentang' is used in front of 'nama abstrak' (abstract nouns). Perhaps the following sentences will make this clear to readers.

1 Kerajaan akan mengambil tindakan keras terhadap mereka yang terlibat dalam vandalisme.
[The government will take harsh action against those involved in vandalism.]
The pronoun 'mereka' is visible and tangible.

2 Sebagai ibu bapa, kita harus mengambil berat tentang kebajikan anak-anak kita.
[As parents, we should be concerned about our children's welfare.]
The noun 'kebajikan' (welfare)' is abstract as it is invisible and intangible.

So much for today's dosage of Malay grammar.

Parts of Speech for "dalam"

In Malay, some words can be grouped under two or three categories. One such word is "dalam". As an adjective it means 'deep' and as a preposition it means "in"

An example of 'dalam' being used as an adjective is:
Saya tidak berani berenang di sungai itu kerana airnya sangat dalam itu.
[I dare not swim in the river because its water is very deep.]

The following is an example in which 'dalam' is used as a preposition:
Kami terpaksa hidup dalam kemiskinan.
[We are forced to live in poverty.]

When 'dalam' is preceded by another preposition such as 'di' or 'ke', it becomes kata arah or word indicating direction. Two examples of its usage in sentences are as follows:
a) Dia menuang air ke dalam botol itu.
[He poured water into the botol.]
b) Adik masih tidur di dalam biliknya.
[My brother is still sleeping in his room.]

Translating works from Mandarin to Malay

Translation is not an easy job. I still remembered how I translated short stories from Mandarin to Malay. I did it together with another colleague, Chong Choong Yong when I was teaching in Jerantut, Pahang. We would spend hours in the evening thinking of the right words and phrases to bring across what was in the Mandarin texts into Malay.

Firstly, we must understand language structures between the two languages. Secondly, we have to think of the cultures of both races, that is the Chinese and the Malays. Through tedious and hard work we were able to produce six pieces of translated works. All of these were published in Nanyang Siang Pau and we shared the honorarium equally. I did my own translation alone too. All together ten pieces of translated works were compiled into a book and displayed as an exhibit during Methodist Boys' School's centenary celebrations.

Learning Malay the fun way

I use some easy-to-remember sentences to help my students to memorise words that go with certain affixes in the Malay language. For example, I ask my pupils to memorise the following sentence to remember 12 words that go with one group of affix namely meN...i / meN...kan:
Ali bin Hassan jalan kaki ke laut semalam nanti penyu hijau bertelur. Translated as 'Ali bin Hassan walked to the sea last night to wait for the green turtle to lay eggs', the iniatial letter of the words in the Malay sentence represents a word. The 12 words are anugerah, beri, hadiah, jatuh, kirim, kurnia, lempar, serah, nama, pinjam, hujan and bekal.

In this group, I assign the rules as follows:
1 The word after meN...i is followed by a person.
e.g. Raja itu menganugerahi pembesar itu wang yang banyak.
Dia memberi adiknya sebuah kamus.
2 The word after meN...kan is followed by a thing or matter
e.g. Saya menghadiahkan sebuah album foto kepada Ahmad.
e.g. Hakim itu menjatuhkan hukuman mati kepada pengedar dadah itu.
3 The word in front of di...i is a person.
e.g. Hashim dikirimi kawannya sepucuk surat.
e.g. Aminah dikurniai Tuhan seorang anak lelaki.
4 The word in front of di...kan is a thing or some matter
e.g. Seketul batu dilemparkan oleh Hasnah ke arah anjing itu untuk menghalaunya.
e.g. Fail itu diserahkan oleh kerani itu kepada majikannya.
[The words in bold are the words formed by combining the affixes meN...i, meN..kan, di...i or di..kan with words from the twelve members in the group mentioned in the sentence I ask my students to memorise. The words in italics are either persons or things]

So much for some fun in learning the Malay language.

The difference between 'keairan' and 'perairan'

Today's post is about the Malay language. I shall tell you the difference between 'keairan' and 'perairan'.

The first word 'keairan' means 'air enters a place' in the passive sense. In Malay, ist is explained as 'diamasuki air'. A sentence illustrating the meaning is as follows:
Kapal itu tenggelam kerana keairan. [The ship sank because water had entered it.]

As for the second word 'perairan', it means 'waters' or 'kawasan air' in Malay. The sentence below shows the sense of the word:
Kegiatan lanun sering berlaku di perairan berhampiran dengan Teluk Eden. [Piracies often occur in the waters near the Bay of Eden.]

How to use 'mendidih' and 'mendidihkan'

In my last post, I talked about the difference between 'pekarangan' and 'perkarangan' in Malay.

I shall present in this post another pair of Malay words which are often wrongly used. These are 'mendidih' and 'mendidihkan'.

To use them correctly, you need to know their 'golongan kata' (part of speech). The word 'mendidih' which means 'is boiling' is a 'kata kerja tak transitif' (intransitive verb) and 'mendidihkan' which carries the meaning of 'to boil' is a 'kata kerja transitif' (transitive verb).
The following sentences will make the meanings of these two words and their usage clear to readers:

a) Air yang dijerang oleh ibu mendidih. (The water put over the fire by mother is boiling.)
b) Ibu mendidihkan air supaya bebas daripada kuman. (Mother boiled the water so that it was free of germs.)

How to differentiate between ‘pekarangan’ and ‘perkarangan’ in Malay

In this post, I will discuss two words in Malay which poses problems to learners of the Malay language.
These two words are ‘pekarangan’ and ‘perkarangan’.

The word ‘pekarangan’ means courtyard or compound around one’s house and ‘perkarangan’ means ‘pertaining to coral’. I always help my students to remember the difference by the ‘r’ in the word ‘perkarangan’. They are asked to remember that ‘r’ can stand for rock which is ‘batu’ in Malay. ‘kawasan perkarangan’ means ‘coral area’ and its explanation in Malay is ‘kawasan batu karang’. They can relate once they see this and they always laugh when I ask them to remember ‘The Rock’.

The following are their usage in sentences:
1 Aminah sering mengekalkan kebersihan pekarangan rumahnya.
(Aminah always maintains the cleanliness of the compound of her house.)
2 Para pelancong berkunjung ke Pulau Redang untuk melihat kawasan perkarangan yang indah di sana. (Tourists frequent Redang Island to see the beautiful coral area there.)