{"id":563,"date":"2007-06-06T09:44:57","date_gmt":"2007-06-06T14:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2007\/06\/06\/localization-ms_my-represents-bahasa-malaysia-now"},"modified":"2007-06-06T09:46:56","modified_gmt":"2007-06-06T14:46:56","slug":"localization-ms_my-represents-bahasa-malaysia-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2007\/06\/06\/localization-ms_my-represents-bahasa-malaysia-now","title":{"rendered":"Localization: ms_MY represents Bahasa Malaysia now"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve never been a big fan of localization, especially in the Malaysian context. After all, Malay<\/a> (ms_MY) is a bit of a sham. The proponents choose to believe that Bahasa Melayu is spoken in Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia, and is rather an important language. Till the proponents realize that Indonesia has a rather thriving population speaking Bahasa Indonesia (granted, for technical terms, ms_MY and Bahasa Indonesia are quite similar). Singapore<\/a> speaks English, while acknowledging BM, Tamil and Mandarin as national\/official languages.<\/p>\n

For a language that is spoken by at most 30 million people, most of whom can converse (i.e. read, write, speak) in English well, I find the translation effort a waste of time. Granted, there are a handful of stubborn people that refuse to go global, and learn to converse in English in Malaysia, because they believe the national agenda to be all important – these are the exact folk that will be left in the doldrums in the much touted K-Economy. Its okay, I’m sure the government will find some way to bail them out while oil money<\/a> is still hot.<\/p>\n

My purpose of this blog isn’t to bash the Malay language or translation efforts. Its to announce that I finally see a glimmer of hope as to why the translation might make a tiny speck of sense. Its not Bahasa Melayu or Malay. Its Bahasa Malaysia<\/strong>. For something that’s been around since last April<\/a>, I wonder why it hasn’t taken on<\/a> further?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Malay language belongs to Malaysians of all races and not just the Malays. The term Bahasa Malaysia would instill a sense of belonging,\u201d Zainuddin told The Star yesterday.<\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, Malaysia should look upon Singapore when it comes to recognizing national languages… The article also blames Anwar Ibrahim, the ex-DPM who had an affinity for backsides, for the change when he was education minister, back in 1986. How timely. If this is for national unity, I’m all for it. I then see the value in ms_MY. Translate away to Bahasa Malaysia!
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Technorati Tags: ms_MY<\/a>, localization<\/a>, bahasa malaysia<\/a>, bahasa melayu<\/a>, malay<\/a>, language<\/a>, national language<\/a>, malaysia<\/a><\/p>\n

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