Hoklo in Hapcai + Singgora, reports from the field

[AndrewAndrew]

Amhoanna, you should have told us you were passing through Malaysia! I'm wondering, since you were asking around for kretek, do you speak the Indonesian or Malaysian variant of Malay?

[amhoanna]

Hi Andrew! At first I was wanting to spend a few days in Kelantan before flying out of KL, but I wound up staying in Hapcai till the bitter end. I know I would've gone if I could've rode past the border with my rental motorbike. And Penang too!

I speak ... Taiwanese Malay. I've drunk from both wells, so to speak, but I know my Malay skews "Riau-Java" now. I try to cut out Dutch and English loanwords -- talk about a needless source of difference between these two "languages". I periodically switch my email interface and other things between "Bahasa Indonesia" and "Bahasa Melayu" to stay on top of both. I think Sabah-Brunei-Tawau would be a great place to learn "neutral Malay".

During my last little journey in M'sia, I got the feeling that Malay M'sians saw me not as orang asing trying to speak their lingo, but as a Chinese M'sian with poor Malay skills ... or maybe an aTiong? I don't know. So I started trying to use the word "bisa" as early and often as possible.

[AndrewAndrew]

Hi Andrew! At first I was wanting to spend a few days in Kelantan before flying out of KL, but I wound up staying in Hapcai till the bitter end. I know I would've gone if I could've rode past the border with my rental motorbike. And Penang too!

I speak ... Taiwanese Malay. I've drunk from both wells, so to speak, but I know my Malay skews "Riau-Java" now. I try to cut out Dutch and English loanwords -- talk about a needless source of difference between these two "languages". I periodically switch my email interface and other things between "Bahasa Indonesia" and "Bahasa Melayu" to stay on top of both. I think Sabah-Brunei-Tawau would be a great place to learn "neutral Malay".

During my last little journey in M'sia, I got the feeling that Malay M'sians saw me not as orang asing trying to speak their lingo, but as a Chinese M'sian with poor Malay skills ... or maybe an aTiong? I don't know. So I started trying to use the word "bisa" as early and often as possible.

This may be the issue - because of the number of legal and illegal Indonesian migrant workers in domestic service, construction, low-skilled jobs etc., in Malaysia, many people unfortunately look down upon Indonesians as the poor neighbours. Generally, as a foreigner your treatment may depend on whether you are seen to come from a relatively more or less developed country. It is possible that you would have got better treatment if you had come across as Taiwanese!

[amhoanna]

That's interesting! As for showing my hand bahwa aku orang Taiwan?! And going around the country talking to all the bumi in English? I'd rather just be treated rudely, xiexie! Actually, coming from a poorer country, or pretending to, is a great way to see a richer country. I bet the avg ASEAN expat in Taiwan sees "the real Taiwan" long before the avg NATO expat, b/c the latter tends to encounter a twilight zone of friendly, fawning natives. Not that orang Taiwan is likely to get this kind of treatment in M'sia.

[niuc]

Tiọ', kài chùbị. Goá cin ǹgbạng khừ tữ hit ta' melantáu cịt po· kú, choạ cịt ẻ sìn Ìntọ·kàu ẻ bó· tuíⁿkhừ Anlảm. In ẻ imgạk mã kài hóthiaⁿ, hõ· lảng chibẻ.

Hittau sìn Ìntō·kaù ·ê sī kiaⁿ chun bô cuē. Nāsī lí· phahpiàⁿ chē·, ingkai chē· ē tiòh.
Hùkūn ê “Tengger” lâng, āsī Majapahit ê kiáⁿsun, taītosō· koh sìn Ìntō·kaù. In ê sìngsuaⁿ Bromo lí· ingkai ū thiaⁿ ·kè·.

In kha' bỏ hià' gảu ké.

Tạkgẻ nạ ũ kihoẹ thang khoàⁿ SEEDIQ BALE (iáⁿhì), goá cin chuiciàn.

Citpîn tî pòcuá û khuàⁿ ·kè·, m-kú hìkuán to bô leh puaⁿ. Nā’ū gún mā siūⁿ be·h khuàⁿ.
Kámsiā lí· ê chuiciàn. Guânlaî 推薦 mā ēsaí anni thàk. Cuânciu dītián cù "thuiciàn". Taî’uan nng- ê kè ū.

(菜飯 chaìpng-)
Hoklo for NASI CAMPUR?

Nasi campur in the sense of we can choose what dishes we want to put beside or on top of the rice. I think different places in Indonesia may have different style of nasi campur. My impression is that certain places may have fixed dishes if we order their nasi campur.

For some reason, the "Hong Kong" style of serving food is what I'm more used to. In Indo and Thailand it used to frustrate me that I couldn't sit down and have a budget rice dish made for me on order and served hot. I like the Canto diners with their long list of rice dishes...

You are right. SE Asian nasi campur (including Teochew / Hokkien dishes) are not made on order and usually not hot anymore. It is the rice or porridge that usually is still kept hot. To get hot dishes, in Singapore we have to order from 煮炒 cứchá stalls or in restaurants.

The 會飯 in TW really bothers me, there's just too much sauce, it's like soup, except the soup is all salt and sugar and MSG and food coloring, etc. But in all these places there are new ways of budget eating to be discovered.

Never heard of the term. Is it TW version of nasi campur? But too much sauce does sound strange.

The lady confirmed that I was asking about "hunki".

My variant also uses "hunki" much more frequent than just "hun".

A guy at the next table gave the universal SE Asian "no have" hand gesture while saying, "Bỏ."

Is it turning open palm by wrist movement back and forth? Not an universal gesture?

As I left the store and lit a kretek, an Indian cabbie came up to me. It hit me that ironically it was easier to talk to an Indian cabbie here than any other race of cabbie.

I found local Indians usually are much more friendlier than Indians from India, even though let say both are Tamil. Many Singaporean Indians also can speak Malay.

Last but not least, hours later, as I approached the gate at LCCT, Formosa-bound, there were two M'sian immigration officials doing a final passport screening just outside the waiting area. The Tnglang one barked something at me in an Asian language waktu dia khoàⁿ tiọ' goá ẻ Tải'oản họ·ciàu. I realized he was speaking Hokkien. He asked me, "Lí sĩ m̃ sĩ Tải'oản lảng?!" It was sure enough interesting to run into such a surprise Hoklo shibboleth at a boarding gate in KL -- no Mandarin involved. I'm guessing they were working to screen out aTiongs with forged or doctored TW passports...

Interesting.
During my business trips, I only found super slow immigration at LCCT. There was once when 2 Singaporean Malay ladies queuing behind me also complained about that.

[niuc]

Oh, my mistake. I meant KLIA not LCCT. When I went to KL for vacation, I went through LCCT and the immigration was OK.