My language learning over the past two weeks has largely focused on familiarizing myself with the vocabulary surrounding time in Bahasa Melayu, certain topics on food, and, as always, pronunciation. One of my primary goals was to be able to tell time. Luckily, this is very similar to the way time is said aloud in English (five o'clock in the morning, e.g.), and I was able to catch on fairly quickly. The useful thing about learning time is that I am gradually able to build upon my language foundations in other areas and convey more complicated messages that go beyond generalities and basic statements. Similar to Chinese, verbs are not conjugated in Malay, meaning that a great emphasis is placed on context and verbal indicators to glean meaning about past, present, or future statements. Because of my experience learning Mandarin, this idea was fairly easy to grasp early-on and not particularly unusual to me. Whether it is adverbs (already, always, never, etc.) or specific times (everyday, yesterday, tomorrow, next week, etc.), forming sentences in this way has proved easier than I had anticipated, especially given the similar grammar structures that exist between Malay and English. In many ways, Malay has proven to be a great middle-of-the-road language for me as both an English and a Mandarin speaker, with notable elements and influences from both. Melissa has been very helpful and patient in helping me form new sentences or in providing me with coherent examples and phrases. In our meetings, much of the learning is done through conversation and oral repetition, which allows me to practice both new components of the language and pronunciation at the same time.
I also explored food culture in Malaysia more deeply, using the textbook as the basis and expanding further after that. Melissa showed me a video in Malay on how to make fish head curry (Kari Kepala Ikan), a very popular dish in Malaysia -- I am even contemplating making it on my own. We talked about measure words in Malay (which are present in Mandarin, though perhaps as more specific quantifiers than Malay), and how some of the most prevalent ones are used. I am more and more excited for Asia Week next month, given that the chefs at D-Hall are going to be serving some Malaysian cuisine (and likely Chinese as well). I loved the food when I visited Malaysia, and the vocabulary surrounding food is perhaps one of the most useful bits of language one can learn to engage with the host culture. Of course, I will continue to learn different topics of food throughout my language learning journey, but I enjoyed learning about a popular dish and the ingredients used to make it.
Overall, the past two weeks have admittedly been a slower period in language learning because I was out for one week at a conference and did not have the regular exposure to and contact with Melissa, which is always immensely beneficial to me and my learning. Though I had homework and a clear list of material to review, I want to find other ways that I can continue to engage independently with my language when meeting with a language partner is not always an option, especially considering that this is something that I struggle with even today in learning Mandarin. Maybe this means using a new app or website, or maybe it simply means trying a less traditional approach to studying (e.g. watching Malaysian TV or listening to Malaysian Music). I am still working on the best way to handle this.
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