4Y10M 3Y1M マレー語クラス Malay language classes

昔シンガポールで働いていた時は、中国語もマレー語も習わなかった。アフターファイブにバイトで日本語を教えていた語学学校で、講師は無料で受けられるからという事で習っていたのはドイツ語・・・。

そんな反省から、今回はきちんとマレー語を習うことにした。「マレー語」をバハサ（言語）マラユ（マレー）あるいは、バハサマレーシアと呼ぶが、一般的にここでは、「バハサ話せる？」がマレー語話せる？の意味。

まずは個人宅でやっているクラスに出てみた。簡単な会話や文化的な話しが主で言語としての学習には程遠い。どうせなら、基礎をきちんと習いたいから、他のコースを探してみるが、マレーシアなのにマレー語を教える学校がない。マレーシアへ英語留学する人がいるぐらいだから、マレー語は不人気なのか？

そんな時、クリスティーンが探してきたのが、大学（USM）の留学生向けのマレー語コース。留学生は必ず取らなければならない単位の為のクラスで、私達部外者3人が学生に混ざって週2回通うことにした。さすがに、カリキュラムもきちんとあって、学ぶことが多い。

中間試験、口答試験、期末試験とあるのはプレッシャーがないと勉強しない私には良い。時間があればコーヒービーンで復習していた。次のセメスターも続けようかな。

マレーシアは主に、マレー語、タミル語、中国語を話す人たちに分かれる。中国語の方が将来役に立つと思うからか、「なんでマレー語なの？」とよく聞かれる。中国語は他にも習える国はあるが、マレー語はマレーシアでしか習えないし、その国を知ろうと思ったら、言語が少しでもできた方がいいかなと思う。

ただ、マレーシアでもペナンやKLでは英語で全ての用事が済むのでマレー語を使う機会がない。マレーシア人なら他民族間ではマレー語を使うが、それでも、英語はもちろん、インド系と中国系が福建語で話していたりするから面白い。

When I lived in Singapore, I didn't try to learn either Mandarin nor Malay. At the language school where I was working as a part-time Japanese teacher, after my 9-5 job, teachers were allowed to attend any other classes as a student. But I was taking a German class.....

This time, I'm more determined to learn Malay. In Malay, they call Malay language 'Bahasa (= language) Melayu (= Malay)' or 'Bahasa Malaysia.' But generally they say, "Do you speak Bahasa?"

At first, I attended a class by a Malaysian Chinese woman at her house. She teaches basic sentences but more or less most of her classes were taken up by talking about Malaysian culture in English. It's far from learning a language. Christine and I started to look for a more solid course. But it was so hard to find one. Quite a few people come to Malaysia to study English, and probably learning Malay is not that popular.

I was about to give up. But Christine found a course at USM (university). The course is for the foreign students who come to Malaysia to study, and it's one of the compulsory subjects they need to complete their courses. Anyway, we, 3 of us, decided to attend a class twice a week for one semester. The course is well designed and it follows a proper caliculum. On top of that, there are exams, such as mid-semester, oral, final exams..... It's good for me, as it's quite motivating. I may take the next level up next year.

In Malaysia, Malay, Tamil and Chinese are the main languages. Probably most of the foreigners think Chinese will be more useful, I'm often asked why I learn Malay. My reason is we can only learn Malay in Malaysia while Chinese is spoken in several other countries. In addition, to understand the culture of the country, it's better if you speak a bit of their language.

There is one problem though. I don't need to speak Malay in Penang and not much chances to practice. Most of them speak fluent English. Between different races, they speak Malay but still they often speak English to each other. Or more interestingly, for example, an Indian Malaysian and a Chinese Malaysian speak in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect!