Yes Yes. I am a banana. Yellow on the outside and white on the inside. *LOL* Not very proud of myself but what to do... i am a banana. Err.. not the edible one :D

Banana is a term that Malaysian Chinese call their other Chinese folks who are more English... or english educated. I am called a banana because i go to a English school... do not know any Mandarin and cannot read the chinese papers. Its quite shameful actually.

My mother tongue is Hokkien and i only learn Cantonese when i went to Kindergarten. And boy... i do sound funny speaking Cantonese when i was in kindy. Sometimes my colleagues or friends will tell me something in Cantonese (very deep Cantonese) and i will shoot them a blank face. *LOL* I am that bad. I can go "ching cheong ching cheong* with my chinese friends... but i really don't know a lot of hard words.

In my office, my chinese friends will tell me something in chinese and ask me to translate to English to my other friends. I would scratch my head and shoot them a blank face too... hahahhahahahaa.. That's how blurr i am. I think i left my head at home locked up in the cupboard. I am in a world of my own on most days.

My favourite Malaysian comic is Gila-Gila and thereafter to Ujang after Ujang went off to start his own comic. My chinese friends were reading the chinese comic with the three men (Lo Foo Chee). I just flip through Lo Foo Chee and skip thru all the comics that have chinese words. After a while, i didn't bother reading anything in chinese.

I don't know many chinese songs and don't even ask me about the song titles. The only time i really like one chinese song, i had to ask my colleague to read out the lyrics while i write it down in words that i can understand. *LOL* My colleague was pretty patient. My sisters and i (none of us in Chinese schools) would rewind and rewind the tape to write down the lyrics of the chinese songs when we were little. I left it after that because it was too tedious. And that is one of the reasons i don't really sing in Chinese. I can go ching cheong ching cheong.. but its actually all wrong.. hahhahahahhahaaa

The only Chinese singer i really liked is Stephanie Sun and only because she sings in English too.. hahhahahahahaa

There's this very chinese guy which i went out with once.. who keeps listening to all chinese songs... i wanted to just shoot him.. :p

My friends call me the celup and something somewhere lost in transition chinese. One of them even say that i should never marry a chinese ah pek because i will have trouble communicating... huhuhuuuuuu

I guess i am more Malaysian than Chinese. Its not that i've forgotten my roots. But i've been brought up to be more Malaysian and I am really proud to be one :)

17 woofs:

yoon see said...

Anny you can write good English but i can't, I have got a lot of ideas but struggling....
Even in the secondary school, I only concentrate in BM. I am quite proud of my BM. I scored quite good marks then....but my English teachers didn't bother to give me writing assignments.
Very few.....and only my sister sat for the 1119 and managed to score a credit and she went for English tuition too.
I did not go for any tuition except during SRP, my mum was worried about me, after that form four & five remained no tuition at all.
I had been focusing on piano,
daily practising around two hours for higher grade....

Don't worry, I am proud of you Anny. You will pick up your Mandarin bit by bit....

yoon see said...

Good night dear Anny!

booahboo said...

You compliment me too much.. i have many typo errors if u look closely.. hehehhehee..
anyways.. i am just writing from the heart.. i dun really care much about the flow.
Each and everyone of us have a different calling... you take very good pictures and you share your thots with all your friends. You have a gift of music.. and you play the piano beautifully. Each one of us is different Yoon See. But never be afraid to fly ;)
I do know a smattering of Mandarin now.. haha... i got the kids to teach me ;)

booahboo said...

Goodnite Yoonsee.. and thanks for always encouraging and dropping by :) You are indeed with a heart of gold.

yoon see said...

Thank you, you are most welcome Anny. Thank you fro always dropping by too:)
Good that there are some one (the kids) willing to play and teach Mandarin with you. That's mean you all are very "friend"lah....Ha....Ha...

I got a concert to attend in KL tonight but I got to get ready by evening. I don't like to drive to KL city, so I have to be early to reach my friend's house then car pooling in her mum's car to reach the destiny. I mught reach home late tonight. Pls. pray for my journey back becuase the concert finish late and I got to wait until they tidy up.......
Do you have face book Anny?
I will visit your other blog when I am more free, I got a number of pending emails yet to reply......, piano practice and plenty test papers to mark too:(
Do you have facebook & flickr account anny? Emila also got.

Aki (kotakitam) said...

"I can go "ching cheong ching cheong* with my chinese friends... but i really don't know a lot of hard words."

I was laughing my head off when I read that statement! LOL!

Anny, I always enjoy your writing/post! You have good sense of humor and there is nothing wrong being a banana... hehe...Asal u jgn jadi banana split sudah! keke....

booahboo said...

Halooooo si Aki :)
thanks for dropping by sini ari ni... bila suda larut malam... kepala takde jalan la baik baik.. jadi post pon pesong pesong ke kiri ke kanan.. :D

banana split tu sedop.. i like with chocolate ice-cream!

emilayusof said...

Anny!!! I love to listen to Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui. But sadly, both are deceased already! I listen to Chyi as well...hmm siapa lagi ya! Oh Alan Tam oso!!!

Spiff, The Spaceman said...

I can't read and write Chinese either. Wait a minute, I'm not Chinese, no wonder la ... LOL!

Actually I do understand Cantonese but cannot speak la. At least I know when my Chinese colleagues talking about me behind my back :D

But you do have good English and your malay is way better than mine ...

booahboo said...

Both of greatness on their own.. and their music was great even though i dun know how to sing their songs.. i loved their music all the same :)
err.. Chyi sings in English too.. hehehehe.. and Alam Tam too :D

booahboo said...

Of coursh la ur not chinese.. you are a Spaceman :)
If your colleagues talk abt you behind your back.. tell them to have the "cajones" (lending this from Bem) to talk in front of you ;)
The best way to learn BM is to.. read the gila gila comic ;) hehhehehe

bem69 said...

(So Spiff is not a Chinese.. hmmm, I learn something new everyday)

Anny: I like to ching chong ching chong as well, because I can't speak cantonese but I do learn some annoying phrases and repeat as I please. Phrases include "Ngo Ho Yau Yeng" (I'm stylish) or "Ho Leng Sang kwo, mai ti la mai ti" (Really beautiful fruits, come la come buy) or even "Ching Man, Siu Chei" (Excuse me Miss) that I repeat endlessly to annoy my sisters or wifey. The only Mandarin I know is Ni Hao Ma, Ni Shao Sher Ma, and Pu Ke Neng thanks to that old advertisement. My wife knows cantonese but doesn't speak it, I always pressure her to teach me huhuhu.

Wah panjang lebar JUGOOOOOOO

Annyway hahah get it? Annyway...

You know about Banana but have you heard about Eggs?

Aki (kotakitam) said...

I miss the old majalah Gila-Gila... huhu... u still can find it n buy it if u want too... tapi Aki belek2 majalah dia skrang dah tak sama cam dulu...

booahboo said...

Spiffy is just a spaceman :) and a funny one too :D

Lei Ho Yau Yeng? hehehe.. i think you are quite Yau Yeng too :) but loose the stare laa.. freaky.. hhahahahahhahahaa

panjang jugooooooooo lebarnyaaaaaaa.. hahhahaha.. u shud get Soulie to teach u more cantonese.. so u can ching cheong ching cheong with me one day :)

what about the egg now? hmmmm

bem69 said...

Eggs are the other way around, when the Caucasians act Chinese (not sure about conversing in Chinese though I wouldn't be surprised if they did). I saw this at a videogames arcade dancing (a.k.a playing) Dance Dance Revolution (its a dancing game) when I was studying in Australia. I called them eggs because they're white outside, yellow inside hahhah.

booahboo said...

i think i still have the old old gila gila mags.. somewhere in a box.. :D u nak? i bole carikan

Gila-gila mag now suda slack sikit.. even Ujang pun slack..i haven't bought it for a long time now. I think Lat yang tak slack :)

booahboo said...

hhahahhahaha... i learnt something new today! thanks for the knowledge about the telurs :D

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