Blind Adoption
Everything can change, but not the language that we carry inside us, like a world more exclusive and final than one’s mother’s womb. ~ Italo Cavino Recently I walked into a bank and was surprised to see one of its promotional posters pasted on the wall. I can’t really recall the product or service that is being promoted but I remember vividly, much to my chagrin, the wordings used: " Tiada fi tahunan ." Now, what on earth is fi ? I know, I know, it is borrowed from the English word ‘fee’ but why borrow when there is an equivalent word in Malay? Isn’t the equivalent word ‘yuran’? And aren’t all Malaysians very familiar with the latter? I have noticed this sickening adoption of English words into the Malay language for so long. But this one takes the cake. But hey, please don’t get me wrong. I am okay if the words borrowed from English are borrowed because there are no equivalent terms in Malay. Borrowing happens in almost every language, anyway. When it comes to the Malay la