The Star newspaper - Opinion Section - Keep Bahasa pure and leave foreign words out of it

LATELY, I have noticed an influx of borrowed English words into Bahasa Malaysia in all kinds of media.

While this trend is common in all world languages, I am deeply concerned about the over-adaptation of loaned words, which in my opinion mars the purity of Bahasa Malaysia itself.

Loaned words such as bajet, akauntabiliti, holistik and so on are being used at all levels of society today.

If left unchecked, I am concerned that in the near future, Bahasa Malaysia will be rendered bahasa rojak and will go down the same way as the German and Italian languages, which are facing the same loaned words predicament.

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka should be proactive in filtering out the need to adapt new words and barring those which have equivalents in their natural form.

For example, we are using the term Bajet Negara instead of Belanjawan Negara, which means the same but we use loan words nonetheless.

While languages are fluid and should be adaptable as time changes, let us not overdo it.

CIPLAK
Penang


ORIGINAL VERSION - Adaptation of loaned English words into Bahasa Malaysia

Of late, I noticed that there are influx of English loan words into Bahasa Malaysia in all kinds of media. While this trend is common in any world languages, I am deeply concerned over the over-adaptation of loaned words on its whole, which in my opinion, marred the purity of Bahasa Malaysia itself.

Loaned words such as Bajet, Akauntabiliti, Holistik and so on are being used by all levels of society. If left uncheck, I am concerned that in near future, Bahasa Malaysia will be rendered as creole and will go down the same way as German and Italian language, which are facing the same loaned words predicament or dilemma.

Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka should be proactive in filtering out the need to adapt new words and barring those which have equivalent in its natural form. For example, we are using the term Bajet Negara instead of Belanjawan Negara, which meant the same but we used loan words nonetheless.

Let it be known that while languages are fluid and should be adapted in tandem with time, let us not overdo it and keep Bahasa Malaysia as pure as possible to protect our unique Malaysian identity.

Pseudonym: CIPLAK