EX-premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had recently lamented that he felt like he was in China when he spotted a Kuala Lumpur restaurant that displayed signage that was solely in Chinese.
Now that the authorities are (again) insisting that all signages must have a Bahasa Malaysia (BM) translation, a post highlighting a food stall owner’s literal translation has netizens in stitches.
Posting on the Melbourne Cari Makan Group Blogs forum, Facebooker Jay Tee took a snap of the stall that proclaimed yau char kwai (deep fried dough fritters) as Goreng Hantu (which literally means “fried ghosts”)!
Due to the nuances and intricacies of Chinese dialects, similar sounding words can have different meanings, leading to this hilarious translation.
“The Malaysia Boleh government insists that all sign boards must be in Bahasa Melayu. So, yau char kwai becomes Goreng Hantu! …🤣” penned the poster (in Cantonese, the kwai bit of the snack does sound like “ghost”).
Netizens could not contain their mirth as the post has generated over 4,100 likes alongside over 430 comments and 791 shares at the time of writing.
Others shared similar badly translated signs with nasi lemak being reduced to “fattening rice” in the UK (though many would say that is quite apt and on point).
Some suggested other literal translations for food items such as hot dog and lou see fun.
One netizen simply saw it as great marketing with the stall owner displaying a sense of sarcasm.
While another commenter saw fit to enlighten netizens on the historical origins of the yau char kwai’s name.
As funny as this literal translation is, it does not hide the fact that this issue has been heavily politicised.
On the one hand, politicians with a nationalist agenda have jumped on this issue to create even greater schisms in an already fractured society, claiming signages that prominently displaying Chinese characters as disrespectful.
On the other, many will argue that such a move is quite simply racist and a rejection of diversity.
This xenophobia is a continuation of the anti-Chinese rhetoric that is being fanned with the flag waving incidences in Penang and Telok Intan.
While it is perfectly reasonable that Bahasa Malaysia needs to be on business signages, to insist that it takes precedence is indeed a rejection of cultural diversity. As one netizen pointed out, there are far more important things to worry about. – Dec 9, 2024
