Project Petaling Street Blog

The first taste of what was to come arrived even before touchdown on Australian soil. I was travelling with a friend who like me, was embarking on a course of study down under. Memories are hazy now, it was so long ago. But green horns that we were, flying for the first time, we looked out the window and saw a light. It could have been the tail lights of the plane, or some lights on the tarmac. We looked at each other and asked "Why is the moon following us?"

We made friends with a group of seasoned Malaysian students sitting behind us on the Qantas flight, and it was a case of deja vu when they overheard our repeated "Pardon?" in our conversations with the cabin crew. They told us, "You will be using that word a lot."

They were right.

I prided myself on my competent grasp of English whilst in school in Malaysia but nothing would have prepared me for the language problem that would soon beset me. I wonder how many overseas students had a similar experience?

The first thing on arrival was to open a bank account at ANZ Bank. The teller explained to me how how my account worked. He left me in major confusion. What on earth was "niten die bank"?

Lesson no. 1 to the unwary: whatever is pronounced as "ay", just pronounce it "i". So today becomes "to die". Mate becomes "mite". Night and day bank = niten die bank.

Worse was yet to come.

At my first lecture, amidst a sea of white hands furiously scribbling down notes, I sat there seized with panic as I strained my ears and heard nothing. In my course, the lectures were all orally delivered, the blackboard never used.

Some lecturers were better, some worse, and some totally incorrigible. And here's the rub. Even for those who were not too bad, they lost me as soon as they launched into a joke or when they related something personal.

Strangely they have little difficulty understanding me. It was only the other way round.

Talking one on one was not too bad, even on the phone it was ok. Until the time came for giving them my name. Keeping in mind that they always get the "ay" and the "i" knotted up, and my first name being "Lai", almost invariably when I spell it out, it always ends up "Lia". Were they thinking of Star Wars?

These were some of my first experiences as a Malaysian abroad. My, what days of innocence and naivette! I could go on and on, but the rest can wait.