Reading in the original

Still thinking about reading. I am very grateful to the accident of birth that means that I can read the literatures of two (or three) languages.

Why two or three languages? Why aren’t I more definite, you ask? Well, two of the languages I am referring to are Malaysian (Bahasa Malaysia) and Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia). Malaysian and Indonesian are very very similar. If I was to compare, I’d say the differences between them are like the differences between the English spoken in Scotland and the English spoken in Australia. There are historical differences (helped along by having different colonisers), cultural differences, and large and very noticeable differences in accent/pronunication. There are vocabulary differences, too. Most speakers of English would still be able to identify both Scottish English and Australian English as English, even if some of us might have difficulties understanding either variety. The same goes for a speaker of Malay (for that is the language that Malaysian and Indonesian are based on) – they would recognise Malaysian and Indonesian as being very similar but different. And would have difficulties understanding some varieties of the two – I love listening to Terengganu Malaysian but don’t always get it, and Jakartan Indonesian is sometimes quite unintelligible to me. But the standard varieties of the two – standard, as in what is taught in school, and how news readers sound – are perfectly understandable, and most modern literature is perfectly readable.

Over the years I’ve actually read more Indonesian lit than Malaysian, as the library system here seems to have more Indonesian stuff than Malaysian. (Favourite Indonesian authors: Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Nh. Dini, S Mara Gd, Rendra. But I will read most things I find.) Even in Malaysia, Malay language lit is difficult to get – the bookshops seem to have lots of romances but not much else.

As for literature in Chinese, I still classify myself as a struggling learner who finds it quite a slog to read novels in Chinese. I enjoy the challenge, though, and am trying to improve by reading vaguely literary magazines like ???? Qingnian Wenzhai “Youth Digest” and ?? Duzhe “Reader”, and short stories by writers like ??? Zhang Ailing.

Chinese literature often seems rather stilted (to me) when translated into English, and is far better in the original. I don’t know why this is so. Perhaps the cultural and linguistic differences don’t translate well. I feel very lucky to be able to read these literatures in their original languages.