I read a book long time ago mentioning that being a translator is a difficult job. Translator has to translate two different languages, in fact it is not just merely translating the language, but importantly, in order to make the readers of another language to understand the meaning contains in his translated material, he has to explain and understand the culture of the translated language he /she is working with. According to Lanshear ,1997 language is essential for understanding meaning, I could not agree more as it is true. However, the ingredient of language itself which is deep rooted and related to culture makes it so unique and interesting. This as well fit the understanding of deep structure and simple structure because many times when watching Seinfield, my American friends were laughing heavily but I was having hard time understanding the jokes. The jokes are so American. For sure it is not easy to do translation work as any reading or speaking material usually is rich culturally embedded in context. Putting this into implementation as a future teacher, we must never neglect the importance of making it easier by providing lots of cues to help our diverse students. This can be achieved by understanding our students’ languages. This does not mean that you have to be expert and know all the grammar rules of your students’ languages but simply to be a linguist who familiar with the relation of grammar pattern(syntax and lexicon), semantic ( which of course related to cultural understanding),morphology and etc.
My village is in Pasir Mas,Kelantan. It is very near to Malaysia and Thailand border. It is only 20 km and daily I could see Thais come to my village for many purposes, to work (paddy fields), to hunt ( fishing or hunting water monitor). Anyway, it gave me chances to interact with them. I notice similarity between how the word ‘mother’ has similarity into languages and how it is pronounced. In Thailand, mother can be translated into Thai as Mae, and in my Kelantanese dialect/accent, it is called ‘mek’. Both start with /m/. If to compared into Standardized Malay language, mother is emak( formal written), or mak ( informally/ daily). There is a slight change because there is additional /e/ at the beginning of the word /emak/ and /k/ at the end. As we move further south or to urban areas, it becomes more English as Malaysian usually use /mommy / or /mama/ instead of /emak/. Why Kelantanese Malaysians or any other Malaysians in urban areas use mommy or mama instead of / mek/ or their own dialects? I believe it is more related to what has been mentioned in the text regarding ideologies, beliefs and practices. I had seen my ex students from same regions stay together just simply because of languages. When asked for the reason, they stated it was easier to understand and work with each other. During English subject, especially during speaking exercises, putting them together was not a good idea because they would not use English to communicate.
Interesting enough, I do believe language shapes not just identity but it can influence behavior as well. My friends from different states believe and looking for Kelantanese women to get married to, the only reason is they notice Kelantanese women are more soft. I am thinking it is more because of the language that our women use, namely our unique accent as I perceive Thailand women is more soft compared to Kelantanese women themselves. Take for example the word Mae, it is more longer duration to compared with /mek/. Important to be noted as well, among the first sounds baby can produce is bilabial sounds which are /m/, /p/ and /b/. In many languages, word for mother and father comes from bilabial sounds too. Baba, Abu, Abi means father in Arabic. Mommy,mother, mama in English and other languages.Ummi for mother in Arabic,Mbak for Indonesian and etc.