16 January, 2012

Cerita Pasal Abang Adam, dalam Bahasa Inggeris

Hari ini saya nak menulis semua dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Saya akan cuba menggunakan perkataan-perkataan serta ayat-ayat yang biasa untuk saya di America sini, tapi mungkin tak biasa untuk kamu semua dekat Malaysia. Jadi, semasa kamu membaca ini, ingat ayat-ayat yang mungkin tak biasa untuk kamu, cuba teka maksudnya, dan check dekat bawah untuk penjelasannya. ok? faham? dah jelas? good!


First of all, I believe I am going to begin posting in a combination of English and Malay. It is nice to be able to speak a little more freely in my native language; Malay is still not as natural to me as English, although I would love it to become that way. I also do realize that there are quite a few people that will read this post that are very fluent in English and maybe even prefer English to be used in their daily lives. This is fine and enjoy interacting with people in whatever language they choose to engage me in.


As many of you have already realized, I love learning languages. I know that most of you know me for my ability to speak Malay, but I also have learned a couple of other languages, although, not as well as I have learned Malay. These languages include Mandarin Chinese, Iban, and Thai. It may be surprising to some people, but I  am not the only person in my family that has a knack for speaking a language of the Southeast Asia region. My older brother, Adam, speaks Thai very, very fluently and continues to have quite the response from the locals in Thailand. He has a similar set up as I have, with youtube videos, a Facebook page, and a centralized blog that he uses to share more and more information on teaching English to the people in Thailand.  In fact, the original reason that I made my first video, of posting it on youtube and waiting to see if there was any reaction, was Adam's idea. He made a few videos about a year before me and had great success and a huge response from thousands and thousands of people in Thailand. People love his blond hair, blue eyed look. Here is a picture of Adam:





When I finally decided to make my first video, I decided to use the exact same content that he used in his most popular video. Yes, his most popular video was his video of teaching "what's up" and "not much. just chillin" as the response. When Adam made this video, him and I were currently living in Texas, working there for a few months during the summer. I always thought it was kind of funny that he was recording himself and putting it on youtube. He actually had me be the person in his first video, that responded to his question of "what's up?". Here is his first video below. You can see me at 0:34 and then again at 1:00. Adam refers to me as "nong Ben" because I am his younger brother, "nong" being similar to "adik". As in Malay, Thai uses family pronouns that indicate the age of the other person in comparison to the person speaking.




After Adam posted this video, he quickly received a positive response, and the views were starting to add up. All of a sudden, Adam's video had been viewed a few hundred times. This was a huge amount to us! We both couldn't believe how many people were watching his video, commenting, and raving about this "farang" that could speak such perfect Thai! Little did he know that this was only the beginning. Throughout the rest of the summer months, Adam continued to make a few more videos, often times in response to people's questions. More and more views started adding up. After just a few months, his videos began to slowly but surely creep up to over 100,000 views! This was totally unexpected by Adam and myself. Eventually more and more exposure was imminent for Adam, and we could both see a potentially bright future with what he was doing. It was amazing how many people in Thailand were supporting him!


When the next year year arrived, from about January 2010 to May of 2010, Adam headed to Thailand to be an intern at a University in Chiang Mai Thailand. During this time, Adam was contacted by a TV show called "I Love Thailand". The show featured Adam in Chiang Mai, doing various activities with the Host, such as Muay Thai, bungee jumping, playing with animals, eating the local food, and even singing karaoke. 


The show boosted Adam's popularity on youtube, and the whole internet in general. When Adam lived in Thailand during this period, more and more people began to recognize him everywhere he went. Since he was assisting in teaching English to the Professors at the University, he himself became known as a professor. He is now known in Thailand as "Ajarn Adam" or Professor Adam. Also during this time, Adam made a number of videos with another intern in the same program as Adam. This friend's name is Mike Boonack, or as he is known in Thailand, Mod. Here is a video he made with Mod:




They were quite an entertaining two to watch.


When Adam finished his internship in Thailand, he moved back to the US for the summer, and worked with me in Nashville, Tennessee and Little Rock, Arkansas for the summer. Our job was simply selling alarm systems to people for their homes. We worked hours and hours each day finding people interested in protecting their house with an alarm. Adam and I would come home at the end of the night, exhausted from the heat of the day. We would have funny stories about weird people and how their dogs wouldn't quiet down. We would joke about how slick of a salesman we were, closing some people that did not show any interest in the alarms we were selling at all. It really was quite fun and we enjoyed the competition. Some nights when we did not have much to do, we would make a video. This video below was filmed while we were in Kentucky:






We had discussed many times of how I wanted to visit him in Thailand that year, and that he should accompany me to Malaysia to see some of the places I hadn't seen yet either. During the summer I booked a trip to Thailand and Malaysia and couldn't wait for December to come. Adam returned to Thailand after the summer was over, in September, right as I began the fall semester of school. October went by. On November 1 of 2010, I finally decided to follows Adam's advice and make a video very similar to his first video and see what kind of reaction youtube viewers would give me. This was just the beginning.


Ok, itu sahaje untuk saya ni malam ni. Pukul empat petang untuk k'orang.... pukul satu pagi untuk saya... haha. Saya mengantuk gileee.  Saya selalu suka membaca komen-komen di bawah. Walaupun saya suka baca komen2 tu, saya tak selalu dapat menjawab setiap soalan. Kalau ada cikgu2 English lain, jangan malu nak jawab soalan-soalannya untuk saya!



Selamat Malam. 

39 comments:

  1. what a great post ! it's so cool seeing you guys learn other languages and making videos for it as well :) keep doing it , i love watching them :D

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  2. wah.. bestnya, semua keluarga awak faish berbahasa asing selain bahasa inggeris. tapi abang awak pandai cakap bahasa melayu tak? :)

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    1. tak. Adam pandai cakap bahasa Thai je! Tapi dia tahu beberepa perkataan dalam BM macam 'makan', 'nasi', 'siapa nama', dan sebagainya.

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  3. ben....i just wanna show you my BIG "thumbs up"...sangat bagus. Saya suka usaha kamu berdua mempelajari bahasa. It's quite a surprised to see your first video speaking Malay...and very surprised watching Adam's video speaking Thai...but it seems Adam sounds more authentic...I mean his pronunciations...hehehe...you still have the English accent when you speak Malay...anyway...very god...keep me update. Love to learn how the Americans' speak...

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    1. Ferd, yes it is true. Adam is a very authentic Thai speaker! He has spent 5, almost 6 years in Thailand and become very talented in the language! His ability to speak like a native is truly unique. Each time I speak Malay, listen to a native speak, or am typing for something on the internet, I am constantly trying to improve my accent! haha. Susah betul nak bercakap bahasa melayu dgn accent yang sejati oleh sebab terdapat banyak cara bercakap BM. Ada cara orang melayu, cara orang cina, car orang india, cara orang putih, cara orang ini, cara orang itu. Memang la kita dapat memanggil accent KL sebagai accent utama(sebab kebanyakan movie melayu guna accent ni) tapi ada ramai org yg bercakap bahasa Malaysia yg tidak tinggal dekat KL. Anyway, nice to talk to you and thanks for the support!

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    2. kalau accent KL saya pun masih belum pandai walaupun saya orang Malaysia.. setakat tiru2 dialog dari filem saja...

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  4. terbelit-belit (twisted) lidah saya baca dalam english.. oh poor me sebab masih tak pandai berbahasa english dengan baik.. :(
    selamat malam ben! sleep well!

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  5. Hey ben, thanks for the interesting read :) It's quite cool what your bro and you are doing.

    Anyways as malaysian studying in melbourne I've had the opportunity of seeing how things are outside my lil country. At the same time I went to a private school so I've always felt like I was missing the essence of being a malaysian. I do have to admit as well that sometimes it's hard finding reasons to be proud about being malaysian what with the politics and certain other factors. So.. what I really want to know is why do you have such a fascination on Malaysia? I've always wondered about what tourists could actually do whilst they're here and whether they actually enjoy it. It's kinda hard getting a frank answer when you're malaysian yourself lol.

    Hope you have the time to reply, and keep doing what you're doing :)
    Cheers

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    1. Vsuyin? is it?

      Whats up. So, sorry for the delay in my response. Good question though! The reason I have a fascination for Malaysia is because I lived there for 2 years. Now, 2 years is a pretty short time in one perspective, but a lifetime in another perspective. When I moved to Malaysia, I was 19. 2 years seemed like an eternity for me! I just finished high school. I was leaving behind college, my girlfriend, my family, and my friends. Also, I had only lived in the US. I had traveled internationally to mexico and a few places in the Caribbean. I felt like I knew what foreign countries were like.

      When I arrived in Malaysia, my whole life changed. My perspective on the world changed. My knowledge increased. My understanding of people increased. My language skills increased, not only in Malay, but in English. I got better at English as I learned Malay. You learn things about your native language when you learn another language! it's weird. I also discovered that I love languages while living there. Could you imagine a different country that has more language influence than Malaysia? I can't nor have I ever heard of one. It's not common to have so many different races living together under one country, with different languages being spoken from home to home. A chinese kid in malaysia can speak hokkien at home, cantonese with his friends, and learn to read and write and speak in mandarin at school, not to mention the english and malay that they have to learn also. To an American, this is AMAZING! Nobody in the US can speak 5 languages by the time they are 17. I know I used a chinese child for an example, but is also very likely (and I have seen many times) that a Malay parent or Indian parent sends their child to chinese primary school. The Malay or Indian child will then know Malay,maybe a dialect from his home state that he learned at home, english, and chinese. Again, to an American (not just myself) this is an amazing thing. We Americans speak English. Barely ever does anyone become proficient at a language from a few years of schooling in it. Malaysians on the other hand, can. They are people very talented in language skills.

      This is only the beginning of why I am fascinated with Malaysia, but one of the main reasons. Did I give you a satisfactory answer?

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  6. wow, good post.. don't know that u came from the family whom like to learn other language,, it's very impressive.. :) keep up the good work ben,. i'm writing blog too, sometimes i wrote in Bahasa Melayu since i'm Malay, but sometimes i also wrote in English for practice,.u can read my blog if u want.. :) gud luck ben!!

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  7. Hello Ben! Saya baru tahu Ben ada blog!! Selama ini hanya tengok youtube Ben saja. Yeay!

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  8. I think it's interesting that American guys take up Asian languages. Bcoz usually we're "encouraged" to learn English, so for it to go both ways I think it's very cool. Keep it up!~ :D Languages <3

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  9. Ben, awak gerek giler arh! Keep up the good work! It's great to see how you open up to the Malay community around the world when more 'anak mat salleh' would rather stand a feet away. You know, Sept11 and all, didn't really paint a beautiful picture on Malays and Muslims.. I hope you'll achieve your dreams and may God bless you always. Take care Ben. :)

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  10. hi ben! kalau boleh, belajar bahasa bidayuh yaa,...bahasa kampung saya tu...anyway, good job!

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  12. hai ben . balas la komen saya . janganlah sombong sangat .. hahaha!

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  13. Wow I love this blog! I'm not expect Saudara Ben Bradshaw ada blog sendiri! I thought that you just only have youtube =D selalunya perempuan sahaja yang gemar menulis blog untuk meluahkan perasaan sedih,gembira, marah and etc... jarang melihat lelaki yang suka menulis di blog. Oleh yang sedemikian, saya boleh panggil kamu lelaki jiwang?? hehe well I'm really proud and impressed of you and abg adam!! I also still learning in English, Arabic and Turkish via http://www.livemocha.com/profiles/view/9670341 it's very useful site to learn world languages! I love these languages so much especially English I want to speak in American and British accents! Saya sangat gembira kerana setakat ini I've more than 20 non Malay students, I teach them on Skype with voice chat,we always do reading and speaking practice about Malay even I'm not an official Malay teacher just a volunteer Malay tutor via the internet, I'm sooooo happy to teach those who are really interested in Malay, it's my pleasure to teach them and it's one of my hobbies. When I saw people like you that learn Malay from time to time it's makes me very very happy and proud! Because non Malay speaker willing to learn my native language. Moreover, before this I wanted to being official Malay lecturer at university though my Malay subject always get A+ in test, exams and legal exam but my qualifications are not accepted because of my others subjects, so I'm thinking why dont I try to being a volunteer Malay tutor and teach Malay in easy way via internet and now I had made my own Malay lessons I love to teach them =D Saya agak kamu pun begitu juga kan? Saya gembira ajar orang bahasa Melayu kamu pula ajar bahasa Inggeris ^_^ Semoga berjaya di masa hadapan!!! Best of luck! =D

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  14. and now you're as famous as a celebrity here... :) i'm so gonna follow your blog... if you don't mind you can follow me back... V(^_^)V

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  15. ben,
    how do children in USA speak? berbeza ke slang/cara mereke bercakap dengan orang dewasa? kakak ada 2 anak lelaki berumur 11 dan 10 tahun. agak susah mahu mengajar mereka cara cakap english dengan baik dan betul. ada nasihat?

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  16. Hai Ben,
    Saya tinggal di Brookings, SD, kalau ada masa jom lawat blog saya, saya ada cerita pasal life kat Brookings :)

    Azza (http://mrslittlepumpkin.blogspot.com/)

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  17. wah didn't expect i could read and understand whole of it, but i'm still weak at writing and composing word. But the funny part its, there's sometime unexpectedly i can easily read and understand it with blink of eyes.

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  18. hah? matsaleh ckp melayu? hehe..
    goodjob la brader =)

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  19. ben! oh, sorry. hai. i was so impressed to watch your video last time, and now super impressed to watch adam's video! kagum habis dengan kebolehan beliau cakap bahasa thai! :D

    *p/s: go! go! ben & adam! :D

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  20. thank god. Nasib baik saya faham semuanya. Phewwwww lol

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  21. Panjangnya kamu tulis .. Nasib sahaja saya faham semuanya..

    awak pandai gila cakap bahasa Malaysia ..

    saya nak beritahu kawan thai saya tentang ni..

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  22. suka dengan sesi pembelajaran dalam ni, senang nak faham. baru tahu yang ben ada blog. :D
    selalu belajar english dengan layan lagu dan baca novel english, tapi bila ben buat video senang kami orang malaysia nak belajar dengan cara yang sangat sempoi. :D

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  23. saya suka blajar bahasa inggeris melalui video2 ben.. baru hari ini saya tahu ben ada blog.. saya ingakan ben hanya berada di youtube! saya harap ckgu ben teruskan usaha untuk mengajar english.. oh ben, saya susah lama belajar bahasa inggeris tetapi masih tidak bercakap bahasa inggeris dengan baik.. ben pula baru beberapa bulan belajar bahasa melayu sudah pandai bahasa melayu.. saya sangat kagum dengan cikgu ben! ben gigi putih... putih.. kan? you're the best! :) now i know learning is fun! ^_^

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  24. Best lah baca blog Ben.... kalau Ben ada update blog lagi, bagitau kami semua dekat facebook tau ben ~

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  25. haha Ben knew how to spoke using "GILEE" words. awesome Ben.
    harapnya awak boleh datang mengajar engineering di Malaysia.
    wow :O :')

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  26. Baru tahu Ben ada blog, sukanya saya..banyak lagi bahasa English saya perlu diperbaiki..Terima kasih Ben????????

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  27. Hi Ben, saya baru terjumpa blog awak ini, sangat menarik sebab banyak ilmu yang terdapat di dalamnya, di samping cerita2 kehidupan awak dan Adam juga..sangat seronok dapat membaca, menonton serta belajar bahasa english dengan betul. sebenarnya Ben, kalau nak belajar bahasa malaysia dan bercakap bahasa melayu dgn accent yang sejati adalah dengan menggunakan bahasa (malaysia) BAKU, cara KL memang sangat berlainan kerana penghujung ayatnya memang banyak menggunakan bunyi 'e'... Ben pernah mengajar di sini (Kuching,sarawak), saya pasti Ben pernah mendengar accent orang sarawak bercakap dalam bahasa malaysia adalah antara contoh yang terbaik menggunakan bahasa malaysia baku...saya harap Ben akan berjaya menguasai bahasa malaysia dengan sebaik-baiknya & boleh bercakap ikut accent seperti orang malaysia juga, tanpa ada bunyi slang orang putih...ok.. Terima kasih... :)

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  28. Salam Ben,

    saya hendak tahu, english di malaysia adalah mengikut ejaan britain. Akan tetapi, kebanyakan orang akan faham bila ia ditulis in american's way. Maybe sebab orang malaysia sudah biasa dengan filem-filem dari amerika. So, apa yg Ben tulis saya boleh faham 100%

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    1. Apa yang saya hendak tahu ialah... adakah cara tulisan orang usa sama dengan orang britain.? Klu british+slang... susah mahu faham.. ;p

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  29. Ben..i started learning english now..visiti my blog and give me a positive spirit yeah :)

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  30. baru terjumpa blog ben..u are very inspiring..keep it up..

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