A Quest Within

Here is the conversation that usually takes place with a new friends

Fren : U punya father bangsa apa
Me : murut
Fren : Mother pun murut kah?
Me : nda lah dusun
Fren : owh jadi di rumah u cakap bahasa apa?
Me : mmm bm,
Fren : owh yakah samakah Murut dgn BM
Me : tak sama
Fren : jadi napa tak cakap u punya bahasa ..apa tu… mulut (Chinese slang)
Me : MURUT lah
Fren : owh murut ..jadi u pandai cakap lah…
Me : (Sigh …smile) tak pandai cakap…paham boleh lah
Fren: Dusun
Me : sama juga
Fren : aiyo sayang owh…you orang tak jaga bahasa u orang

Well that just one of the conversations, me with my fren here. And I think I was not alone (unfortunately), and most of the answer would be the same especially the younger generation of Sabahan.

It is not to say that there is no conversation in our mother tongue at all, there is but too minor. Too minor till you can’t use it as a daily language. And most of the time conversations between youth are mostly in BM, (sabahan slang). If this trend continues we can see the effect 50 years from now where most of sabahan’s mother tongue language will be one of the unspoken languages.

The question is why this happened? If we take a look on the cause of it we can see a clear pattern of those who are unable to talk in their own mother tongue language.
1. Mix marriage
2. Family conversation was either in BM or BI
3. Environment.
4. Attitude

Click here for the Part 2