Yea Yeah

There are a number of words in Malay that are the same in English because the country was originally controlled by Britain, or something. Today I want to write about the Malay word “Ya” which means Yes. In English we can say yes with a few variations: yes, yeah, ya, yup, sure… Most of the ways we say ‘yes’ (or affirmative) in Malay have “yes” (ya) in them, which, to me, sounds so formal because in Miss Congeniality: “tis ‘yes’, never ‘yeah.’” But in Malay it’s the same! Anyways, when someone asks me a yes or no question and my answer is affirmative, I always feel so informal when I respond with ‘ya’ because, to me, it sounds like ‘yeah.’ I’ve been looking for a way to be more polite. So one more time let me say, because that was confusing, “ya” sounds informal (by English “yeah” standards) when its meaning is actually the most formal you can be with a resounding “yes!” Suddenly, I’m confused about how to respond to some questions.

Luckily, the funny thing about Malaysia is that yes or no questions are hard to come by. Here is a list of USA “yes or no” questions but Malaysia “sudah [already] or belum lagi [not yet]” questions:

Are you married?

Are you hungry?

Have you showered?

Have you eaten?

And Malaysia “other” questions:

Do you know how to speak Malay?

Can we leave now?

Do you understand?

Do you want to go see a movie?

Are you okay?

Is this pretty?

Saying “already” or “not yet” in response to the first set of questions just saves you from funny looks. Responding with “no” is a bit rude and might even mean you never plan on being any of those things (married, hungry, showered, and fed) which should never be the case. Persons who don’t want to get married are rare and slightly looked down on.

I say “other” questions because I could (affirmatively) respond to the second set of questions with “know how” “can” “understand” “want” “okay” and “pretty” respectively. As grammatically awkward as it is to respond to any of the above questions in the manner I have expressed here, it is super duper common and expected. In fact, “boleh” [can] is basically another form of “yes” haha.

I can answer “right, Allisun?” with a “ya” [yes] or “tidak” [no], that’s the only surefire “yes or no” question I can think of. So in Malay we can say yes with: ya, ya la, ya bha, eya, boleh, boleh la, boleh bha kalau kau [can bha if you] (a very popular SABAH ONLY phrase), sudah, sudah la, sudah bha, and, the YAGM favorite, mm.

Once again, I realize this doesn’t really benefit you, it’s just been on my mind lately and I wanted to share it with you. I wonder if my English will ever be the same when I get back to the United States..? Say ‘yes’ today and radiate! Peace to you all, miss you.