The language studies of Indian ethnic in Malaysia.

Majority of the Indian ethnic in Malaysia who emigrated from India are Tamil speakers.This ethnic is greatly diversified internally in various aspects such as language,religion,social status,education,caste,even from the origin of homeland,either the poor Tamil laborer originated from Southern India or the English educated Tamil from Sri Lanka.This paper intends to look into the language issue of Malaysia Indian by investigating three different generations so as to indicate the changes in language use.It is found that Tamil language is still the most widely used language in the community or family.Though,the usage of English language,and even Malay language are in the growth which may be replacing Tamil language in the near future.With the changes in the language attitude,the language maintenance of Tamil is hardly optimistic

An analysis of the language shift in the mother tongue of the ethnic Chinese in Malaysia

Based on the statistics and data collected in a field study, this paper provides a report on the variety and amount of the mother tongue acquired by the same Chinese families over three generations, whose origins are of Fujian, Guangdong, Hakka, Chaozhou and Hainan respectively. The finding confirms that the shift in the mother tongue of the Chinese in Malaysia has already taken place, moving away slowly from the dialects of their origins and heading for English and Mandarin

Semantic and phonetic elements of chemistry terms in English-Chinese translation

Translation covers a variety of disciplines or fields, including politics, philosophy, economics, art, science and religion to name a few. When one comes across different languages with two distinct cultures, translation appears to be the most frequently practiced method to introduce a common novel term. This paper examines the translation from English into Chinese. The data for this study are the Chinese translation of 112 chemical elements from a periodic table. This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach to examine the grammatical features of Chinese translation of chemical elements from the semantic and phonological perspectives. The analysis of data revealed that the unique property of Chinese radicals has been fully utilised in the Chinese translation. Consequently, the semantic aspects of the chemical elements are well informed in the translation. On the other hand, the phonological elements in Chinese translation have been simplified and reduced to only one sound which is represented by only one character. The translation of chemical elements is considered unique, both semantically and phonologically, in achieving the equivalence in the Chinese language

A systematic literature review of narrative analysis in recent translation studies

As early as the 1980s, the narrative has been redefined by sociologists and communication theorists as a way to constitute social identity; however, to date, it has not been specified how far narrative analysis has reached into translation studies because of the different understandings of the term. Therefore, it is essential for researchers to carry out a literature review of narrative analysis in this field in a more complete way. This study reviews the body of literature that uses narrative analysis in recent translation studies. The method used in this study is a systematic literature review, which involves pre-set criteria in selecting academic articles to be surveyed within a five-year period (1 January 2014 to 31 December 2018) and a qualitative synthesis of the findings. Through description and analysis of the titles, abstracts, keywords, and full papers (when necessary) of the selected 92 academic articles, based on a revised PRISMA flow, this study arrives at a holistic and systematic assessment of this approach over the past five years to guide future research in translation studies. The main findings reveal that narrative analysis has not yet become a mainstream approach in translation studies. The focus of studies in this field should be shifted from empirical research in how narrative analysis is used as a tool towards theoretical reflection on what narratives are. What is more, new fields still await examination concerning research methods and subjects

The Management and Syllabus of Chinese Tertiary Programs in Malaysia——with special reference to the Chinese Program at Universiti Putra Malaysia

Malaysia is renowned for its Chinese education as first language which covers pre-school, primary level, secondary level to higher learning. The higher education in Chinese studies begins to grow only at the end of 20th century. A total of eight private and public universities are offering Chinese studies at bachelor and also postgraduate level. With special reference to Universiti Putra Malaysia, this paper aims to investigate the enrolment administration and the content of the Chinese program. A qualitative analysis is carried out based on the data of bachelor program in Chinese studies, postgraduate program in Chinese literature, and five postgraduate programs on applied linguistics inclusive of Chinese linguistics and culture, namely translation and interpretation, applied comparative linguistics, literary and cultural studies, discourse studies, and literacy studies. The findings indicate that the Chinese education at higher education level has expanded the research scope in Chinese studies which thus complete the chain of Chinese education, covering all levels

Similar sounding words writing strategy by learners of Mandarin as a foreign language

A general feature observed in foreign language classroom is the usage of communication strategies by the learners in their attempts to manipulate a limited linguistics system to communicate. This research aims to investigate the usage of similar sounding words as a written communication strategy in learning Mandarin. The respondents were 59 second- and third-year Malaysian students learning Mandarin as a foreign language at a public university. An open-ended questionnaire was set to gauge respondents’ perception on the strategies used, and was divided into four parts, namely the demographic data and 3 parts of written tasks. The respondents were required to write a dialogue, answer questions on their hobbies and construct sentences using the words given. A total of 77 data of similar sounding words were found. The results showed that similar sounding words strategy was mostly applied to retroflex, alveolar, affricate, fricative, plosive, aspirated and unaspirated sounds. Another one third of the data consisted of syllables which were formed based on the learners’ understanding of the pronunciation. It was found that the strategy provides constructive help in getting the message across despite the inaccurate pronunciation. The findings also mirror the constructive learning attitude and aggressive struggle put in by the learners, and therefore, a positive strategy that should be encouraged

Kesalahan penyusunan dalam terjemahan oleh pelajar Bahasa Perancis

Kajian ini bertujuan menganalisis kesalahan pemilihan dan pembentukan kata dalam terjemahan pelajar yang mempelajari bahasa Perancis sebagai bahasa asing di peringkat lanjutan. Sampel kajian ini terdiri daripada 20 terjemahan karangan cerita dongeng sepanjang 250 – 400 perkataan. Analisis kajian ini dilakukan secara kuantitatif dan kualitatif, dengan mengaplikasikan definisi kesilapan pembentukan kata oleh James (1998) dan kesilapan pemilihan oleh Dulay, Burt dan Krashen (1982). Hasil kajian ini mendapati sebanyak 184 kesilapan telah dilakukan oleh pelajar, yang melibatkan 28 kesilapan pembentukan kata terhadap kata kerja dan kata adjektif, dan 156 kesilapan pemilihan yang melibatkan pemilihan kata kerja, kata sendi nama, kosa kata dan frasa dan lain-lain. Kesilapan pada kata kerja adalah disebabkan generalisasi terlampau oleh pelajar dengan merujuk kepada pembinaan kata kerja bahasa Melayu dan bahasa Inggeris. Kesilapan ini juga adalah disebabkan kekurangan kosa kata kerja bahasa Perancis pelajar yang mengakibatkan mereka mencari kosa kata yang maknanya paling hampir dengan apa yang disasarkan untuk dinyatakan. Pelajar juga didapati melakukan kesilapan dengan membuat penghampiran pada kosa kata yang tidak diketahui. Kesilapan pada sendi nama pula adalah berpunca daripada kekeliruan pelajar mengenai sendi nama à dan de dalam bahasa Perancis, manakala kesilapan pada frasa adalah disebabkan pelajar membuat terjemahan harafiah daripada frasa bahasa Melayu dan bahasa Inggeris. Hasil kajian ini memberikan implikasi pedagogi untuk menarik perhatian pengajar bahasa Perancis tentang proses pemerolehan oleh pelajar yang membawa kepada kesilapan pemilihan dan pembentukan kata. Kajian ini juga dapat memberikan gambaran bagaimana proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran dapat dipertingkatkan

Hubungan kemahiran regulasi pelajar dan pemahaman teks dalam kalangan pelajar sekolah rendah jenis kebangsaan Cina

Tujuan kajian ini dijalankan adalah untuk mengenalpasti tahap kemahiran regulasi pelajar Tahun 5 dalam pemahaman teks bahasa Cina dan seterusnya mengkaji hubungan di antara tahap kemahiran regulasi pelajar dengan tahap pemahaman teks pelajar dalam mata pelajaran Bahasa Cina di sekolah. Kajian ini bersifat kuantitatif dan sebanyak 195 orang pelajar Tahun 5 telah terlibat dalam menjawab soal selidik. Satu set borang soal selidik yang berasaskan State Meta Cognitive Inventory yang dibina oleh O’Neil dan Abedi (1996) telah diubahsuaikan dan diadaptasikan dalam kajian ini. Ujian Spearman Rho (r) turut dijalankan dan secara keseluruhan, kemahiran regulasi pelajar Tahun 5 dalam pemahaman teks bahasa Cina berada pada tahap sederhana, iaitu skor min 3.62. Hubungan positif yang sederhana, iaitu r = 0.316 antara kedua-dua pembolehubah tersebut telah dicapai. Dengan adanya kemahiran regulasi, peratusan kelulusan pelajar dalam mata pelajaran Bahasa Cina (kertas pemahaman) adalah sebanyak 81.54% (n=159 orang). Kajian ini dapat memberikan implikasi kepada penambahbaikan kualiti pengajaran dan pembelajaran bahasa pada peringkat sekolah rendah

Students' perceptions of translation strategies in French and Malay language: a qualitative approach

Translation plays a key role in foreign language learning and teaching. After the application of translation in Grammar Translation Method, the method had been inadvisable in classroom teaching and learning. However, translation strategies are undeniably one of multiply factors on achieving learners' target on acquiring a foreign language. Thus, this exploratory study aims to analyze Malaysian students' perception in applying translation to learn French and French students perceptions in applying translation to learn Malay as a foreign language. The respondents for this research were 20 Malaysian students learning advanced French from Universiti Putra Malaysia and 20 French students learning advanced Malay from Institut Nationale des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, France. The study utilized qualitative method of data collection by using interviews as an instrument to investigate the perception of translation strategies by learners of both languages. The results showed that Malaysian students found translation strategies as a good and best way to learn French, whereas French students find translation is merely a tool for beginners and learning should be conducted in the target language. The result of the study is hoped to guide language instructors to consider to use or not to use translation as a part of their Malay and French teaching tools