Accents

Last year, there were about six hundred people in my natural science course. I'm pretty sure one or two of them are Malaysians but our paths don't intertwine, so I don't know who they are, if any. This year, though, we have only about fifty people in the chemical engineering department, in which four, including me, are Malaysians. Hence, I sometimes get the chance of hearing the Malaysian English accent being used.

So, what brings this about? I was just discussing the Malaysian accent with a friend this morning, but when I tried to demonstrate it I failed. It made me very frustrated. The thing is I realised a long time ago that I don't have a Manglish accent, and never will, no matter how I tried. Sometimes when I speak with the Malaysians they tend to slip into using the accent while I continue using normal English. Yeah, that felt awkward.

A funny thing is that I probably have a better Northern Ireland accent than a Malaysian accent. That comes with living with a Northern Ireland girl for two years. And having an Irish lecturer helps too.

Yaz.