Just what is happening to local TV programmes? There are Tagalog, Spanish, Thai, Hindi, Arabian, Chinese, and of course English soaps. It’s almost unbelievable to find very few shows in national language, especially soaps and TV movies. We still speak the national language, especially people in the rural areas I believe and yet this scenario arises. Though everybody understand the language doesn’t mean that they could read the language in writings. In short, why can’t we just make those shows speak the national language like in the old days? I remember watching a Spanish soap with my granny and she constantly asked me what was happening. The subtitle wasn’t enough. Just two days ago I watched The X-Files in Tamil, so why can’t we make The X-Files convenient for my granny as well? You want to learn Spanish from watching the soaps? It’d be like this one letter I saw in a Malay language entertainment magazine. A girl sent a letter to the editor and had ‘gomen kudasai’ as her greeting. She might want to say the salam but it’s not the same, and you don’t use it in a letter. She must have learnt it from Japanese soaps that were massively popular that year round. So don’t take the subtitles lightly because they are never accurate.
And then it’s the entertainment community’s fault. They no longer care about national language. Look at our own Fear Factor show, Malaysian Idol, and even Muzik Muzik. The language used are all mixed up.
And then it’s the entertainment community’s fault. They no longer care about national language. Look at our own Fear Factor show, Malaysian Idol, and even Muzik Muzik. The language used are all mixed up.