Sunday 19 February 2012

KFC- that's where I want to be?


As my friends might know, I like KFC... kinda. Actually lately I've found the quality of KFC chicken hasn't been that good, and I've been opting for my other favourite, the triple roast rice.
Anyway, lately there has been a lot of hoo haa about an incident at a Malaysian KFC store where a KFC worker assaults a customer. The story as far as I gather is that the customer waited for 45 minutes in a queue only to be told they had run out of chicken. The customer got pissed and exchanged some angry words with the KFC worker. Then the whole kitchen staff came out in force to give the customer some kung fu service.
A few names have been going around for this video such as Kung Fu Chicken. Or Kentucky Fight Customer.
Anyway below is the video of the incident.





The stupid thing is, has stirred up 2 parties, one supporting the customer and one supporting the KFC worker. You would think that attacking a customer is never acceptable, but this is Malaysia, so go figure. What I've been thinking is, really in Malaysia, consumer rights is a concept that is a bit alien and often neglected. In all likelihood, a complaint ( about the absence of chicken) would probably not lead to any action. What the customer was asking for (angrily) was an apology or he would complain. The sad fact is, the KFC manager was in the store and  did not offer any apology for his KFC store running out of chicken. Everyone else in the store seems to "just take it" after waiting for 45 mins for nothing.

Oh well...
Here is another exciting video of KFC Malaysia



On a good note someone went to KFC and didn't get beaten up..

Monday 13 February 2012

Thursday 9 February 2012

Mind your language: "Follow Me"

Once, my family and I were getting our photos taken.
On the count to three..
"One"
"Two"
" Tree!!!"  - someone from behind the photographer shouted.

I was like... hahaha that guy is very funny. Yelling "tree" instead of "three".
It wasn't until later when I heard him talking that I realised, he wasn't kidding at all.
"Tree" was how he pronounced "Three"

This is quite a common pronunciation mistake by Malaysians.

Let me tell you another story involving a common English mistake that Malaysians make.

So I was a student in Dunedin... I was walking home ..
I walked past a few unmistakable malaysian students talking to the New World van driver.
( New World supermarket has a van that takes students home from shopping )

The conversation was something like this

Students: Can we follow you to New World
Driver: You want to follow me?
Students: Yes, since you are going that way, we just want to follow you.
Driver : you want to follow me?
Students: Yes can we follow you ?
Driver:  You want to follow me ?

The conversation was obviously reaching an impasse. My flatmate then pointed out the mistake.
"Follow" literally means to proceed behind.
What the students were asking for was a ride .
The driver though they wanted to follow behind his van?

This mistake probably stems from the chinese word " gen" which means to follow.
But it also means to go with or be together.
e.g

你跟他  ni gen ta

Ni Gen Ta - means "You follow him"

But it could also mean, "you go with him" or "you and him" or " you two together"

Hence it's not surprising for the direct translation to "go with someone" to become " to follow someone".

In Malaysia, it's perfectly fine to say " Can I follow you" when asking for a ride- this is local lingo.

But if one day you are overseas and find yourself misunderstood try

" Could you give me a ride"
"May I hitch a ride with you"
"Can I get a lift"