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"
