Personal Reasons to Learn Five Languages

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

History has shown that great leaders, scholars and personalities of the world had acquired proficiency in many languages. They were polyglots, in short. For example, Sultan Mehmed II rahimahullah of Ottoman Empire speaks seven languages including Turkish and Arabic (see here and here). The esteemed Shaykh, Dr. Muhammad Taqiyuddin al-Hilali rahimahullah, the translator of the interpretations of the meanings of Qur'an, also spoke three languages (Arabic, English and German - further info here). 

One of the benefits of being a polyglot is you can literally travel to more places with lower communication barriers. In some of the countries, English proficiency rate is smaller than in Malaysia therefore we cannot expect majority of their people to understand English as much as we understand it. We can therefore speak in their language without needing an interpreter. On the other hand, if you're kind of person who want to build international connections, should your non-English friends or your coursemates happened to visit Malaysia, you can explain the beauty of this country in their language. You can also teach them basic phrases in Malay too!

Now I will explain my personal reasons to learn five languages below.

1. Malay
   
   
   It is my native language which comprises of several dialects spoken in various states of Malaysia. Most of them are mutually intelligible though. Since I was born and raised in Kedah, I naturally picked up the Northern Malay dialect from my conversation with family members.
   
   
   Through 11 years of school, I had to learn formal Malay which is used in writing and official purposes. This has helped me gained proper pronunciation for standard Malay in the first place. I rarely use formal Malay in conversation except in debating, public speaking or writing articles. 5 years of schooling in Putrajaya had made me used to the colloquial Malay dialect spoken in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Truth to be told, some people even thought that I hailed from Klang Valley, judging from my normal Malay accent which I use daily. However I do converse in the Northern Malay dialect when I speak to friends from states of Perlis, Kedah, Penang and north Perak, apart from close relatives.
   
   
   I believe that knowledge of the formal form of a language will aid in protecting it from being overshadowed by the colloquial dialects. No doubt, dialectal differences in Malay is unique and I love it! If you ever heard of Daniel Tyler (Mat Dan) who is originally from Bristol, United Kingdom, you'll come to know that he actually speaks Terengganu Malay and just recently got married to a local girl there. But don't get me wrong. Standard Malay is there to facilitate communication between people of various states in Malaysia (theoretically). In practise however, as I said above, natives can understand other natives even if they speak with a heavy Kelantanese or Kedahan accent.
   
   
2. English
   
   
   English is taught alongside Malay in Malaysian public schools during 11 years of schooling. As a lingua franca, it is widely used throughout the world, especially when it is the official language of the UK. It made sense for me though to practise and sharpen my English skills before starting my studies here six months ago. Apart from that, communication barriers are lowered by learning this language.
   
   
   Since I'm used to the American English, it was a bit difficult to understand British English. However, as time passed, I slowly acquired some British accents through series of conversations with the locals and watching relevant YouTube videos such as Papa Teach Me and English with Lucy. My advice for those who want to improve their conversational English is to speak with the natives because eventually you will imitate the way they converse, their accents, stresses in words etc.
   
3. Arabic
   
   
   Language of the Quran and the main language spoken in the land of Two Sacred Mosques, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
   
   I started learning Arabic in 2009 during my high school days. My initial aim of learning Arabic was to facilitate communication with Saudis during Hajj and Umrah. In the long term, however, it has also facilitated my memorization of The Glorious Quran, though it is possible to memorize it without having a working knowledge of conversational Arabic (except in reading rules) just like what happened to one of my juniors in KYUEM who has memorized the Quran by heart.
   
   I have two friends in the university who are native speakers of Arabic, Abdulrahman bin Nasser al-Abdulla and Muhammad bin Abdulaziz Aal Nasser who are from Doha, Qatar and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia respectively. Once I spoke with the latter after I finished with my Business Law examinations last January. That was my first time speaking Arabic with him. After I finished my words, he went on to ask me, "Are you from Riyadh? Because your accent sounds like someone from Riyadh!" while I've never stayed in any of the Arab countries before. It has motivated me to progress further in learning this language.
   
   [p/s: I speak with local Arabs with a mix of formal Arabic (75%) and colloquial Arabic spoken in Saudi (25%)]
   
4. Modern Hebrew
   
   
   In early 2015, I was triggered by a long message that was viral in Malaysia stating words which are translated into Hebrew as such and such. As I learned the basics, however, I know this is not true at all. This is because Hebrew and Arabic came from the same language family, the Semitic family, so both have to share common characteristics. Its grammatical structure is also quite similar to Arabic. Since I'm not really that committed in learning this language while struggling with my A-Levels, my knowledge of this language is still at the absolute beginner level. However, I am able to at least introduce myself by stating basic facts about me in this classical language.
   
   
5. Russian
   
   
   Massive country, long history, beautiful people. One of the languages of the United Nations, I decided to learn this language just recently to learn more about their culture, of which some I can relate to myself (e.g. family oriented person). I am planning to explore Russia one day on Trans-Siberian trip, so it would be sensible for me to learn their native language. Who knows I'll meet my other half during this trip? Maybe. Nonetheless I'm gonna work on myself first right now.

The struggle is real, guys

Okay so that's all for my latest blog post. If you have any questions regarding learning languages or related issues, please drop your comments below. Till then, adios!

Wan Amirul Wan Shamsir

18 Jumada al-Akhirah 1438

17 March 2017

Bayswater, London, GB