Entry 6: Correct translations

About a week ago I had a conversation with a lecturer about describing childrens behaviour. It occurred to me that I was unable to translate the word "manja" into English. Often I would sub it as "wanting to be pampered" or "spoilt" but when I described this one child, all I could say was "she is very manja"; I could not find the right word to sub it with to make it a full sentence in standard English. The lecturer I spoke to understood what I meant but also agreed that "manja" was somewhat difficult to just translate without removing it's real meaning.

Some colleagues have also mentioned about the word "tegur" in Malay and the problem of translating it in to English. To "tegur" someone may mean to greet (bertegur sapa), to be told off (kena tegur) or even used as ignoring (inda di tegur).

I find it tricky to explain words that may not have an exact meaning in another language. I think it would be like the word "kiasu" (afraid to lose) the word is somehow coined and used as it is. Funny enough I came across this Tagalog word "gigil" which means being irresistable to hug or pinch something incredibly cute; and there is no word in English to describe this particular behaviour!