Wxpy Dictionary English Myanmar4/21/2021
From The Glass Palace, set in Mandalay and Ratnagiri, to the Ibis Trilogy, which spans Asia, Ghosh gives each character a unique English voice, locating them in time and space.Words taken from Burmese such as chinlone, hluttaw, thanaka, saya, sayama, thakin, anyeint, pwe, zat, nat, longyi, thamein, paso, gaungbaung, padauk, kantkaw, and anar, regularly pepper English conversations in Myanmar.There are also idiosyncratic uses of traditional English words to describe cultural objects: linecar, sidecar, tea money, fancy shop.There are also a few noticeable grammatical idioms, such as the use of the word ever as an adjective of frequency, synonymous with always.
Rather than see it as a deficient model, English speakers locally and internationally can not only expand their vocabulary, but promote globalisation as a system owned by the many, not the few. Kachru wrote that the Inner circle, with regards to English language conventions, was norm-providing, while the Outer and Expanding circles were norm-developing and norm-dependent. Robert Phillipson, in his 1992 book Linguistic Imperialism, was more explicitly political, arguing that countries from the imperial Centres used the English Language Teaching industry as a means to maintain economic and cultural dominance. There are a few words of Myanma origin in Centre dictionaries, but should writers in Myanmar contexts wait for them to add more before they can use the words in more formal contexts While it might seem logical that the rules of English are defined by the countries which the language comes from, such a view neglects the fact that English in the current era is unlike all other languages in that it has staked a claim to being the first truly global language. Equal participation in globalisation means cultures must not only have the tools of communication but also the ability to use them on ones own terms. A similar issue is the trend in English language classes, especially in Asia, for learners to adopt an English name. So in Myanmar, for example, Thiha, Moe and Hnin might adopt classroom names of John, Lucy and Emma. Writer Moe Thet War notes that this may come across as a a false notion of West is best, but also says that many students are starting to reject English names, using their agency to assert Burmese space within global cultures. Why spend time translating something when you can say a word that both parties know Other times it is simply a word that cannot be translated. But when I explained in detail, William understood what I was saying and nodding his head several times, muttered in his fractured accent the words Nga Ye Pan over and over again. For example, there is a restaurant in Sanchaung named Shwe Apple. If the owners had wanted to simply transliterate from Burmese, they would have called it Shwe Pandhi, But this was a conscious decision to write in English, but use Shwe instead of Golden, as the former has a deeper cultural resonance. In writing, longer deliberation over word choices can be made, which can lead to deference to imagined Centre norms. The experiences of colonialism and the Second World War launched many a paperback novel set in Burma written by British writers, the most famous being George Orwells Burmese Days. English language readers have also been treated to translations of Burmese literary greats such as Ludu U Hla, Ma Ma Lay and Khin Hnin Yu. And in the 21 st century, there is an emerging generation of English language writers such as Y.M.V. Han, San Lin Tun and the writers for bilingual journals such as the Yangon Literary magazine or Pansodan Art and Culture Journal, not to mention the growing number of local journalists writing with their own authentic voices in English. The use of italics for foreign words is sometimes seen as a positive expression of culture and sometimes as something that defamiliarizes the familiar. But when does a word stop being foreign Both the English translation of Journal Kyaw Ma Ma Lays intimate portrayal of cultural discord, Not Out Of Hate, and Y.M.V. There is a case to be made for providing readers new to a Myanma context with helpful cultural notes, but by intertwining it with the source text, rather than adding these notes as an appendix, the effect can be one of othering Burmese culture, positioning it as always something to be discovered rather than standing on its own merits.
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