We had our first Bahasa Melayu* lesson this week. No, we aren’t fluent yet (I don’t know why not, after all we’ve been here six whole weeks).
But we did learn that there are two phrases for ‘goodbye’.
If you’re the person staying, you say ‘Selamat jalan’ (literally ‘please be safe in your going’).
And if you’re the one who’s leaving, the phrase is ‘Selamat tinggal’ (‘please be safe in your staying’).
Isn’t that nice?
*means ‘Malay Language’. It’s the national language, part of the Austronesian language group. A version (not surprisingly called Bahasa Indonesia) is the official language in Indonesia, but my friend who speaks it well says some words which are perfectly acceptable over there are extremely rude in Melayu…
malaysianmeanderings 
How nice! Sounds like a delightful language! We are with friends in Cambridge, where Peter has discovered a new toy – an electronic fly swat. I should really take a video of him playing, so that you can see….. Judy
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oh yes please! sounds brilliant. I think I might want one! except it might count as infrastructure creep, I suppose. ..xx
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I have only just discovered where your reply to my reply was going…duh!!! There are no flies about right now, but the wretched thing looks like a small tennis racquet, and goes buzz-sparkle when it comes into contact with a fly! Cruelty I say!!
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Reblogged this on martingpalmer.
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