There have been multiple instances (3 reported ones to be exact) where foreign celebrities were mocked by Malaysians for using words in their mother tongues that are similar to Bahasa Malaysia words. Coincidentally, all 3 of these instances involved the word ‘Babi’. You can check them out here, here and here.
Many Malaysians felt that those who mocked the foreign celebrities appeared to not have an understanding of the fact that foreign languages can have words that look the same as ours but have different meanings.
Now, Malaysians are calling out a netizen for trying to say that a Korean singer’s real name, Nabi, which in Korean means butterfly, is disrespectful. According to the netizen, this is because, in Malay, Nabi means Prophet (basically linking the situation to Nabi Muhammad SAW).
Taking to a Twitter post by pannchoa, who shared that American singer (with Korean heritage) Ella Gross’s Korean name is Nabi, the netizen commented, “Nabi is prophet in Malay, so I don’t know if it’s kind of disrespectful.”
No no, don’t go there.
Malaysians were absolutely not having this and told the netizen to delete her comment as it embarrasses us!
“Don’t embarrass Malaysia please.”
“There are many languages in the world, not just Malay. Consider that.”
“Sister, there are many languages, sister. In Korean, Nabi means butterfly.”
“Sister, don’t embarrass our people, please.”
“You have embarrassed us. Please go home and never come back out again.”
We’re honestly really proud to see the sheer amount of Malaysians who are defending other people’s right to their mother tongues, especially after the past incidents.
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
