盘点多语言的好处 Ranking the languages that I know base on everyday usage

我出生在马来西亚华人家庭中，从小母语就是华语。记忆中第一次会说话开始就是讲华语，身边大多数的朋友都是华人，华语算是我生活中的第一语言。

马来文是马来西亚的国语，也是国家官方语言。马来人占了七成人口，在这里生活掌握基本的马来文是必须的，不然可能一封简单的电费邮件都看不懂。

由于爷爷是自广东移民来东南亚的，我家也常以广东人自居，偶尔家里人也会用粤语沟通，我小时候虽然说的不多，但是在港剧和广东歌曲的熏陶下也掌握了粤语。

英文算是最迟掌握的。直到上大学之前，我的英文水平简直可以‘被忽略’。多亏马来西亚大学是用英文为主要教育媒介体，同时也要应付种种的presentation，身边也渐渐多了使用英语的机会，才让我正式的投入了英语的怀抱。

以下就来说说这几种语言各自给我带来的实际好处吧，排名从低至高。

4.粤语

香港的娱乐文化在东南亚是巨大的，因为从小在多语言的环境下长大，我对电影和歌曲等都有一个最低要求，那就是配音一定要原汁原味。尤其是电影这块，只要原版是粤语录制的我就一定要看粤语版的。那时候流行在网上下载电影然后在家用电脑播放，多数港剧的来源都是来自大陆，而我只要听到使用普通话配音的港剧基本就会删掉重新再找。

歌曲方面譬如听惯了张学友的广东版<李香兰>，

像花虽未红　如冰虽不冻　却像有无数说话　可惜我听不懂

就会觉得国语版的<秋意浓>听起来很别扭

不怕相思苦　只怕妳伤痛　怨只怨人在风中　聚散都不由我

同样的，本来是华语的戏剧歌曲我也喜欢听原版，感觉更有味道和忠于原著吧。懂粤语的好处很多都是影视娱乐上的方便，现实生活中对我没有太多的实际用途。

还有另一个好处，就是去香港时可以装作不懂粤语，然后偷听别人在说什么。我会粤语的同事有个有趣的经验。他在香港时进去一间相机店，用英语问了老板一些关于相机产品的问题，最后没有成交。正当他要离开店铺时，老板用粤语说：搞搞震，冇帮衬。”（意思就是给人添麻烦有不买东西）同事立马就半转身盯着老板看，老板也有点吓到不敢作声，可能以为别人听不懂当面说人闲话，被抓着了有点尴尬吧。各位引以为鉴啊！

3.马来语

上面说了在马来西亚不会马来文的话可是会很不方便的。我从小就觉得马来文在国际上没有很大的实际用途，只要掌握基本的生活用语，普通官方书文都看得懂的程度就行。起码到现在我的观念还是站得住脚的，除非你想打政府工。

学生而言最好还是有相当的程度，因为马来西亚的高考(SPM)是把马来文列为一定要及格的科目。不过关的的话整个高考也就完蛋了。而高考资历对那些不想升大学，想直接出来社会工作的人更是重要的，因为那是马来西亚的求职最低要求。

2.英语

英文的重要性不用多说了吧，尤其在新加坡职场上英语能力可说是必备条件。懂得英文让我几乎多了一个世界。

• 旅游时可以和各色人等无障碍的交流，让旅程内容更丰富。作为世界语言，出门在外很多国家的指示牌都起码会标注英文的翻译。从发达至发展中国家，都是如此。爱旅游的人不可不会。

• 无压力浏览各大国际网站，新闻，论坛等等，收集信息的时候可以和中文来源互相核实。正如我爱逛Quora，有时也可去知乎看看。

• 娱乐方面更多姿多彩，美剧，欧美歌等等。更不用说很多书籍原著都只有英文版了。有时找游戏从中文管道找不到，却在英文论坛上很热门。

1.华语

我一直以掌握号称世界上最难学的语文为傲。其实华文语作为母语，有多难学其实我是没有概念的。可能在牙牙学语以至小学时期就懵懵懂懂的学会了，记忆中也没什么的学习时的痛苦记忆。第一语言都有这种好处吧。

华语在我心目中排名第一完全是因为她的博大精深。表达同一个意思时用的词语可极华丽也可极简约。

“风儿轻轻吹起，本来镜子般的湖面漾起了圈圈涟漪，湖边的柳叶轻摆着身姿，漫天的霞光包围着我，我张开双臂，每一寸肌肤都是暖暖的，"

这么一大串的形容语句，其实用一句风和日丽就可以解决了。当然不排除别的语言也能做到这样的效果，只是我的程度不高，不知道罢了。

中华文化有趣的地方比比皆是，从书法，诗词歌赋，文言文，到演变出来的无数方言。每一个都可以让人花一辈子的精力来研究。

马来西亚华人的华语发音其实是很不标准的，我想是也多亏了多语言的环境照成的吧。往往一句话里也会夹杂了两到三种语言，比如，“So, 晚上要去哪里makan(马来文，用餐的意思)”。也正因为多语言性，在非东南亚的华人地区要入乡随俗的说话，如台湾，发音还是可以临时“标准”起来的。某次在台湾某个地铁站里选购物品，和店里老板聊了两句后还问我怎么办那么早就放学了。后来才发现他把我当本地学生了。

以上排名皆出自于对我的生活影响上的实际考量，没有任何敌意

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I come from a Malaysian Chinese family and naturally Chinese language was my mother tongue.
Malay is the official language of Malaysia. Living in a community where the Malays are the majority race, acquiring basic Malay skills is a must or you won't be able to read a simple electricity bill.
My grandfather migrated from the southern part of China to Malaysia in the early 00's. Our family then regard ourselves as Cantonese people. I don't speak much Cantonese when I was young, but the Hong Kong dramas and songs taught me well on that.
English is the language I learned the latest. Thanks to the 4 years in the University that English is the main conduct language, I slowly picked up this one of the most important languages before graduation.

I will now rank these four languages by the actual benefits in real life to me. Ranking starts from lowest to highest.

4.Cantonese

Back in the 90's, Hong Kong culture had a huge influence in South East Asia. Due to the fact I can handle multiple languages, I have a minimum requirement in entertainments like movie and songs, that I only stick to the original audio version of the end product. If a movie is produced from HK which is originally recorded in Cantonese, I won't bother to play the other version like in Chinese or English. Same applies to the songs.

Knowing Cantonese might helps here and there but most will be in term of entertainment. Not much of real boost in real life application for me.

3.Malay

I've mentioned not knowing the Malay language is going to be a big trouble as a Malaysian. Almost everything in this country is in Malay. However I don't think this language will have much usefulness outside Malaysia, and I've been right thus far as I'm working in Singapore.

However as a student, you better at least get a Credit for the Malay language subject, because that is the must-pass subject for every high school student in order to be certified that you've completed high school education. Or else you will feel like hell when finding a job after that. That certification is a minimum requirement in most of the jobs available on the market.

2.English

I don't have to stress more on the importance of English, you would talk in that all day in the workplace in Singapore. And mastering English allows me to have an 'extra world' to those who don't.

• I can talk to all kind of people whenever I travel which will really enrich the content of the whole trip. Travel lover has know English as this language works from the developing countries to the developed one.
• Surfing global sites without pressure, from BBC to Reddit.
• More entertainment sources like the TV series and songs. Not to mention tons of book that only available in English version.

1.Chinese

I'm always proud to use the world-most-difficult-language as my first language. In fact, I have no idea how difficult it is to when learning it. I guess it was the advantage for picking up something difficult as your mother tongue, you master it naturally without having much pain.

Chinese language is so deep and profound that you can express the same meaning using long and complicated sentences as well as a few simplified words. Excuse me for not able to provide a proper example as I think the readers will need basic understandings of Chinese to get the beauty of this language. From calligraphy to poems, and to countless kind of dialects, each of every aspect will cost someone a lifetime to study.

Disclaimer: Ranking above were purely based on the usefulness in my everyday life. No offense at all.