Mind the translation! Part 2

My last blog post attracted quite a bit of criticism from readers who felt I was not equipped to comment on Malay grammar and vocabulary. The sole objection that my readers have is my ethnicity. Many readers are of the view that only ethnic Malays speak the language perfectly and can tell what is wrong with a sentence written in Malay. That's as stupid as saying only the English can teach English and if Bernard Shaw is correct, the English are the last people you should turn to if you need help on the English language.  

If you read my last blog post, I explained very clearly why the translation of 'Mind the Gap' into 'Berhati-hati di ruang platform' is wrong. However, unlike the English language, the Malay language lacks a comprehensive study and examination of its grammar and vocabulary. The definitions given in Kamus Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, which is probably the most authoritative dictionary of the Malay language, do not come even close to the kind of definitions in the OED. They tend to be very brief and extremely shoddy. That makes it very difficult for me to back what I wrote in my last blog post with the pronouncement from some comprehensive dictionary or grammar. The Malay language is sadly blessed with neither.

Last month, I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and a brilliant thought came to me. The Malay language as used in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia must of course be the final arbiter of what standard Malay is. I would take the subway and look for the Malay version of 'Mind the gap' on a Malaysian train. If they used the same warning, namely, 'Berhati-hati di ruang platform', then of course I would have to publish a fresh blog post to explain that I was mistaken. But I was fairly certain the Malay language used in Malaysia could not be so terribly wrong.

The first train I took in Kuala Lumpur was crowded but that didn't stop me from looking at every notice I could find. It didn't take long before I saw the very thing I had been looking for. I jumped out of my seat and took a couple of photos of the sign. A few passengers looked at what I had photographed and they probably thought I was not quite right in the head. But there you are - I was right all along. This is how the capital of the country that gave birth to the Malay language translates 'Mind the gap':

In my last blog post, I said that there was no word for 'gap' in Malay. 'Ruang' is best translated 'space'. This is precisely what the notice says: 'Beware the space between the platform and the train'. It's a bit of a mouthful but that's the limitation of the language.

NOTE: I subsequently noticed SMRT's attempt to correct this error and I have addressed this in Mind the Translation Part 3.