马来西亚人 / Malaysian Chinese
I always have to explain.
我 的 名 字 是 黄 美 心
My name is 黄 美 心
You can’t read it? Let me make it easier,
My name is Ng Mei Xin.
You can’t pronounce it? I can’t help you there.
黄Ng is my last name, except that it comes first, but it’s not a first name.
Because in Chinese, family names come first.
黄means yellow
美 Mei means beautiful
心 Xin means heart
Yes, I have a beautiful yellow heart 美 丽 的 黄 心 to match my beautiful, yellow skin 美 丽 的 黄 皮 肤
It’s not easy living far from home, in someone else’s land.
You always need 力to 忍
I have to explain?
力 means strength
刀means knife. 刀 looks like a knife with a handle and blade. None of this English silent K stuff.
刃means blade. There’s the small stroke that points to the sharp part of the knife.
See all the subtle differences? When you have a刀knife’s blade刃 on your 心
You must also have the 力 to 忍
忍 Endure
More about this story, and the anthology Te Moana o Reo | Ocean of Languages, featuring more than 40 languages of Aotearoa, can be found at The Cuba Press, here.
Chang Shih Yen is a writer from Malaysia. She speaks English, Malay, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese. She graduated with first-class honours in English and Linguistics, and has a Master’s degree in linguistics from the University of Otago in New Zealand. Her first book was a work of nonfiction entitled Chang Shih Yen’s Pandemic Diary: Surviving Covid-19 lockdown alone and without internet. Her second book was a work of fiction, a collection of short stories entitled Around The World.