Pakchic says: Trying to raise a true blue Malaysian daughter
By Zan Azlee

“Apa khabar Athena? Buat apa kat sekolah hari ini?” I would ask.

“Pops!!” she would scream.

“Kenapa Athena? Apa yang Athena buat kat sekolah? Ceritalah kat pops.”

“Pops!!”

And she would immediately run away from me while laughing hysterically.

I find her reaction very amusing whenever I try to speak to her in any other language besides English, like Bahasa Malaysia or Cantonese for example.

It’s amusing to me because that is exactly how I reacted when I was a kid to my parents who would suddenly speak to me in Bahasa Malaysia just to fool around with me.

I speak English at home with my daughter and wife. The reason is because that is the language of communication in my family when I was growing up.

In fact, I consider that my mother tongue since I actually learned to speak English way before I could speak Bahasa Malaysia.

Another language that I can speak is Cantonese because I come from a mixed family. But my pronunciation isn’t really that impressive. More comedic, I think!

So it’s only natural that I also want little Athena to be able to speak all of these languages. And she’s doing quite well (except for the Cantonese… my mother needs to speak more to her).

Jokes aside, she seems to be picking up Bahasa Malaysia quite fast considering that she only speaks Malay when she meets some of her Malay relatives (oh… and the maid at home!). [Click to read the full article at MakChic.Com]