stud-y-ing lin-guis-tics !!

This is a list of all the writing systems that are currently in active use.

Arabic (الْأَبْجَدِيَّة الْعَرَبِيَّة‎)

Armenian (Հայոց այբուբեն)

Bengali–Assamese/Eastern Nagari (বাংলা লিপি)

Burmese (မြန်မာအက္ခရာ)

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics (ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ)

Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ)

Chinese (汉字 [Simplified]/漢字 [Traditional])

Cyrillic (Кириллица)

Devanagari (देवनागरी)

Fraser (LI-SU)

Ge'ez/Ethiopic (ግዕዝ)

Georgian (მხედრული)

Greek (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο)

Gujarati (ગુજરાતી લિપિ)

Gurmukhi (ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ)

Hebrew (אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי)

Japanese (日本語)

Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ ಲಿಪಿ)

Khmer (អក្សរខ្មែរ)

Korean (한글 [South Korea]/조선글 [North Korea])

Lao (ອັກສອນລາວ)

Latin

Malayalam (മലയാളലിപി)

Mongolian (ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠭ᠌)

N’Ko (ߒߞߏ)

Odia/Kalinga (କଳିଙ୍ଗ ଲିପି)

Sinhala (සිංහල අක්ෂර මාලාව)

Tai Le/Dehong Dai (ᥖᥭᥰᥘᥫᥴ)

Tamil (தமிழ் அரிச்சுவடி)

Telugu (తెలుగు లిపి)

Thaana (ތާނަ)

Thai (อักษรไทย)

Tibetan (བོད་སྐད)

Tifinagh (ⵜⵉⴼⵉⵏⴰⵖ)

“Oh we should teach the children in school” that’s not enough. It’s never enough. Teaching children a language in school is not enough to cultivate fluency - how many people do you know who “took French/German/Spanish in high school” and don’t remember a thing? This also leads to creating an environment of infantilism around a language. People learn a language (and dance, and crafts) as children, and then they are thrust into high school, and then the “real” world, where they have to get “real” jobs to make money. All of that cultural stuff? That’s for children. (Never mind the fact that there is no funding from the government for languages that are “useless.”)

In Africa, multilingualism is almost taken for granted. In particular, indigenous languages are most commonly used there. Swahili is the lingua franca in Eastern Africa and Hausa, in West Africa. African linguistic diversity was also influenced by colonial languages; English and French, for example, are official languages and languages of instruction in many countries.

This post hit hard, and a large part of that is thanks to the bilingualism and code-switching. The disparity between the way the artist speaks in English vs BM is stark and nuanced in a way that translation just doesn’t do justice. Then there’s the cultural aspect to consider: years of memories embodied by the shattered kopitiam cup, the school exercise book, the hands bent in dance.

I’m glad people who aren’t Malaysian (or who are, in one way or another, estranged from the country) have found something beautiful and poignant in this comic. That speaks to how powerful it is as a piece of art. I can’t give you all the context that makes it extra special to me, but I hope this translation helps to fill in some of the gaps.

Translator’s comments in italics. If you’re on desktop, I recommend pulling up the comic in a separate window/tab so you can read it side by side.

@persephonification​