Benglish

First of all, here is the disclaimer, I am not the one who invented the word Benglish. It has been around for quite some time. In India and the United Kingdom, the Indian community call the English spoken by the Bengalis (from India and Bangladesh) as Benglish. In Malaysia and Singapore, on the other hand, Benglish is the English spoken by Ah Beng. Who the "bleep" is Ah Beng? No answer will be given here at this moment. You have to find out on your own. This is exactly the same as to the song by Smokie, "Living Next Door to Alice". So, who the "bleep" is Alice? You tell me, then I will tell you.

Before I continue, I would emphasize that plagiarism is not encouraged. The reason being, the Benglish presented here is different from those mentioned in Talk Cock Forum. Please don't "leverage" Benglish words here and "reuse" them on another site without acknowledging the source.

While we are not living alone in a perfect world, it is an honour and an advantage to be able to pick up and use some Benglish. This will really enhance your daily communication and make your work smooth. Here are a few examples:-

kapita - carburetor
margart - mud guard
tachap - touch up (for car paint)
ling - rim (for wheel)
kalachi - clutch
laisub - drive shaft
sibalar - spanner
joo - zoo
trefitlai - traffic light
lehlew - radio
lokter - doctor
sils - cheap sale
tiktakpen - mechanical pencil
sehgenderi - secretary
henfoon - cell phone
henbat - handbag
stim-x - streamyx
yangshen - junction
lohtek - road tax
met - mathematics
jeelow - zero
standlet stil - stainless steel

However, there is one word that Ah Beng pronounces better than those educated non Ah Beng. For "chassis", Ah Beng says "jehsi" or "JC" which is quite near to "chair see", but educate non Ah Beng usually says "cheh-sys". At least, Ah Beng's command of English is not that bad after all. Ah Beng Boleh!