Wednesday, November 08, 2006

dhivehi version 1.6.1a?

its amazing; the dhivehi language. It really is. Anyway its not about how rich the language or how poor and stupid it is. This is about the dhievhi version 1.6.1a, which is the bangaalhee version of dhivehi. I don't know from where it came or who invented it. Seems its is there. No one knows the origins, they talk in that language and we to them. Take for example you want to ask a bangalhee if he has had lunch or dinner, etc.
you would say " ކަލޭ ކާވައްތަރު ހުއްނަނީ؟ " , which kinda means are you edible? or close to that. but in reality when said this to a bangaalhee or any other foreigner, it means have you had food? (lunch, dinner, etc). I some times wonder, why we use this method of communication when it comes to talking with foreigners using dhivehi? common answer might be "our language is too complex and if we talk normally they won't understand" ? WOW ? is it that complex ? I don't know the answer. But it sure is funny to listen to these conversations.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man this is very true.

The problem is that we go into this Dhivehi 1.6.1a mode whenever we talk to a foreign national from the neighboring countries.

We should try to avoid this dialect as much as possible. Not only does it make us sound really stupid but is condescending behaviour.

M said...

we wud fare pretty worse if we tried to talk intheir language, don't u think?

if only our beloved zaeem was free from the menancing mdp, so that he could continue concentrating on his benevolent task of saving our heritage dhivehi language from vanishing off the face of this earth. ikhlaastheri kamaai ekeega.

Anonymous said...

I think this type of Dhivehi was brought into mainstream through television, in a Yoosay's Dhiriulhumakee Mieebaa programme, if I remember right. At that time there were a few foreign workers who spoke that way because they didn't know how to speak in Dhivehi properly. What started as a method of ridiculing foreign workers, this version of Dhivehi has become so established that the Dhivehi bosses started speaking to their expatriate employees like this and the trend caught on. In fact it's the Maldivians who are now teaching foreigners to speak like this. Foreigners learn Dhivehi and speak quite well through time. If we talk like this to them, they will always learn this version. This is totally against the noble ambitions of letting the whole world know what a perfect and rich language we have. Imagine if the UN General Assembly speech was given in this version of Dhivehi. After all, most of the audience were foreigners.

Anonymous said...

There are two main reasons for the broken Dhivehi that's used with foreigners:
1. Keeps outsiders out: Teaches foreigners just enough for them to understand orders (for workers, etc.), but not enough to really understand conversations between Dhivehin.
2. It provides loads of entertainment to the locals.

Anonymous said...

etaa ki bondhu? thumi ami balobashi?

shamosha naai...

Bryce Wesley Merkl said...

This is quite true. Very interesting too.

If you're interested, this is actually a site that is completely in Dhivehi:

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