ကၽြန္မႏွင္႔ ျမန္မာမ်ား
Myanmar People and I
Htay Win
Actually, this article was a good
result of my stay in Thailand, while I was teaching Myanmar Language as my hobby.
The story below was Ma Sudar or Mya Nandar’s own story which I just rewrote to make it convenient for Myanmar readers.
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Some of my friends often ask me
why I am very interested in the Myanmar language. Actually I myself have no
answer for them. They doubt that I might have a Myanmar boyfriend but it is not
true.
My Name is Chatsuda Sukplang. I
visited Myanmar for the first time is 2012 when my boss sent me to work at our
affiliated office in Yangon. After that, my opinion about Myanmar has changed
completely.
Before my first visit to Myanmar,
I knew very little about this country. I had traveled to many countries, but
Myanmar had never been on my wish list. After I learned about the people and
culture, I was keen to study their language. Since then, the door to Myanmar has
been opened wider to me because now I can speak, read and write the language.
Now I have many Myanmar friends and I have visited many cities in the country
during the past years until now.
During my first trip to Yangon, I
noticed that not many Myanmar people could speak English. This was opposite to
what I thought before, as I misunderstood that they could speak some English. Thus,
I had some language problems when I tried to communicate with local people such
as office workers, taxi drivers and vendors. Therefore, I decided to study the Myanmar
language. I googled for Myanmar teachers in Bangkok and I found a man who
offered to teach me at my office. His name was Saya Sam, so he was my first
Myanmar teacher. He is a Shan ethnic and I still study with him now.
In my first Myanmar course, I
told Saya Sam that I would like to learn conversation only. As I thought the Myanmar
alphabet would be too difficult for me. So I learned basic conversation in
karaoke style. During the year 2012, I had to go Yangon quite often so I had a
chance to practice my Myanmar conversation there. To my surprise, Myanmar
people who I talked to were very friendly and they were happy to hear my broken
Myanmar sentences. When I told them that I was from Thailand, they called me
“Yodaya” which means Thai.
After I had lived in Yangon for a
while, I realized that I should be able to read and write Myanmar as there were
some small problems in the office that could be solved easily if only I could
read the Myanmar language. For example, the delivery boy asked me to pay the
bill but I could not understand anything on it since it was written in Myanmar,
even the number! Sometimes we needed to revise a Myanmar document by only a few
words but I was not in a position to help since I could not read a single word.
And when I visited many places, most of the signs were in the Myanmar language
only. For instance, at the Shwedagon Pagoda (in 2012), it was challenging to
find my birthday Buddha image to worship. I was born on a Saturday and I had to
locate the Buddha with the naga, which is the Saturday Buddha. At that time,
all the Buddha signs were written in Myanmar only. Therefore, when Saya Sam
opened a Myanmar language school on Mahesak Road, I applied for his reading and
writing courses without delay.
I enjoyed and continued studying Myanmar
and when my Myanmar school arranged for a study trip to Taunggyi, I applied for
permission from my boss. My classmates and I stayed in Taunggyi for about three
weeks and we all agreed that the trip was one of the best in our life. We
stayed in a small hotel where we had slow and happy time. Every morning, we
woke up early, had breakfast at sun rise with nice cool breeze, then walked to
our Sayama’s house for our morning class which started at 07:00 am. Sayama Daw
Ni Ni Kyaw was kind enough to split her time teaching us in the early morning
and sometimes in the evening as she had to teach at a school during the day. She
was a nice lady and very patient with students who could understand little Myanmar.
After the morning class, we
usually walked to Nang Shan Kaew’s house. Pi Kaew (as she preferred to be
called “Sister”) was a Shan ethic who could speak many languages including Thai.
Her family business was selling construction materials. Her family was our host
family in Taunggyi and we respected her and her husband U Chu Naing very much. Pi
Kaew took us to the market and introduced us to many of her friends. It seems
that she knew everyone at the market and everybody knew her well. She was very
famous and respected in her community.
Ai Ai, her daughter, also helped
Sayama in teaching us and she became our friend. She was a modern girl,
pleasant, kind and friendly. Pi Kaew and Ai Ai took good care of us as if we
were their family members.
Since Pi Kaew’s shop was always
busy with customers, we then proceeded to the market to spend time with local
people and try local food, and of course, to talk with people in Myanmar. I was
assigned to practice Myanmar at a clothes shop while my friend attended the Shwe
U sarong shop. We had a very good time there and became friends with the shop
owners and workers.
When we had free time, we went to
the library, museum, and Sulamuni Pagoda in Taunggyi town. We also watched a football
match between KBZ and Taunggyi teams. It amazed us to see numerous people at
the football field, as if all people in the town came to watch this match. We
also had a chance to listen to cheering songs in Myanmar. I still can remember
the rhythm “Kanbaw, Kanbaw, Kanbawza, Kanbaw, Kanbaw, Kanbawza”.
On our free day, my friend and I
rented a car to visit Kakku and Tan San Ku which are very famous pagodas. Then
when our last day in Taunggyi arrived, U Chu Naing and his family treated us at
a wonderful Myanmar restaurant and this was our best dinner in Taunggyi.
Several months later, when Ai Ai
got married, my friend and I went to Taunggyi to attend her wedding party and visit
her family, Sayama, and our Taunggyi friends. They all were very glad to see us
again and we were very happy too.
During the 27th SEA
Games held in Myanmar in 2013, I volunteered to assist the Thai Sailing Team as
a co-ordinator. It was my pleasure and honour to have a chance to help my
country Thailand and my navy friends, some of whom were my sailing instructors.
I offered to do this job as I knew that it would be quite difficult for people
who have never been to Myanmar. I assisted the Thai sailing team in hotel
reservations, car rent, dealing with a local shipping company and restaurants,
and everything they needed to help the team to be successful.
We traveled to Ngwe Saung beach
via Pathein, which took us up to six hours from Yangon. The zigzag road from
Pathien to Ngwe Saung made many sailors sick, but not for me. We spent almost three
weeks in Ngwe Saung. This was also a great opportunity for me to use the
Myanmar language I had studied, as the local people there did not speak much
English. Even the SEA Games liaisons, which were selected from university
students in Yangon and Mandalay, could not communicate well in English.
Therefore, the liaisons for the Thai sailing team were delighted to communicate
with me in the Myanmar language. Unfortunately, they called me “Auntie” instead
of “Ma Ma”, but they were very helpful and friendly. After the SEA Games, I
tried to send emails to our liaisons many times but never received any reply.
One of them had given me her house address in Pakokku. However, when I visited
Pakokku in the following year, I could not locate her house.
Most Myanmar people I have met
are very nice and kind. For example, a friend in Yangon took me on the Yangon
Circular Train which took three hours to complete the round trip. She told me
later that the train ride was boring for her but she did it for me because she
knew that I wanted to do it and I liked to take photo of street life in
Myanmar. Other co-workers often cooked Myanmar food and brought local sweets
for me as they knew that I liked them.
There is one particular tour
guide and driver whose services I have often used. His name is U Hla Htay and he
really knows how to care for his guests. Before we start a new journey with
him, he will prepare cold drinks, ice, umbrellas, tissues, and even Myanmar
snacks for us without hesitation. When his guests want to eat pomelo or durian
and the sellers do not peel it, he will open it with his Swiss knife and serve
his guests. He always gives me an impressive souvenir when we finish the trip
at the airport. He became my friend and
I use his car for most of my trips to Myanmar.
The more I learn the Myanmar
language, the more I notice that Myanmar and Thai share many words, mostly in
Pali. When I have some free time, I like to create lists of the same words we
use, such as อดีต
ปัจจุบัน อนาคต
(past, present,
future). Currently, I study Myanmar with Saya U Htay Win at the TACDB
Foundation. He teaches me a lot and inspires me to continue studying. I have
pleasure in studying with him and will continue as long as he would like to
teach me. He gave me a Myanmar name “Mya
Nandar”.
I always have a passionate
interest in Myanmar and her people. Currently, even though I do not go to
Myanmar as often as before, but at least once or twice a year, I wish to go
back again and again. Some of my friends say I am crazy to study the Myanmar language
and visit the under-developed country. However, in my opinion, they have a lack
of knowledge and understanding about their wonderful neighbor.
*** *** ***
Now I have a new ambition. If I
would be Myanmar language teacher or a writer who could write in the Myanmar
language, I hope you will read my writing. This is my dream.
I cannot tell whether my dream
will come true. However, my teacher told me that “Nothing is impossible”. This
year, nobody believed that the Leicester Team which is owned by a Thai
millionaire could win the Premier League. Thus, nothing is impossible. To success
in studying the language is not as difficult as becoming a Premier League
champion. Therefore, after you read my story, I hope you will support me to become a
Myanmar language writer.
*** ** **
Nowadays, language is a very
important subject. After you read this story, I wish you would follow the mindset
from Ma Sudar, who is the character in the story. Especially the youth who aim
to study language or related subject, you should practice to be skillful.
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