The one unique aspect about the Malay language in Malaysia is the fact that the spelling of certain words can be ‘borrowed’ from other languages such as English when there isn’t a specific word to describe an object or action.
However, when used in excess, it’s bound to backfire horribly, just as one local university found out when it used a certain Malay spelling to refer to the word ‘exercise’.
Uni spells ‘exercise’ as ‘eksesais’
The spelling controversy was first brought to light in a poster shared by Universiti Malaya (UM), where it was dedicated to national athlete Nurul Izzah Izzati Asri, who broke the national record for cycling at the recent Olympics and was a student at the university.
TAHNIAH!
— Universiti Malaya (@unimalaya) August 11, 2024
UM merakamkan setinggi-tinggi tahniah kepada Nurul Izzah Izzati Asri, pelajar Fakulti Sukan dan Sains Eksesais atas kejayaan memecahkan rekod kebangsaan dalam acara pecut berbasikal individu.#universitimalaya#homeofthebright#landofthebrave pic.twitter.com/JV5v2AvoJB
In the caption, UM congratulated Nurul Izzah on her achievement at the sporting event and stated that she was a student from its Sports and Exercise Science faculty (Fakulti Sukan dan Sains Eksesais).
However, as you would’ve probably noticed by now, the word ‘eksesais’ was used instead of ‘senaman’ to refer to the English word for ‘exercise’. For the record, ‘eksesais‘ doesn’t exist in the Malay dictionary.
Netizens slam ‘lazy’ translation
It didn’t take long for sharp-eyed netizens to notice the spelling and they promptly took UM to task for its ‘lazy’ translation.
‘Just came to know that there’s such a word called ‘eksesais’. I couldn’t find in the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP).
‘Wow so proud (of you) Universiti Malaya. I want to ask…this ‘sukan eksesais’, what field is it exactly?’
‘Is it that hard to type out ‘senaman’? Do any of you exercise at all?’