Yeo Wei Wei
englisch
我们对着鱼缸说国语
我对着鱼缸说国语
每一个元音像风打在镜里
每一次顿挫像蚊子在跳舞
对下腕表,每一秒都风起云涌
1950英语是殖民地语
想象着国语 我们来讲马来语
1965国语: 英语 马来语 双语?
地图到处烟云,每一处如何安身立命
联邦 州府 马来亚 马来西亚
台湾 中华民国
石叻坡 星州 新加坡
请跟我念
国家——国 家
你有你的 我有我的国语
字正腔圆,绝非官话
我们坐在圆桌旁练习说国语
鱼在圆圆的鱼缸嘟着圆圆的金鱼嘴
鱼如舌在口腔中,蠕动如蛇
有时圆唇,有时不圆唇
圆唇时
是鱼 是语 是马来语 是 Ü
不圆唇时
是 ikan 是 English 是 Inilah Singapura
_______
注:
ikan, 马来语,鱼。
Inilah Singapura, 马来语,这里是新加坡。
Audioproduktion: The Literary Centre and Sing Lit Station
We Speak to Fish Using National Language
I speak to the fish in the bowl in the National Language
Each vowel beating like wind against glass
Each accent dancing like mosquitoes
My watch shows each second rising, teeming, like wind and smoke
1950’s English is the colonial language
Imagining the National Language, let us speak Malay
1965’s National Language: English? Malay? Both?
Every place on the map chokes with smoke, where is there a safe place for us?
Straits Settlements Federation of Malaya Malaya Malaysia
Taiwan Republic of China
Temasek Singapura Singapore
Please read after me
Nation — NAT-ION
You have your National Language, I have mine
Each tongue is alive, free from officialese
We sit at a round table practising the National Language
The fish in the round round bowl pout with round round goldfish mouths
The fish are tongues in mouths, squirming like snakes
Sometimes with lips shaped like “O”, other times no When the mouth is round:
it is yu, it is language, it is Bahasa Melayu, it is U
When the mouth isn’t round:
it is ikan, it is English, it is Inilah Singapura
_______
* Ikan is Malay for “fish”.
Inilah Singapura translates into “This is Singapore”.