Virtual Celebration--Deepavali or Diwali?
Our Toastmaster's meeting tonight had a very special theme -- Deepavali!
In college, I used to hang out a lot with Indians from the Northern region of India. I remembered joining their Deepavali celebration for the first time. Everyone kept saying Happy Diwali which got me so confused because all my life I only knew Deepavali!
At first I thought it was a just a slang, although that seemed unlikely because all the Indians I met were saying Diwali and not Deepavali! Afraid that I might embarrass myself, I refrained from wishing anyone anything until I get to the bottom of this! A quick Google search told me that they are essentially the same celebration : Festival of Lights !
Although that story has completely nothing to do with our Toastmaster's Deepavali celebration, what I wanted to highlight is that a similar word or (in this case a festival) can be pronounced differently in different parts of the world although they carry the same meaning!
In the same way, our English accents can develop differently depending on where we learn English, which parts of the world we are born in or our mother tongue! There is of course no right or wrong accent in the world, since English has became a universal language that is spoken in 94 countries!
One thing that amazes me is how much you can tell by just paying attention to one's accent, word choices and intonation. For instance, Malaysians tend to drop the occasional "lah" when speaking. Sometimes, I find myself replacing the words "kan?" with "right?". Another example is someone from the younger generation may be more familiar with words like "dope","GOAT" or "shook".
Throughout the meeting, we had speakers and role players from different parts of the world, which made it a truly "international" virtual celebration! Seeing everyone coming together to celebrate the festival of light is truly a heartwarming sight. We even had a deepavali themed music playing in the background with a candles/lantern spinning wheel to decide on Table Topics speech titles!
The diversity in this club is astonishing with different age groups, professions, nationality and ethnicity! Being in a club that embraces diversity is something I truly appreciate about ITC !
Join us for our next virtual meeting on 2nd Dec 2020, 7pm!
ITC Bintang Toastmasters Club meets on every 1st, 3rd and 5th Wednesday of the month. Follow our Facebook and Instagram @itcbintangtm for more updates.
Ainaa Najihah
Secretary of ITC Bintang Toastmasters Club 2020/2021
Comments