Comparisons Between Malaysia And United Kingdom Cultural Studies Essay

Food is a necessity. Everyone needs energy from the food to support their body. Human taste buds are divided into five categories, which is sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. Umami is a taste bud that discovered by the Japanese. It is a taste bud for meat. Umami may not be famous in Western country but it is very famous in Asia country. Every country may have different taste of food because the spices used in every country are different. Culture of a country is one of the factors that affect the food presentation. Food presentation is very important. If the food looks nice, it can increase your appetite. Cooking technique is also known as culinary arts. Cooking technique and tools will affect the texture of the food. Different country will like different texture of food. The texture of food will affect the appeal of eating it. Therefore, food from different country will have different taste, presentation, and texture.

2.1.1 Breakfast

Breakfast is consumed in the morning. It is the first meal of the day. Usually people will take more carbohydrate for breakfast because we need a lot of energy to go through the day. In Malaysia, most of the people will take nasi lemak and teh tarik as breakfast. Nasi lemak is one of the signature dishes in Malaysia. However in United Kingdom, people will take fried egg, sausage, toast, bacon, baked bean, and orange juice as breakfast. It is also known as British breakfast or English breakfast. The English breakfast is now one of the most popular breakfasts in many countries.

2.1.2 Dinner

Dinner is consumed at night. It is the third meal and mail meal of the day. Dinner also consider as the largest meal of the day. In Malaysia, nasi campur (Malay mixed rice) is a very popular food for dinner. Nasi campur is a dish of rice topped with various types of side dishes. People love it because there is lots of choice for the side dishes. The price of nasi campur is reasonable yet delicious. Therefore, many people take nasi campur for their dinner. While in United Kingdom, fish and chips is the signature dish. It is a dish that originated in the United Kingdom in 1863. Fish and chips is still now the most well-known and favourite dinner at all times.

This is the food in Malaysia and United Kingdom and we can see that the food in United Kingdom is very different from Malaysia. Hence, the food has its own uniqueness and cannot be compared. Everyone will love eating the food no matter where are you from.

2.3 Language

Language is a tool that enables people to communicate with each other, understand what people are trying to say and interact with each other. It is very important because it helps people communicate with each other in this world although languages have different dialects. Language also important for a people to survive, without language we could not understand each other. There are so many languages in the world such as English, Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu, Spanish, Latina and Italiano.

2.3.1 English

English is an official language, which means almost all the country in the world understand English. There are so many countries are using English to communicate such as Australia, United Kingdom, United Stated and Pakistan. Most of the country used English in official business, government and legal contract, there are about 375 million people speak in English.

In Malaysia, English has been combined with other languages due to different religion and culture. The most common language speaks in our country is Manglish. Manglish is a combination of English and Bahasa Melayu. The pronunciation and essence is different from British English. Malaysian speaks English has their own slang, for example, `don’t want lah’, ` nah, take this’. Although Malaysian speaks Manglish, they are still writing and spelling using British English. Therefore, Manglish is only understandable in our country Malaysia.

In United Kingdom, modern English is used to communicate. Modern English is an international language, and it can be understand by everyone in the world. The pronunciation and essence of modern English is more correctly. Modern English do not have the suffix such as lah and loh. Besides that, people usually speak modern English instead of other languages to deal with the international business.

2.3.2 Mandarin

Mandarin is the most popular language in the world. Mandarin is originally spoken by Chinese and most of them are come from China, Beijing Every country has developed their own dialects, but it still understandable by people from other regions. Mandarin is spoken in many countries such as Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. Nowadays, mandarin is the main language of government, education and media in China. There are 870 million people who speak in Mandarin. In Asia, China is the most powerful country; hence, people will look for the business opportunity at there. In this case, it will also cause so many people to speak in Mandarin.

In Malaysia, people speak mandarin with different pronunciation because they are influenced by many dialects such as Hokkien, Hakka and Hainan. The reason is because Malaysia has different culture and religion. There are much more people speaks mandarin compare to United Kingdom as the population of Chinese in Malaysia is bigger. In United Kingdom, most of the people speak in English instead of mandarin. This is because Chinese population in United Kingdom is few.

Language is a tool for people to communicate and to understand other people better. Therefore, there will be less argument in the world.

2.5 Culture

Culture is a natural process for identity of a human being which can learn from their families and friends. It is also a learning process of behavior and ways of people living in their life. Then, culture is a complex tool that every people need to learn to survive in a society and through interact with others in the world. Culture developed by many reasons such as faith, beliefs, practices, way to live, economy, intelligence, language and food habits. Culture is important for the existence of a society, because it unites people together. Therefore it is also vital to establish discipline and an order in a society. Culture enables people share a specific language, behavior, beliefs and traditions and gives people an identity which makes them special and unique. Different country has different culture as they have gone through many circumstances and experiences. Hence, this circumstances and experiences will affect the culture of a country.

2.5.1 Festival

A festival is a period of time which is set in the calendar for feasting and celebration. It is also means an event which is celebrated by a society for a memorable day or some unique aspect of the community. Festival is important because it reminds important events. Every festival has different significant and useful meaning. It also encourages people not to forget their culture by celebrating the festival. By celebrating festivals, we can release stress from a hectic work, spend more time with family and friends, and carrying the message of the past generations to the future. In addition, we can also enjoy the traditional food when we are celebrating the festival.

The festival which is celebrated in Malaysia is Hari Gawai and Wesak Day. Hari Gawai is a festival which is celebrated by the communities in Sarawak. This festival is for religious and social occasion, thanks giving day and a season for new farming. Gawai is also an occasion for fun and parties. Besides that, Wesak day is celebrated by Buddhist, it is a birthday of Buddha. People usually go for bathing the Buddha’s ceremony. The water is poured over the shoulder of Buddha. They belief it can purify the mind of evil. While in United Kingdom, the festival such as Easter season is celebrated by the Christian. At the Easter time, usually have two public holidays, Good Friday and Easter Monday. Easter is the time for festivals, holidays and a time for giving chocolate Easter eggs. This festival is the oldest Christian festival, the celebration of the death and coming to life of Jesus Christ. On the day of the festival, parents usually bring children to community Easter-egg hunt. During the festival, Easter egg and chocolate are given as a gift.

2.5.2 Religion

Religion is a strong belief in gods. The moral rules in religion can help to build good civilizations. People who believe in religion will think wisely before doing a decision. It also encourages people to help others such as needy. Religion has gives us hope and eases the pain when we faces any problems. In this case, it also teaches us to become superior and not afraid of everything. Religion can be spread from a country to another through colonization, marriages between two different races and friends.

In our country Malaysia, there are three main religions which is Islam for Malays, Buddhist for Chinese and Hindu for India. The major religion in our country is Islam, because the population of Malays in Malaysia is the biggest. There is 60.4% of the people in Malaysia are Islam. Islam belief in gods which is called `Allah’ and the identity of helper is known as `Muhammad’. The main holy book that Islam belief is Quran and the original languages is Arabic. Apart from that, the practice of Islam is they pray at mosque every Friday. Besides that, the religions in United Kingdom are Christian, Islam, Hindu, Jediism and Buddhism. While the major religion in United Kingdom is Christian, this can be proven as there is 71.6% of the people in United Kingdom are Christian. Christian belief in the trinity, they are three person in one Godhead; father, son and holy spirit. Then the helper of Christian is called Holy Spirit and main holy book is bible. The original language is Greek. Other than that, the practices of Christian are they do their praying in church every Saturday or Sunday.

Culture is something that very interesting. It is part of our identity. Therefore, our life will be completed with culture.

2.6 History

History is something that has past. It is a study or a subject for us to remember the human past. History also provides human nature and human civilization. It is important for us to study history because we can always learn from the mistake or something good from the past. We must make sure that we will never repeat the same mistake again and again. History has made us who we are today. It is part of our identity because it tells us the place that we came from and how we develop and become today. Besides, history made us improve so that our society will become better and better.

2.6.1 Monument

Monument is a structure to remember a person or an important event which is important to our society today’s to remembrance the past event. It is a beautiful or amazing structure. It is used to increase the appearance of the location. Therefore, the place has become a tourist area. In Malaysia, we have National Mosque (Masjid Negara). Malaysia gained its independence on the 31st August 1957. The National Mosque is a symbol to remember the independence of Malaysia. While in United Kingdom, Edinburgh Castle is one of the most famous monuments. There are many conflicts happen in this castle. It is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh.

2.6.2 Monarchy

Monarchy is the leader or ruler of a country. A monarchy has unlimited political power. They are the head of the country. It is a person that can always make today’s a history. They have power to make a lot of decision for the country and people. They are a very influential person. In Malaysia, we have Yang di-Pertuan Agong XIII Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah. He is the king of Malaysia. Only male can be a ruler in Malaysia. However, the ruler in United Kingdom is a female. She is Queen Elizabeth. The queen of United Kingdom. Therefore, the biggest different between United Kingdom and Malaysia is the gender of the ruler is different.

Our life will be incomplete without the history. Therefore, history is definitely an important subject to us.

2.7 People

People are referring to the citizen of the country. Each country will have people with different characteristics because there are receiving different types of education. Therefore, their point of view will be different. This will affect the personalities of a person. Besides, their interest, opinion, activities and attitude of living will be different because they are influence by the culture of the country. The government also plays an important role toward the behavior of the people. How the government works will affect the decision making of a person. Therefore, the people is different from other country is based on many reason. People between these two countries can be different from the population and races.

2.7.1 Population

Population is referring to the number of people living in a country. The population in worldwide is about 6,697,254,041 people. The population in worldwide is increasing every year. The country with the largest population in worldwide is China with the percentage of 19.5 % of world population. In Malaysia, the population is estimated to be 28.96 million. It is about 0.4324 % of world population. While in United Kingdom, the population is estimated to be 61.8 million. It is about 0.9228 % of world population. There are huge amount of different in population between this two countries. The population United Kingdom is estimated to be 46.86 % more than the population in Malaysia.

2.7.2 Races

Race is to classified human into group based on their languages, culture, belief, and social practices. In Malaysia, we have three main races. It is Malays, Chinese and Indians. Malays are the ethnic majority in Malaysia and they compose the largest population. The Malays are all Muslim. There are originated from Palembang in Sumatra. Most of the Chinese steps into Malaysia in the 18th century and most of them are from Fujian and Guangdong in China. It is the second largest race in Malaysia. The third largest race is Indian. Most of the Indian located at Kuala Lumpur. There are originate from Southern India and most of them are Hinduism. While in United Kingdom, most of them are white. They are 91.3 % of the total population in United Kingdom. South Asian is the second largest ethnic group which makes up of 4.4 % of the population in United Kingdom and followed by the Black people with 2.2 %. The population of Black and Asian people in United Kingdom is growing and for the first time that the population of Black and Asian is more than the White in certain area.

We should accept and treat everyone the same. We should not be bias by the race of the people.

3.0 Conclusion

Malaysia is very different from United Kingdom. The differences between these two countries are food, transport, language, weather, culture, history, and people. The technology and the traffic system in United Kingdom are far greater than Malaysia. However, Malaysia has many kinds of languages and interesting culture that we cannot find in United Kingdom. Every country has it own uniqueness. Therefore, we could not make a judgement that which country is better. Travelling to United Kingdom we can learn and gain knowledge to improve our home country. We should open our eyes and mind set to accept new things. There are a lot of are food, transport, language, weather, culture, history, and people waiting for us to explore. Hence, travel is the best way of doing it. However, many people may think that United Kingdom is better than Malaysia. But whatever the difference that is, we still love our home country, and will never think of leaving it. Besides, we love everything in Malaysia. For example, the food in Malaysia, the transport we use, the language we speak, the hot weather, the interesting culture and history and the people in Malaysia. It is the things that familiar with us. Malaysia will always be the roots in our hearts.