Cangjie Keyboard 仓颉键盘

Finally, I have bought a Taiwanese keyboard here in Kuala Lumpur. After learning how to type in Cangjie, I was so tempted to get one keyboard that has Cangjie layout, but it is rather rare to find one here in Klang Valley. It was rather surprise for me to be able to get one from PC Fair on last Saturday in KLCC. There are a few to choose from, namely choice of black or white, and key " hardness". Choice of colour does not vary the price, but the " hardness" does. Hard keyboard was selling at RM13, while softer keyboard at RM19.

To those of you who would like to get hold of such keyboard here in Klang Valley, the store that I bought it from is located at Kompleks Desa, Kepong, near to Kepong Sentral KTM Komuter station. I do not have the exact store name here with me right now, but as far as I remember, the receipt stated the store is located at Lower Ground floor.

As shown on the picture above, before I had a Taiwanese keyboard, I had only a regular US keyboard. If you can't get hold of a Taiwanese keyboard, or you love your current keyboard so much, the best option is to go for keyboard sticker, which is even more hard to come by here in Klang Valley. Buying one from the Internet really cost a fortune.

How does a keyboard sticker looks like? Here is a sample keyboard sticker on sale in Hong Kong for HK$12 per piece:

I bought three of this from Hong Kong with the help of someone. (If you really want to know, it's a boyfriend of my sister's friend's friend.) After applying it to my regular US layout keyboard, this is how it looks like:

I also included a close-up photograph of the Taiwanese layout keyboard for you to compare the difference.

What do those characters on the keyboard mean?
This is probably one of the first question I asked myself, when I first encountered such keyboard layout via an image from the Internet. So, I included the image on the left and labelled it accordingly. On the top left is regular English alphabet. Character on the top right is 注音符号, or the phonetic symbols for Chinese, mainly use in Taiwan. Character on the lower left is for Cangjie 仓颉 input method, while character on the lower right is for Dayi 大易 input method.

Depending on which input method you use, you refer to different corners for the corresponding keys. I'm so happy that I can buy one of the keyboard here. A couple of weeks ago, I have asked my friend who is going to travel to Taiwan soon to get me a Taiwanese layout keyboard. Now, looks like there is no such need.

Korean Numbers

Another quick reference for learners out there. Again, like most language, usage of these numbers might have exception in some case or another.

1	하나	6	여섯	11	열하나	60	예순
2	둘	7	일곱	20	스물	70	일흔
3	셋	8	여덟	30	서른	80	여든
4	넷	9	아홉	40	마흔	90	아흔
5	다섯	10	열	50	쉰

For counting days:

1	(초)하루	6	엿새	11	열하루
2	이틀	7	이레	15	열닷새 (보름)
3	사흘	8	여드레	20	스무날
4	나흘	9	아흐레	30	그믐
5	닷새	10	열흘

반대말

It's final lesson for this level, which means there will be test, and of course, new payment of course fee for next level. For easy reference, I put in the following opposite word for everyone to have a look.

small 작다 ×	크다 big
many 많다 ×	적다 few
low 낮다 ×	높다 high
bright 밝다 ×	어둡다 dark
easy 쉽다 ×	어렵다 difficult
same 같다 ×	다르다 different
hot (weather) 덥다 ×	춥다 cold (weather)
skinny 마르다 ×	뚱뚱하다 fat
long 길다 ×	짧다 short
thin 얇다 ×	두껍다 thick
near 가깝다 ×	멀다 far
fast 빠르다 ×	느리다 slow
narrow 좁다 ×	넓다 wide
quiet 조용하다 ×	시끄럽다 noisy
heavy 무겁다 ×	가볍다 light
dirty 더럽다 ×	깨끗하다 clean
hot 뜨겁다 ×	차갑다 cold

Great read!

Whether it's 새댁 요코짱의 한국살이 (ISBN : 8990787084), 158公分的陽子小姐 (ISBN : 9867291190) or ソウルで新婚生活 (ISBN : 4479761349), I'll bet it is a good read, which I took less than 2 days to complete it! Tagami Yoko (田上陽子) has created such a good book, and it's rather fun to read, even though the book is a bit expensive to buy in Malaysia. It costs me around RM41, where if I were to buy the Chinese version, RRP is NT$250 (around RM29). It is only slightly cheaper than Japanese version RRP, which is ￥1,365 (incl. tax) (around RM44). The original Korean version is only ₩8,500 (around RM33). I bought the Chinese version, although I got to know this book from my Korean teacher, in which she bought the original Korean version. My sister loves it as well.

It's a book about Yoko-chan (a Japanese lady who is married to a Korean), and her life in Korea. It tells you about the culture shock she has gone through, and in some instance, comparing it to those in Japan. Some stories are rather hilarious. After reading the book, I found that the things that she found it rather surprise can be seen here in Malaysia as well. It makes me wonder how similar is Korea to Malaysia, like the bus experience, the hidden danger and so on.

Lost in Translation

I took these pictures in October last year at the famous KLCC Park.

And of course, the Malay 'equivalent' found near by:

To me, if the Malay sign was to be translated into English, I would say it means "In Action". Does "In Action" tells you that work is being done or it is under review whether a work will be done? It sounds something like the expression "I'll look into it". Whether there is anything done by the speaker or the speaker will try to see what he can do about it, unless we clarify with the speaker, the expression might be interpreted differently by different listener.

No doubt that some semantic might lost when translating from one language to another, but they could just use "Kerja sedang dijalankan&quit; which is more common than "Dalam Tindakan". Think I should go and have a look on the progress so far in the park. I might not even notice what is being done as the work mentioned might be just schedule maintenance of the park, or it is just how it was like in October 2005.

FMA Snack

Fullmetal Alchemist fans would probably love this. It is a pleasant surprise that such snack is available on sale in Thailand, and you can find it in most convenient store and supermarket. You can click on the image for a larger photo.

I did not "buy" the snack, although I was tempted at first. I got mine as a free gift when I bought one of those instant glass noodle. So that explains why the barcode was cross out with a pen.

It tasted just like any crispy snack you buy, crunchy but not that salty. Thailand snacks that I bought did not taste as salty as other snacks you bought elsewhere, which I think is great. So if you are a fan of the anime or manga, probably it's a good try. How I wish such product can be found here in Malaysia.

KL Road Sign

Road sign in KL has a standard format of rounded rectangle with blue background and white border. Words and white border is coated with reflective layer, which I think is great, especially driving at night. I'll show one famous and one infamous road sign of KL.

Jalan Bangsar is named after Bangsar estate, which was a rubber plantation estate by French-Belgian association formed by Mr Bunge and Mr Grisar. Now, when people mentioned Bangsar, they usually associate it with the night life of Bangsar, which is actually located at Jalan Telawi, instead of Jalan Bangsar.

This infamous road in KL, which many people associate it with vices, although it is named after Loke Chow Kit (陸秋傑), a prominent businessman and a municipal councilor back then. It's a pity that a negative perception might surface when someone mentioned Jalan Chow Kit, rather than the story of the man itself. You can read more about Loke Chow Kit here.

All things KL

I know it's been awhile since I last updated my blog. I'm ready to start fresh by introducing more photos to spice up my blog. Since I don't have a specific theme for my blog, it's time for me to adopt one, which I'll let reader (and potential reader) to know more about my birth place, Kuala Lumpur.

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur! OK, that's not the translation of the sign, just a welcome note to my "improved" blog. The sign actually shows "Border (of) Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur". When you see such sign in KL, it means you are actually entering physical boundary of KL. This photo is taken at Jalan Kepong, outside Kepong police station.

Speaking of which, a lot of places "claimed" to be Kuala Lumpur, but actually it's not. Famous bread Gardenia factory is not in KL, although the company name stated so. Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is NOT in KL, even the previous airport is not in KL either. The former is in Sepang, while the latter is in Subang. The only airport that is really in KL, is in Sungai Besi, which is now under the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

If people tell you that they are staying in KL, they do not necessary mean within the real boundary of federal territory. Sri Damansara for example, is NOT in KL but road sign and address stated Kuala Lumpur, which is so wrong. Ampang should have been in KL (in historical sense), but actually it's in Selangor.

If you are expecting to see more about these following famous landmark (and touristy spot), I might be doing some write up about it in the future.

Used to be the famous landmark for a lot of postcard, Sultan Abdul Samad Building. Now, it is taken over by another landmark below. This place has a very interesting history and the building itself is more than what you've been told by the tour guide. I'll might feature this in my blog in the future.

Ah, who can't recognised the Petronas Twin Towers. For those of you who has watched the movie "Entrapment", do not believe everything you saw in the movie. I will explain more about Petronas Twin Towers and some of the fabricated facts used in the movie.