Thursday April 8, 2010

How to use welcome

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
By FADZILAH AMIN

I WOULD like to know the correct way of inviting someone to the stage to give his/her speech in
English. In Malay, one would say it like this: Majlis mempersilakan YB/Datuk/Datin/Encik/Puan
menyampaikan ucapan beliau. Dipersilakan.
I attended an education fair in Kelantan recently and the emcee used the word Welcome as
equivalent to Dipersilakan. It sounded odd to me. Mrs Ooi
In English, the way a person is invited to the stage to give his/her speech is different from the way
such a person is invited in Malay. In the first place, a chairman or emcee wouldnt use the
impersonal majlis (= the gathering) as the body that invites the speaker to the stage. The invitation
in English sounds more personal. Also, such an invitation in English would not end with the
equivalent of Dipersilakan (= You are respectfully invited). It is more likely to end with the invited
speakers name. An invitation, in English, of the sort you describe, would sound something like the
following:
It is now my great pleasure to invite our guest of honour, YB/Datuk/Datin/Encik/Puan __ to the stage
to say a few words to us. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Datuk/Datin/Encik/Puan __.
(applause, led by the chairman/emcee)
The Malay equivalent of Welcome!as a greeting is Selamat datang! and welcome as a verb is
mengalu-alukan. And the English equivalent of dipersilakan is, as I wrote above, you are
respectfully invited. So, welcome is not equivalent in meaning to dipersilakan.