How To Make Roti Canai

In the last we video, we discussed about difference in Japanese and Malaysian curry. One of the amazing, fantanstic thing we wanted to you to see is how roti canai is made in Malaysia. Here is one of Youtube video that shows how Malaysian make Roti Canai.

If you haven't had it yet, give it a try. I assure you, it is tasty even without curry on. It is soft, chewy and not only that it is cheap. You can order different kind of roti too.  When I was living in Malaysia, my brother used to buy roti with sugar for snack because roti alone is perfect for a light meal.

Ofcourse, it goes super well with curry too. You don't even need to use spoon or fork with roti. Scoop curry with roti and you are good to go. If you have never had roti yet, try it out!

"B.Y.O.B."

"B.Y.O.B." has several different meaning.  Bring Your Own Bottle, Bring Your Own Book ... but the one I have learned when I first attended orientation in university in Canada was Bring Your Own Booth.  Booth refers to alcohol baverage.


Where do you see "B.Y.O.B" ?
It usually appears on a party invitations on card,mail or even facebook event page.

To all the international students attended the orientation, no one had clue what it meant. So it is okay if you just found out about it now. Bring Your Own Booth is quite common in Canada especially for University students party where invitation to few friends end up being a huge party attended by random strangers. Bring Your Own Booth and enjoy the party!

"Break A Leg "

"Break A Leg" doesn't make sense when you hear someone tell another who are just about to go on a stage or face a challenge. When I heard of this idiom for the first time, I was quite shock. Why would you want someone to break a leg when they are just about to go on a stage. IT did not make any sense to me.

""Break a leg" is an idiom in theatre used to wish a performer "good luck". Well-wishers typically say "Break a leg" to actors and musicians before they go on stage to perform. The origin of the phrase remains obscure.The expression reflects a theatrical superstition in which wishing a person "good luck" is considered bad luck.^[2][3][4] The expression is sometimes used outside the theatre as superstitions and customs travel through other professions and then into common use. Among professional dancers, the traditional saying is not "break a leg," but "merde"" (Wikipedia).
 

^{"Break a leg" is quite useful phrase. It is probably similar to Ganbatte in Japanese but only aprropriate when used when a person is going on a stage for a performance or presentation. If you have a theatric performance, dance performance, musical performance, and presentation coming up, "break a leg".}

"In Bocca Al Lupo"

I have started learning Italian about an year ago and recently I learned this new phrase : "In bocca al lupo." My Italian teacher had told me that you use this phrase to someone when they need luck/courage. The literal meaning is "a wolf in the woods" and the person spoken to says "Crepi!" which means "die".  By killig the wolf, there will not be anything that gets in a way of your sucess.

What an interesting expression. Though I have heard it for the first time, it is commonly used pharse in Italy. It reminded me of the phrase "Break a Leg " which I will discuss later in the post. 

Learning about culture is not only about gramma,speling or phrasees, there are cultural,historical contenxt behind the phrases and words. Let's discover the world together!

いただきます "Itadakimasu!"

There are many words and phrases in Japanese that don't quite translate.　いただきます　”itadakimasu" is one of them.

いただきます "Itadakimasu" is a phrase used before eating food together.  Literal meaning of the phrase is "I will have them". Unlike Buon  Appetito which means enjoy your food in Italian, Itadakimasu is about you starting your meal.

Perhaps it all comes back to the Shinto believe that all things living or non-living have a spirit/god thus saying this phrase before dinner is to not only talk about act of eating itself but also to thanks the food.

With such a pherase like this, it is quite difficult to translate it in English. In the way it could mean "Let's eat" but in this does phrase does not quite cover the whole meaning of the word. "I will eat thee" would not really work either because phrase has a tone of not only thanksfulness but also spiritual cultural meaning. 

We hope to discuss more phrases and words that do not quite translate well.
If you have any suggestions of phrases and words to be discussed, let us know. 

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