Kueh - what does it mean? A tip about tongue-twisters and pronunciation

Problem
I was in the Sheraton Towers Hotel in Singapore at a mini-buffet when I saw a plate almost transparent white pasta pockets which looked rather like ravioli. The label was kueh. What was kueh?

Answer
Later a friend told me kueh is Malay for cake. The Malay language has many loan words from English and other languages. If they can't easily pronounce the end of the word, the ending disappears. So cake becomes kueh.

Why can't they pronounce the k at the end of the word cake, if they can pronounce the word c at the beginning? My friend says, "The sounds at the beginnings and ends of the words are different - and easier or harder to pronounce. You must know that?"

Yes. I often teach Chinese learners to pronounce the letter l at the ends of words. They can pronounce l at the start. So I create tongue-twisters to help them. Why tongue-twisters? Because they are amusing and because even experienced speakers find them hard to say, the novice need not be embarrassed at mistakes, which simply add to the hilarity.

A check online shows that cake also appears as kek in Malay. Kueh can be kue in Indonesia and also spelled kuih.

But what is it? The term is used for any kind of snack, sweet or savoury, or dumpling with a rice coating.

Malay / Indonesian - English
kueh - cake (sweet or savoury) / snack

English - Malay / Indonesian
cake  / snack - kueh / kuih - kue - kek

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.
See earlier posts on yes and no in Malay, learning languages, and hotels and resorts around the world. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Sheraton Towers Hotel, Singapore, for wonderful waterfalls, watermelon and speeches

The Sheraton Towers Hotel, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The Sheraton Towers Hotel is conveniently steps away from Newton MRT underground train station and bus stops. If you prefer to arrive and leave in style, as you arrive you see a dear little man in a protective white hat who scurries around. He is kind and keen to help you summon a taxi or pull off a protective free cover for a wet umbrella. he has been there for years. He is a national treasure.

Inside the Sheraton Towers Hotel has lovely decor, including waterfalls. It's large, yet comfortable. 

Everything tastes just right. The fruit slices are arranged in a circle. 

The small chocolate brownies look like large dice with melting chocolate top and small pieces of crunchy pecan.

The rice with peas in it is filling but has a beguiling touch of healthy vegetable added to please the eye and mind.

I can't vouch for the crab croissant as I am allergic to shellfish. Nor did I try the noodles with shellfish. 

Kueh

Since it was a shellfish buffet I would have liked to know what was in the kueh. What is kueh? It looks like ravioli pulled out of soup, gone limp. Locals like it. I wish they had said what was in it. One guest thought it was chicken. I ate it. Another guest said it was shellfish. I rushed to the toilet intending to make myself sick and waited to see if I felt like vomiting.

Fortunately not. But it was unnecessary stress. Everything else was clearly labelled. Please label the kueh.

If you don't, how about another piece of the pecan chocolate brownie cake instead? Or refreshing red water melon?

If you want to meet people and be entertained, a large well established Toastmasters club, TLCS for short,  meets there on the first, second and third Mondays of most months. Arrive at 6 pm to pay your $20, Singaporean dollars, entry fee for guests.

Should you wish to join the club, the charge more than other clubs but meet more often. The meetings are jam,-packed two. Eight speeches at the last meeting I attended in January 2018, whilst most clubs have an average of four speeches. They had eight table topics too, opportunities for visitors to try their hand at standing on stage and trying out public speaking for one to two minutes.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.