According to Urban Dictionary, Gay refers to homosexual men or women.
However, my parents think that being "pundan" (a transvestite) also means one is being gay.
I find it hard to explain to them that being gay does not mean that one has to be a "pundan". Even a real man could become gay. This issue came about when I told them that there is an article on gay phenomenon in Brunei and the study was done by UBD lecturers.
I have more often seen it written as 'pondan'; though you may actually be right, given that Brunei Malay only has three vowels /i, a, u/.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder whether 'transvestite' is a completely accurate translation, as my impression is that 'pondan' usually refers to a male who becomes like a woman, whereas 'transvestite' can be either male or female. Something to discuss with Adrian in your Translation class?
According to Kamus Dwibahasa Oxford Fajar:
ReplyDeleteGay means "homoseks", but isn't that from the word, homosexual? and "pundan" means transvestite, hermaphrodite. From this, I think we can say that gay and 'pundan' do not translate to each other.
And there is another issue, as said by David, whether 'pundan' is an accurate translation of transvestite. I'm under the impression that 'pundan' are effeminate male, i.e. those who have characteristics often associated with woman. Whereas, transvestite are those who dress as men/women? Cross-dressers?