Description
About the Author

Yang Quee Yee has been acknowledged as the expert in compiling Malay-Chinese dictionaries. His memoir provides a macro-historical perspective of British colonial rule in Malaya and Singapore. At the micro level, it serves as a personal biography. It is also a record of the achievements of Nanyang University (Nantah) students, together with others, in fostering cultural exchanges between the Chinese and the Malays across both sides of the Causeway.

Yang first wrote his memoir in Malay, Memoir Yang Quee Yee: Penyusun Kamus Anak Penoreh (Memoir of Yang Quee Yee: Rubber Tapper Boy to Lexicographer). This was published in 2005.

The Chinese edition《杨贵谊回忆录：胶童与词典》was available just a year later. This English edition is based on the 2021 Chinese edition, updating Yang’s story till his passing in May 2024.
Dr Yang Quee Yee is a renowned and influential Malay language scholar and lexicographer of the Malaysian and Singapore region. He was a lecturer in the former Nanyang University. He also served as visiting professor in the Beijing Foreign Studies University and in the Department of Malay language of Beijing University.

Yang took an interest in the Malay language as a young boy living in a rubber plantation in Malaysia. As a student in the first intake of Nanyang University in 1956, he took the initiative to promote and teach the Malay language with the aim of forging cross-cultural appreciation and understanding.

For his untiring work in promoting social harmony by translation and creating the necessary language tools, Yang received the honorary Doctorate in Literature from the National University of Malaysia (UKM) in 2007.

Working tirelessly together with his wife Chan Maw Woh, Yang compiled 17 dictionaries, including signature works in Malay-Chinese translation.

In 2013, in recognition of his outstanding contributions toward multi-cultural exchanges and Malay studies, the Minister of Information, Communication and Culture of Malaysia presented Yang the “Special Award of Lexicography”. He was the first ethnic Chinese to receive this honorary award.

He was also awarded the highly prestigious Lim Lian Geok Spirit Award in 2012 and Tan Kah Kee Award in 2015. Besides various other distinguished awards, Yang was given the Singapore Book Council Achievement Award in 2021.

Yang passed on in 2024, after a lifetime service to the cause of bridging cultures through tapping the power of translation.

Authors

Tapping Words, Bridging Cultures: Memoir of Yang Quee Yee