It is interesting to note that, while the English says "preventive maintenance in progress", the Malay says "lif sedang di-servis", which means "the lift is being serviced". Is there no equivalent in Malay for preventive maintenance?It is dangerous to start claiming that a particular language lacks a word for something. Mark Lieberman observes that whenever anyone makes this kind of statement, they are nearly always wrong. (See Language Log, 28 January 2009.) For example, the preposterous claim has often been made that Gypsies don't have a word for duty or for possession, and this turns out to be total nonsense. (See Language Log, 30 January 2009.)
However, while it is almost certainly true that you can express just about any concept you like in any human language, it does seem that Malay does not have a commonly-used equivalent for preventive maintenance. Now, maintenance is penyelenggaraan, but my Malay colleagues at UBD have confirmed that they could not think of an easy way of saying preventive maintenance in Malay, though certainly it would be possible to express the concept in a full phrase.
So perhaps we can conclude that the difference in the translation found on this sign reflects something about priorities in Bruneian culture.
