What Languages are Spoken in Malaysia

Malay is the official and national language of Malaysia. It is the mother tongue of Malaysian people. You must be wondering what other languages are spoken in Malaysia. It is a multi-cultural country with many ethnic groups. Because of the multiple races, the people of Malaysia speak different languages. It has been observed that despite multiple languages, some countries give importance to their official language. Therefore, if you are planning to go to Malaysia then to mitigate the communication barrier, you must go for Malay translation services.

Languages Spoken in Malaysia

Malaysia is home to many indigenous languages. To your surprise, the people of this country speak 137 native languages. Let’s have a look at some of them.

Malay

Malaysia's Federal Constitution has declared Malay the official language of the country. In addition to it, Malaysia’s Education Act has instructed to use of the Malay language in all educational institutions. Therefore, this language is used as a medium of instruction. The Malay language is from the group of Austronesian languages. People of Malaysia speak it widely with 10 different dialects. One of the most important dialects is Basha.

There are Malaysian Chinese and Indian communities residing in Malaysia so these communities speak Malay. It is a Lingua franca of the country. Therefore, people at public offices, restaurants, and shops speak this language. If you want to differentiate between the different dialects of the Malay language then you must take the assistance of professional Malay translation services.

English

People of Malaysia speak English with different standards. It is called Malaysian Standard English (MySE). The other name of this standard is Manglish. It is related to British English. Manglish is used only for educational purposes.

MySE standard is greatly influenced by Malay, Tamil, and Chinese. In addition to it, it has three categories, acrolet, mesolect, and basilect. In Malaysia, you will find more and more people speaking English, especially in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. This city is been the financial, economic, and cultural hub of Malaysia. International and multinational companies are working in this city. Therefore, you will find many people speaking English in this part of the country.

Mandarin

There is a community known as Malaysian Chinese living in Malaysia. As they are Chinese so they speak Mandarin widely. The government of Malaysia is also supporting this language. For this purpose, they have implemented the campaign known as Speak Mandarin Campaign to encourage Chinese Malaysians to learn Mandarin.

This is because China is making progress by leaps and bonds. The people that are proficient in Mandarina are more demanded in the professional industries in Malaysia. This is why people give great importance to Mandarina among all the languages. Another reason is that most of the stakeholders and entrepreneurs in Malaysia are Malaysian Chinese. Thus, Mandarin is considered the working language in Malaysia. Thus, if you are going to Malaysia for a business reason then you must go for Chinese translation services.

Different Chinese Dialects Mandarin, Hokkien, and Cantonese

Apart from Mandarin, the other Chinese dialects spoken in Malaysia are Hokkien and Cantonese. These two dialects are different from Standard Mandarin. The sounds, speech, and grammar are entirely different.

The people that are not Chinese cannot differentiate between them. To know the difference, they can take the assistance of Chinese traditional translation services. With the help of these translation services, you can differentiate between Hokkien and Cantonese.

Foreign Languages Spoken in Malaysia

The foreign languages that the people of Malaysia speak are - Japanese - Arabic - French - German - Spanish - Korean

These languages are also taught in schools. They are entirely different languages. Elders that don’t know any of these languages such as Japanese. They take the assistance of Japanese translation services in daily conversation. In addition to these languages, you will also find people that want to learn Turkish, Thai, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Indonesian and Italian in Malaysia. There is a great job opportunity for those proficient in foreign languages. If anyone wants a job in a Japanese company and is still learning Japanese then he can go for professional Japanese translation services.

Wrapping Up

Last, but not least, people who belong to the Indian Malaysian community also speak Tamil. Other Indigenous languages that people of Malaysia speak are Sinhalese, Iban, Dusunic, and Thai.

To understand the language diversity of Malaysia, you must take the assistance of native translators. They can provide you with seamless translation services according to Malaysian culture.