Malaysia Language

Introduction

The families of Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian languages include the native tongues of Malaysia. Malay, the native tongue of the predominant Malay ethnic group, is the country’s official language. The three primary ethnic groups of Malaysia language are the Malay, Han Chinese, and Tamil, while numerous other groups are also present in smaller numbers and speak different languages. The Iban, Dusunic, and Kadazan languages are the most widely used native tongues in East Malaysia.

Malay- The Official Language of Malaysia

Standard Malay has a number of official designations as the Bahasa kebangsaan or Bahasa nasional (“national language”) of different states. It is referred to as either Bahasa Melayu Malaysia (“Malaysian Malay”) or Bahasa Melayu in Malaysia (“Malay language”). It is known as Bahasa Melayu in Singapore and Brunei (“Malay language”). The term Bahasa persatuan/pemersatu refers to the independent normative variant of Indonesian known as Bahasa Indonesia (literally, “Indonesian language”) (“unifying language” or lingua franca). However, Indonesians refer to the language as Bahasa Melayu and consider it to be one of their regional tongues in regions of Central to Southern Sumatra where vernacular variants of Malay are indigenous.

Malay, also known as Court Malay, served as the official literary tongue of the pre-colonial Sultanates of Malacca and Johor. As a result, the language is occasionally referred to as Malacca, Johor, or Riau Malay (or different combinations of those names) to distinguish it from the other Malayic languages. Several of the Malayic variations that Ethnologue 16 presently lists as distinct languages, particularly the Orang Asli varieties of Peninsular Malay, are so similar to standard Malay that they may really turn out to be dialects. Other Malay languages include Macassar Malay, which seems to be a blend of various other trade and creole languages based on a lingua franca descended from Classical Malay.

English-The Most Spoken Language in Malaysia

English is widely known and spoken all through the country’s cities, and it is a required subject in both elementary and secondary education. Additionally, the majority of private colleges and universities use it as their primary teaching medium. In some governmental settings, as allowed by the National Language Act, English may be preferred over Malay, particularly in the states of Sabah and Sarawak where it could be the official working language. Furthermore, as pre-1957 English common law continues to be a legacy of earlier British colonial rule over the countries that make up Malaysia, the unwritten laws of Malaysia are frequently taught and read in English. Also continually accessible in both Malay and English are authoritative versions of Malaysia’s written laws, including its constitution and statutes.

Chinese Language

Standard Chinese, which includes Mandarin and its Malaysian dialect, is classified as Malaysian Chinese and is spoken by a sizable portion of the country’s population. Almost 93% of Chinese households in Kuala Lumpur not only speak Mandarin, but also some of its modified dialects. Although Mandarin is widely used by Chinese in Malaysia, Hokkien is the most often spoken dialect.

Because the majority of Malaysian Chinese had ancestors from China’s southern provinces, many southern Chinese dialects are spoken in Malaysia (in addition to Standard Chinese (Mandarin), which originated in northern China and was taught through the school system). In Peninsular Malaysia, the most common dialects are Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, Hainanese, Teochew, and Hokchew. Cantonese is largely spoken in Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, and Kuala Lumpur, but Hokkien is mostly spoken in Penang, Kedah, Perlis, Klang, Johor, Northern Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, and Malacca. Most ethnic Chinese in Sarawak speak Hokkien, Hokchew, or Hakka. Except in Sandakan, where Cantonese is more commonly spoken despite the Chinese residents’ Hakka roots, Hakka predominates throughout Sabah.

Tamil

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken by the Tamils of South Asia. The Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian Union territory of Puducherry all speak Tamil as an official language. Tamil is also spoken by substantial minorities in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, as well as the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is also spoken by the Tamil diaspora, which may be found in Malaysia, Burma, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Mauritius. Tamil is also the native language of Sri Lankan Moors. Tamil, one of 22 scheduled languages in the Indian Constitution, was the first to be designated as a classical language of India.

Tamil is the native language of a sizable proportion of the Indian community in Malaysia. There are almost 500 Tamil medium schools distributed throughout Malaysia. Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Malayalam, and Telugu are the other South Asian languages spoken in Malaysia.

Indigenous Languages

The most frequently spoken indigenous languages in Malaysia are Kazadandusuns and Iban, which are spoken by the people of Sarawak. These two languages have also created their own educational curricula. Apart from these, there are approximately thirty native groups, each with its unique dialect that is on the verge of extinction. They are on the verge of extinction due to their limited influence and incapacity to reach a much broader audience. Because these indigenous populations are few, Malaysian languages are fading as languages spoken by immigrants acquire dominant.