For locals in Malaysia, language barriers really isn’t much of a thing thanks to our bilingual abilities in our multicultural community.
But, who knew that foreigners are also adapting to our culture by learning our national language, Bahasa Malaysia, in their countries!
Chinese national, 鳗鱼在大马, took to XiaoHongShu, to share how she shocked her Malaysian Grab driver by displaying her Bahasa Melayu skills, after he tried to shock her with his Mandarin skills!
In the video she shared, 鳗鱼在大马 and the Grab driver could be seen struggling to communicate up until a point where she decided to explain herself in Mandarin. The Grab driver then immediately started responding in Mandarin, which earned him 鳗鱼在大马’s praise.
Upon finding out that she is a fresh graduate, the Grab driver asked her what she had studied.
“My major is Bahasa Melayu,” 鳗鱼在大马 casually told him.
It literally took the Grab driver 3 whole seconds before he realised that she could speak Malay!
The two proceeded to have a conversation in Malay where she shared that she had studied Bahasa Melayu at her university in China.
“At university, we had 22 students. 22 (students) who were learning Bahasa Melayu,” she said, adding that their Bahasa Melayu teachers were Chinese nationals but there are Malaysians who travelled there to teach the language.
鳗鱼在大马 also mentioned that there are at least 6 to 10 universities in China that offer Bahasa Melayu classes, and that these classes have many students.
You can check out her unifying yet hilarious video here.
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
Also read: This Adorable Chinese Boy Speaks Fluent Tamil with His Indian Neighbours!
