As Malaysians, we’ll forever be grateful for the different cultures that we can learn here. Some people also have the luxury to master all 3 main languages at once – Bahasa Melayu, Chinese, and Tamil.
Thanks to this, Malaysia is also 1 of the hotspots for tourists from different countries. Just recently, a YouTuber from China expressed how relieved he is for being able to converse in Mandarin easily in Malaysia. In fact, he said that it’s a lot easier to speak Mandarin here than in Hong Kong, where Cantonese is mainly spoken there.
“The people in Hong Kong have this mix of Cantonese and English when they speak Mandarin, it’s hard to understand.”
The YouTuber, who was in Penang left his home at dawn for breakfast, and he can be seen (and heard) ordering his meals without any barrier because the vendors could understand him easily.
Other than praises for the breakfast he had, the YouTuber also pointed out that in other countries, he could merely say “yes or no” in a conversation, but not in Malaysia.
“Finally I can speak Mandarin without fear. I can even speak Hakka or Hokkien here, and the people here can still respond to me,” he said.
“It’s the intimacy that you don’t get elsewhere”
In the comment sections, many Malaysian netizens agreed with him, and some pointed out that speaking Mandarin with the Chinese in Malaysia has a unique feeling of intimacy.
“Welcome to Malaysia. I hope you enjoy the food and the places here. Malaysia and China always have this intimate feeling.”
“You get this kind of intimacy when speaking Chinese to Malaysians. You don’t get this in Singapore, Hong Kong, or even Taiwan.”
“The Chinese dialects have a special place here in Malaysia. Some people in the Malay community speak the dialects too.”
“Malaysians are just kind, too bad the people in Hong Kong may never catch up.”
You can watch his 5-minute clip below.
Fellow Malaysians, especially those who speak Chinese, do you agree about the intimacy that the netizens spoke about? Do you think we are able to speak the language almost everywhere in Malaysia?
