Malaysia

Malaysia language

malaysia flag

The Federation of Malaysia is a country belonging to Asia, and whose capital is Kuala Lumpur. It has a population of 32 million inhabitants (44th), and an area of ​​330,803 km 2 (66th). Its human development index is very high (57th) and its official currency is the ringgit (or Malaysian dollar). And what language is spoken in Malaysia?

What language do they speak in Malaysia?

Malaysia has only one official language, Malay. Furthermore, English is a recognized language.

However, Malaysia is one of the most multilingual countries in the world, with 133 living languages ​​(112 of them are indigenous). The native tribes of East Malaysia have their respective languages ​​which are related to (but easily distinguished from) Malay. The most important indigenous languages ​​are Iban (in Sarawak) and Dusunic and Kadazan (in Sabah).

Malaysian language family distribution

The most common immigrant languages ​​are Rohingya (150,000 speakers), East Punjabi (56,400), Lamaholot (45,000), Telugu (39,000), and Malayalam (35,800). In addition, Tamil is important in the country, with 1,851,000 speakers.

The Malay language

Malay (Bahasa Malaysia) is spoken by 85% of the population. It is officially written with the Latin alphabet, although it is not prohibited to use the Arabic alphabet. Malay has up to 10 dialects.

The English language

English (English) is actively used as a second language, and in total it is spoken by 30% of the population. Its use is permitted by law for some official purposes (such as in parliament and the legislative assembly). In the state of Sarawak, English is official along with Malay. Historically, English had been the de facto administrative language, but Malay became predominant after the racial tensions of 1969. Today, it is widely used in business.

Chinese language

Chinese is very popular in the country. Its speakers are divided into Hakka (1,090,000 speakers), Mandarin (1,230,000), Min Dong (252,000), Min Nan (2,660,000), Pu-xian (24,700), and Cantonese (1,070,000). This would make a total of 6,326,700 speakers, thus making Chinese one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in Malaysia, along with English and Malay.

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