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Learning to speak a new language is always an advantage. Being a Malaysian I am blessed that I could easily learn more than one language. And today I can proudly say that I can speak fluently in English, Malay (Bahasa Malaysia), Kristang and also a little bit of Cantonese, Mandarin and Tamil.
The national languange of Malaysia is Malay also known as Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malaysia. Almost 99% of Malaysians can speak and understand the Malay language.
If you are a tourist visiting Malaysia, it will benefit you if you can at least speak a few Malay words. No matter which county you visit, the locals always seem friendlier when you speak a few words of their own language, don’t they?
In a couple of my previous post, I have introduced to you some Malaysian Food and Malaysian Fruits. And starting with this post, I have decided to teach you some basic Malay language. For our first lesson, let’s start with greetings
Learn To Speak Malay – Greetings
- Apa Khabar? – How Are You?
- Khabar Baik – I Am Fine
- Terima Kasih – Thank You
- Sama-Sama – You’re Welcome
- Selamat Pagi – Good Morning
- Selamat Tengahari – Good Afternoon
- Selamat Petang – Good Evening
- Selamat Malam – Good Night
- Selamat Datang – Welcome
- Selamat Tinggal – Good Bye
- Jumpa Lagi – See You Again
There you go, 11 basic words that you can use to greet a local in Malaysia whenever you come for a visit.
What words in Malay would you like to learn? Or are there anything about Malaysia that you would like to know? Let me know so that I can include it in my future post.
I hope you enjoyed my Learn To Speak Malay Like A Local post. Tell me what do you think about articles like this in the comment section below.
I find learning new languages so fun and interesting! Thank you for sharing these basic phrases.
You are welcome, Patricia. 🙂
That’s awesome that you can speak so many languages! I took 2 years of Spanish in high school and 2 semesters in college and still can’t speak it fluently. I know some of the basics, but not enough to even really make conversation.
I find that if you practice speaking a language daily, you can learn more faster 🙂
Thank you for the quick lesson on speaking Malay! I will use this next time I am somewhere with anyone who speaks Malay!
Yes, do try it 🙂
Wow, I’ve enjoyed reading this Malay language. I would love to learn more Malay Language from you 🙂 sounds exciting.
Thank you, Maysz. I will surely share more words in my future posts 🙂
I loved your post. I like learning new things. Yay, I learnt 11 new words today. Looking forward to next post.
Glad you enjoyed learning those new words Arun 🙂
I would love to learn a new language so thanks for sharing some phrases in Malay, hopefully I get to try them out someday!
Do try it out when you get a chance 🙂
Oh thank you so much! This will be very helpful when I will visit Malaysia!
You are welcome Nati 🙂
Those are definitely a start. Although I know when I am going to another country, knowing how to ask for the location of the restroom becomes a big thing.
Oh definitely, that’s one of the most important places to find out about 🙂
I love learning new languages. Never thought of learning this one though. Thanks for the lesson!
You are welcome, Jessie 🙂