It also has land borders with Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia. The country is divided into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia (also referred to as Malaysian Borneo). Malaysia, though one country, is split down the middle by the South China Sea. Why? Because Malaysia’s geography has, over the years, affected the country’s linguistic evolution. Now, before we dive into the detail of Malaysian language, we need a quick geography lesson. Malaysia’s Language Geography – What Is Spoken Where? These include, Bahasa Malaysia, Kelantanese, Terengganuan, Kedahan, Sarawakian and Perak Malay. Malay has a total of 10 dialects, some of which are spoken in Malaysia. Standard Malaysian is not the only variety of the language spoken in Malaysia. That’s not to say that Malay is the first language of all of those individuals in Malaysia, many people also speak one or more of the country’s other indigenous or imported languages, often as their native tongue. As Malay is also spoken outside of Malaysia –most notably in Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore, as well as other locations – total speaker numbers are closer to 290 million people. Total speakers number somewhere in the region of 20 million within Malaysia, accounting for just over 62% of the country’s population. The leading Malaysian language in terms of speaker numbers, Malay is used nationwide. Malaysia’s national language, Malay, is also referred to as Bahasa Malaysia (‘the language of Malaysia’) and Bahasa Melayu (‘the language of the Malay’), as well as simply Malaysian. I'll explore some of the more widely spoken native languages of Malaysia below, but first let’s talk about Malay. Malaysia has been hailed by the United Nations as an example of success in maintaining a harmonious balance between different ethnic groups and language has undoubtedly played a role in that.
Malays account for around 50% of the population, Chinese for nearly 24% and Indians for just over 7%. The use of the three different languages results from Malaysia’s multi-ethnic society. It is used as the main language of instruction in Malaysian ‘national schools’ at primary level, while Mandarin and Tamil are used in ‘national-type schools’. In legal terms, standard Malaysian is codified in the country’s constitution. The majority of these are native to Malaysia, though some imported languages (most notably English, Mandarin and Tamil) also spoken.
What language is spoken in Malaysia? It would be better to ask, which languages, as the country is home to a total of 137 different tongues.
Below, I’ll take you on a tour of the languages of Malaysia, from the most commonly spoken to Malaysian languages that are now sadly extinct. The official Malaysian language, Malay, is one of 137 languages spoken in the country today. Malaysia is an interesting country to study from a language perspective.
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