British and Malaysian English differences
Encyclopedia
This article outlines the differences between Malaysian English
or more popularly Manglish
, the form of street Malaysian English spoken by most Malaysians and British English, which for the purposes of this article is assumed to be the form of English spoken in south east England, used by the British Government and the BBC
and widely understood in other parts of the United Kingdom
.
It is necessary to make a distinction between Manglish and the English spoken by Malaysians speaking so-called proper English. While there are still certain peculiarities in the latter (especially in terms of intonation, accent and choice of words), proper Malaysian English is merely a normal variation in the way English is spoken and does not deviate significantly from common English. It is intelligible to most English-speaking peoples around the world.
Pure Manglish however can be likened to pidgin English
, and it is usually barely understandable to most speakers of English, except Singaporeans who also speak a similar patois known as Singlish
.
, Malaysian English
has, in recent decades, been strongly influenced by American English
. This can be commonly seen in web based media and documents produced within organisations. Typically, the writer is unaware of the differences between British and American English, and just uses the default settings on their installed software spellchecker. For example, centre (British) is typically spelled center (American), although colour and color are used interchangeably. In schools and in the print media, Malaysians default to spelling the British way, i.e. "vapour" instead of "vapor" and"organise" instead of "organize"
Manglish does not possess a standard written form, although many variations exist for transcribing certain words. For most purposes it is a spoken tongue.
In Malaysian's education, written English are based on British English but most of the students speak in American/local accent.
dialects. Many also claim the structures have also been borrowed from the Malay language
, but the amount of borrowing from Malay dwarves in comparison to the borrowing from Chinese. For example, the phrase "Why you so like that one?" means "Why are you behaving in that way" in standard English. In Cantonese, a similar phrase would be rendered as "Dímgáai néih gám ge?" or literally "Why you like that?" The "one" in the sample phrase does not literally mean the numeral one, instead it is used more as a suffix device. It is also sometimes rendered as "wan."
Other common characteristics are anastrophe
and omission of certain prepositions and articles. For example "I haven't seen you in a long time" becomes "Long time never seen you already." Or, in Singlish (used in Singapore), natives will usually say "Long time no see".
Also, p and f are sometimes pronounced somewhat similarly among speakers of Malay descent. For example, the two Malay names 'Fazlin' and 'Pazlin' may sound almost identical when spoken by Malays, whereas this confusion would not arise when spoken by a British Speaker.
Malaysian English
Malaysian English , formally known as Malaysian Standard English , is a form of English used and spoken in Malaysia as a second language...
or more popularly Manglish
Manglish
Manglish is an English based creole spoken in Malaysia.The vocabulary of Manglish consists of words originating from English, Malay, Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil, and to a lesser extent various other European languages, while Manglish syntax resembles southern varieties of Chinese...
, the form of street Malaysian English spoken by most Malaysians and British English, which for the purposes of this article is assumed to be the form of English spoken in south east England, used by the British Government and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and widely understood in other parts of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
It is necessary to make a distinction between Manglish and the English spoken by Malaysians speaking so-called proper English. While there are still certain peculiarities in the latter (especially in terms of intonation, accent and choice of words), proper Malaysian English is merely a normal variation in the way English is spoken and does not deviate significantly from common English. It is intelligible to most English-speaking peoples around the world.
Pure Manglish however can be likened to pidgin English
Pidgin English
Pidgin English is a non-specific name used to refer to any of the many pidgin languages derived from English. English-based pidgins include:*American Indian Pidgin English*Bislama...
, and it is usually barely understandable to most speakers of English, except Singaporeans who also speak a similar patois known as Singlish
Singlish
Colloquial Singaporean English, also known as Singlish, is an English-based creole language spoken in Singapore.Singlish is commonly regarded with low prestige in Singapore. The Singaporean government and many Singaporeans alike heavily discourage the use of Singlish in favour of Standard English...
.
Spelling
Despite being traditionally based on British EnglishBritish English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
, Malaysian English
Malaysian English
Malaysian English , formally known as Malaysian Standard English , is a form of English used and spoken in Malaysia as a second language...
has, in recent decades, been strongly influenced by American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
. This can be commonly seen in web based media and documents produced within organisations. Typically, the writer is unaware of the differences between British and American English, and just uses the default settings on their installed software spellchecker. For example, centre (British) is typically spelled center (American), although colour and color are used interchangeably. In schools and in the print media, Malaysians default to spelling the British way, i.e. "vapour" instead of "vapor" and"organise" instead of "organize"
Manglish does not possess a standard written form, although many variations exist for transcribing certain words. For most purposes it is a spoken tongue.
In Malaysian's education, written English are based on British English but most of the students speak in American/local accent.
Grammar
Much of Manglish grammatical structure is taken from ChineseChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
dialects. Many also claim the structures have also been borrowed from the Malay language
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
, but the amount of borrowing from Malay dwarves in comparison to the borrowing from Chinese. For example, the phrase "Why you so like that one?" means "Why are you behaving in that way" in standard English. In Cantonese, a similar phrase would be rendered as "Dímgáai néih gám ge?" or literally "Why you like that?" The "one" in the sample phrase does not literally mean the numeral one, instead it is used more as a suffix device. It is also sometimes rendered as "wan."
Other common characteristics are anastrophe
Anastrophe
Anastrophe is a figure of speech in which a language's usual word order is inverted: for example, saying "smart you are" to mean "you are smart"....
and omission of certain prepositions and articles. For example "I haven't seen you in a long time" becomes "Long time never seen you already." Or, in Singlish (used in Singapore), natives will usually say "Long time no see".
Words only used in British English
To a large extent, standard Malaysian English is descended from British English, largely due to the country's colonisation by Britain beginning from the 18th century. But because of influence from American mass media, particularly in the form of television programmes and movies, Malaysians are also usually familiar with many American English words. For instance, both lift/elevator and lorry/truck are understood, although the British form is preferred. Only in some very limited cases is the American English form more widespread, e.g. chips instead of crisps, fries instead of chips.Words or phrases only used in Malaysian English
Malaysian English is gradually forming its own vocabulary, these words come from a variety of influences. Typically, for words or phrases that are based on other English words, the Malaysian English speaker may be unaware that the word or phrase is not present in British or American English.| Malaysian | British / American |
|---|---|
| Handphone (often abbreviated to HP) | Mobile phone or Cell phone |
| Brinjal | Aubergine/Eggplant |
| KIV (keep in view) | Kept on file, held for further consideration |
| Outstation | Means both 'out of town' and/or 'overseas/abroad'. |
| MC (medical certificate). Often used in this context, e.g. 'He is on MC today' | Sick note |
| Love Letter. To receive a 'Love Letter' could mean to receive a letter of reprimand Letter of reprimand A letter of reprimand is a United States Department of Defense procedure involving a letter to an employee or soldier from his or her superior that details the wrongful actions of the person and the punishment that can be expected... or some official notifications (usually negative). E.g. I received a 'Love Letter' from the bank about my account. |
No equivalent. |
| Can | Yes/Alright |
| Cannot | No/No, I can't |
| One hundred over, one thousand over etc. | Over one hundred, over one thousand etc. |
| Meh/Ke An optional suffix usually used to donate a question mark to yes, as in "yeah meh?" or "ye ke?" i.e. "Are you sure?", with the former being more commonly used amongst those of Chinese descent and the latter by Malays. |
No equivalent. |
| Mar Mostly used as a suffix. Derived from Chinese languages, where "ma" is grammatically correct. For instance, (mandarin) "ni zhi dao ma?" would literally mean "Did you know?", except that there is an extra word behind: ma. Another example, a person would say "I didn't know mar"; which somewhat has the same meaning as "I didn't know la" but is softer than "la". When the person says "I didn't know mar", it indirectly states that the person is being apologetic about not knowing something. |
No equivalent. |
| Ar An optional suffix usually used to donate a question mark, as in "Sure ar?" or "Are you sure ar?", i.e. "Are you sure?" |
No equivalent. |
| Lah/La/Lor A popular suffix to phrases and sentences. Originates from Chinese language (and its dialects) where its usage is grammatically correct, for instance, (cantonese) "M hou gam yeung la" would literally mean "Don't be like that", except that there is an extra word at the end, "la". Another example: "cannot, lah", i.e."Sorry that's not possible." and "Rest some more-lah.", i.e. "Please rest for a while longer,"; It is important to note that the tone of which the prefx s spoken greatly affects the context of the statement. Example, saying "Okay -lah" while squinting one eye and hesitating the -lah, would be to give a mediocre opinion about something (as in "The food was okay-lah"). Meanwhile, to say a short increasing pitched -lah as in "Okay -lah. We'll all go to Ipoh later", would be to agree about something. "Lah" is also generally used to soften an otherwise angry/stern tone, such as: "Stop it lah" as opposed to just an abrupt "Stop it!", or "Don't be like that la" as opposed to "Don't be like that". It is usually perceived as less insulting when a "lah" is added in sentences such as those, and typically means that the person uttering the sentence is not angry, unless of course, it is said in a harsh tone. |
No equivalent. |
| Gostan To reverse, especially in the context of driving motor vehicles. A contraction of the term "go astern" (Mostly used in states of Penang Penang Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the... and Kelantan Kelantan Kelantan is a state of Malaysia. The capital and royal seat is Kota Bharu. The Arabic honorific of the state is Darul Naim, .... ). |
To reverse, to go backwards |
| Attached | In a relationship with someone, not single. "Could you introduce me some attractive ladies?" "Sorry, most of the girls I know are already attached." |
| Share Market | Stock Market |
Different Meanings
This is a list of words and phrases that have one meaning in British English and another in Malaysian English| Word / Phrase | American / British meaning | Malaysian meaning |
|---|---|---|
| @ | short for 'at' | an indicator that the name following is a nickname or alias, usually used by Chinese, e.g. for Tan Siew Khoon @ Jimmy, his nickname/alias is Jimmy. However, with the increased use of e-mail in recent years, especially in urban and demographically younger areas, the primary meaning of the symbol is now the same as in British/American English. |
| driver | anybody who drives / is driving | a personal chauffeur. The wealthy and the elite often employ a "driver" who is essentially a butler that also doubles up as a chauffeur. |
| last time | on the previous occurrence | previously (often used instead of "used to", for example: "Last time I was a manager" when the meaning is "I used to be a manager") |
| a parking lot | a parking garage (from US English) | a parking space, e.g. "That new shopping mall has five hundred parking lots." |
| photostat | a historical copying machine using a camera and photographic paper, which was superseded by the photocopier. See Photostat machine Photostat machine The Photostat machine, or Photostat, was an early projection photocopier created in the 1900s by the Photostat Corporation; "Photostat" - which was originally a trademark of the company - is also used to refer to the similar machines produced by the Rectigraph Company.-Background:The growth of... . |
a photocopier; also used as a verb meaning "to photocopy" |
| slang | informal spoken language, often unique to a particular country or social group | accent, e.g. "I cannot understand your slang", when the real meaning is "I cannot understand your accent" |
| an alphabet | a set of letters used in a language | a letter of the alphabet, e.g. "The word 'table' has five alphabets." |
| bungalow | A small house or cottage usually having a single storey and sometimes an additional attic story that is free standing, i.e. not conjoined with another unit. | A mansion for the rich and/or famous; or a fully detached house, regardless of the number of floors it has. Lately, some housing developers have taken to using terms such as "semi-detached bungalow". |
Pronunciation
In Malaysian English, the last syllable of a word is sometimes not pronounced with the strength that it would be in British English.Also, p and f are sometimes pronounced somewhat similarly among speakers of Malay descent. For example, the two Malay names 'Fazlin' and 'Pazlin' may sound almost identical when spoken by Malays, whereas this confusion would not arise when spoken by a British Speaker.
External links
- http://www.asiaosc.org/enwiki/page/Malaysian_Proper_Noun_List.html - common proper noun list used in Malaysian languages