 Shakespeare : Romeo, wherefore art thou?

( Where are you Romeo?)

 Malaysian English : Eh, Lomeo, you

where-ah?
Malaysian English
MALAYSIAN ENGLISH
1) Manglish
- is an English based

- The vocabulary of Manglish consists of words originating

from English, Malay, Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil,
and etc

- Bahasa Rojak.
History
 Manglish = Singlish

 Since 1968, Malay, or Bahasa Melayu, has been the country's

sole official language. While English is widely used, many
Malay words have become part of common usage in informal
English or Manglish. An example is suffixing sentences with
lah, as in, "Don't be so worried-lah"
Definition:
Officially and On- The Streets

 Manglish is short for Malaysian English, a unique dialect of

English spoken in Malaysia.

 Malaysia has no intention of formulating its own English

 There is no such term as Malaysian English in any official

context

 “Manglish" was coined after "Singlish"

Differences and Similarities

MANGLISH
Malay+ English

Common use
- alamak, aiyoh

SINGLISH
Chinese + English
Manglish Particles
Word Meaning Example
Lah Used to affirm a statement (similar to "of Don't be an idiot lah!
course"). Frequently used at the end of
sentences and usually ends with an
exclamation mark (!). It is derived from
and has the same meaning as the Chinese
expression " 啦 ".
Nah Used when giving something to another Nah, take this!
person, often in a rude or impolite way.
meh Used when asking questions, especially Really meh?
when a person is sceptical of something. Cannot meh?
Derived from the Chinese expression
" 咩 ".
lor Used when explaining something. Derived Like that lor!
from the Chinese expression " 囉 ".
d, dy, edy, Derived from the word "already". Often I eat 'd' 'loh', I eat 'ridy', I
oledi, ridy used in online chatroom by the youth in eat 'oledi'
Malaysia, although in speech, speakers
will often pronounce as 'ridy'
Word Meaning Example
One/ wan Used as an emphasis at the end of a Why is he so naughty one
sentence. It is believed to derive from the ah?
Chinese way of suffixing " 的 " at
sentences.
Got/ have Used as a literal translation from the You got/have anything to
Malay word 'ada'. The arrangement of do? (Kamu ada apa-apa
words is often also literally translated. The untuk buat?)
use of this particular particle is I got already/got/will get
widespread in Manglish, where 'got' is my car from the garage.
substituted for every tense of the verb 'to Got or not? (Really?)
have' Where got? (To deny
something, as in Malay
"Mana ada?", and also in
Chinese "Nali you?" as
spoken in Malaysia)
Types of Manglish

1. Manglish 1
• English as first language

2. Manglish 2
• Other language as first language
 Should Malaysian
speak Manglish or proper english?
 The case for
It sounds ‘fake’ for Malaysians to speak proper English

If you speak proper English, many Malaysians won’t understand

Language is a communication tool

It’s better to speak broken English than not speak English at all

Malaysians have a right to speak their own kind of English

Manglish has become part of Malaysian culture and heritage

 The Case Against

Speaking Manglish makes you sound uneducated

Manglish isn’t even English

Manglish prevents Malaysia from being competitive

Even if Manglish is okay for spoken English, it is not

appropriate for written English

To communicate effectively, you need to speak properly

 Conclusion

Now that you know the cases for and against

Manglish, it’s up to you to decide how you
want to speak English