Manglish

From Freepedia

Manglish (or sometimes Malglish) is the version of the English language as spoken in Malaysia and shares substantial linguistic similarities with Singlish in Singapore. In real essence, Manglish or Malglish and Singlish are one and the same, although there are a few slang words that exist in one and not in another. Singlish, for all practical purposes is a subset or a form of Manglish/Malglish.

Theoretically, English as spoken in Malaysia is based on British English and British spelling is generally followed, but the influence of American English modes of expression and slang is strong, particularly among Malaysian youth.

Since 1968, Malay, or Bahasa Malaysia, has been the country's sole official language, and 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, e.g. "Don't be so worried-lah", which is usually used to present a sentence as rather light-going and not so serious, the suffix has no specific meaning. Although Chinese dialects also make abundant use of the suffix lah and there is some disagreement as to which language it was originally borrowed from. There is also a strong influence from Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, and Tamil, which are other major dialects and languages spoken in Malaysia. Manglish also uses some anachronistic British terms from the era of British colonization (see "gostan" and "outstation" below).

Manglish Particles:

1. "lah" - Often used at the end of sentences, used to affirm a statement(similar to 'of course'), usually ends with an exclamation mark. Eg. "Don't be an idiot lah!"

2. "mah" - Used at the end of sentences, used to affirm a sentence, but not as strongly as "lah". Eg. "She's like that mah.."

3. "nah" - Derived from the Malay expression, "Nah!". Used when giving something to another person. Eg. "Nah, take this!"

4. "meh" - Used when asking a question, especially when one is skeptical of something. Eg. "Really meh?"

5. "liao" - Means 'already'. Eg. "No more liao."

6. "ah" - Used at the end of sentences, unlike 'meh' the question is rhetorical. Eg. "Why is he like that ah?" Can also be used to when asking a genuine question. Eg. "Is that true ah?" Besides that, some people use it when referring to a subject before making a comment(often used to make a negative comment). Eg. "My brother ah, always disturb me!"

7. "lor" - Used when explaining something. Eg. "Like that lor!"

8. "leh" - Used to soften an order, making it less harsh. Eg. "Give me that leh."

9. "one" - Used as an emphasis at the end of a sentence. Eg. "Why is he so naughty one?"

10. "what" - Unlike the British/Americans, the word 'what' is often used as an exlamation mark, not just to ask a question. Eg. "What! How could you do that?"

11. "got" - Used as a literal translation from the Malay word 'ada'. The arrangement of words are often also literally translated. Eg. "You got anything to do?" ("Kamu ada apa-apa untuk buat?")

Speakers of Manglish from the country's different ethnic groups tend to intersperse varying amounts of expressions or interjections from their mother tongue - be it Malay, Chinese or Indian - which, in some cases, qualifies as a form of code-switching.

Verbs or adjectives from other languages often have English affixes, and conversely sentences may be constructed using English words in another language's syntax. People tend to translate phrases directly from their first languages into English, for instance, "on the light" instead of "turn on the light".

Due to exposure to other languages and dialects, particularly within the national school system, members of a particular ethnic group may be familiar with phrases or expressions originating from languages other than their mother tongue and may, in fact, apply them in their daily speech, regardless of the ethnicity of their audience. This is especially true in the case of interjections and vulgar slang.

Words that are Manglish:

• "blur" - confused
• "gostan" - reverse a vehicle (apparently from the nautical term "go astern")
• "kapster" - someone who is talkative
• "outstation" - out of town (i.e, going outstation)
• "pon" - to skip school, from "ponteng"
• "saman" - to issue a traffic ticket, from summons.
• "jadi" - happened, succeeded(derived from the Malay word 'jadi')

Manglish grammar:

• "tumpanging" - riding in someone else's vehicle or lodging at someone else's house, from the Malay verb "tumpang" + "-ing"
• "maluation" - embarrassment, from "malu" + "-ation"
• "(Subject + predicate), is it?" - this is often used as a question. "It" doesn't refer to the subject, but rather to the entire preceding clause ("Is it so?")

In fact, of late Malaysians have been more creative, and more Malay and Chinese words have been converging with English words. It's very simple, just find a Malay verb, and add the word "-ing", "-fied", "-able" etc.

Note: Malaysian English as described on this page is not official English. Therefore, terms such as -lah should not be used in a formal discussion.

Malaysians think that their language is 'wrong', or 'looked-down' when talking to foreigners, particularly among 'ang mohs'/Europeans/Americans.

See British and Malaysian English differences for more information.

See also

• Singlish
• Manglish Two Cows Joke
• The Amazing Cultural Insight Learning Malaysian English.