Knowing how to say hello in Malaysia based on the time of day will help you break the ice with locals in a fun way while traveling in Malaysia. Although a simple 'hi' or 'helo' (local spelling) will work fine, practicing the greetings they use shows that you have an interest in learning a bit about the local culture.

Because of the cultural diversity, most of the people in Malaysia with whom you interact will speak and understand English well. Everyone certainly knows what 'hello' means. Regardless, basic greetings in Bahasa Malaysia are easy to learn.

Unlike other languages such as Thai and Vietnamese, the Malaysian language is not tonal. The rules of pronunciation are very predictable and straightforward. Making life even easier, Bahasa Malaysia implements the classical Latin alphabet so familiar to English speakers.

The Language in Malaysia

The Malaysian language, often referred to as Bahasa Malaysia, Malay, or simply 'Malaysian,' is similar to Bahasa Indonesia in many ways and is understood in neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore. Locally, the language is commonly referred to simply as 'Bahasa.'

Bahasa means 'language' and is often used standalone when referring to the entire family of similar Malay languages spoken in Southeast Asia.

Malay (Bahasa Melayu) and variations are spoken by over 290 million people in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore. It's also used in parts of the Philippines and the southern part of Thailand. The words you learn in this flexible language will come in handy all over the region!

A country as diverse as Malaysia will inevitably be home to many dialects and variations of the local language, particularly the farther you travel from Kuala Lumpur. The local dialects in Borneo won't sound very familiar at all. Not everyone you meet speaks the same flavor of Bahasa Malaysia.

Pronunciation in Bahasa Malaysia

Unlike in English, vowel pronunciation in the Malaysian language generally, loosely follows these simple guidelines:

• A — sounds like 'ah'
• E — sounds like 'uh'
• I — sounds like 'ee'
• O — sounds like 'oh'
• U — sounds like 'ew'

Saying Hello in Malaysia

As in Indonesia, you say hello in Malaysia based on the time of day. Greetings correspond with morning, afternoon, and evening, although there aren't really hard guidelines for what time to switch over.

All greetings in Malaysia begin with the word selamat (sounds like 'suh-lah-mat') which means also means 'safe.' Selamat is then followed with the appropriate phase of the day:

• Good Morning:Selamat pagi (sounds like 'pag-ee')
• Good Afternoon:Selamat tengah hari (sounds like 'teen-gah har-ee')
• Good Afternoon/Evening:Selamat Petang (sounds like 'puh-tong')
• Good Night:Selamat Malam (sounds like 'mah-lahm')

As with all languages, formalities are often simplified to save effort. Friends will sometimes greet each other by dropping the selamat and offering a simple pagi — the equivalent of greeting someone with 'morning' in English. You'll also sometimes hear people shortening a greeting by simply just saying selamat.

Note: Selamat siang (good day) and selamat sore (good afternoon) are more commonly used when greeting people in Bahasa Indonesia, not the Malaysian language — although they will be understood.

Times of Day for Greetings in Malaysia

Even locals from different parts of Malaysia differ in their usage, so don't worry too much about when afternoon officially fades into evening. If you guess wrong, someone will probably reply with the correct greeting.

Informally, you should use selamat pagi (good morning) until the sun is getting really hot, around 11 a.m. or noon. After that, switch to selamat tengah hari (good afternoon). After the sun has peaked, maybe around 3 p.m., you can switch to selamat petang (good late afternoon or evening). Use selamat malam (good night) when you are leaving at night or going to sleep.

Generally speaking, Malaysians don't greet each other with selamat malam. You can continue to say selamat petang even at night until retiring for the day.

The Catchall Greeting

If all else fails or you are unsure about the time of day, a simple 'hello' will work throughout Malaysia.

Generic greetings such as 'hi' or 'hello' aren't formal, but locals will often use them when greeting friends and familiar people.

You'll have more fun and be more polite by greeting people using one of the standardized greetings that are based on time of day.

Continuing the Conversation

After you say hello in Malaysia, be polite and ask how someone is doing. As in English, asking someone 'how are you?' can also double as a greeting if you want to forego deciding on the time of day.

• How are you?:apa kabar (sounds like: 'apah ka-bar')

Ideally, their response will be kabarbaik (sounds like 'ka-bar bike') which means 'fine' or 'well.' You should respond with the same if asked apa kabar? Saying baik twice is another way to indicate that you are doing just fine.

If someone replies to your apa kabar? with tidak baik (sounds like 'tee-dak bike') or anything else that begins with tidak, they may not being doing so well.

Other Potential Greetings

When entering or returning, you could potentially hear these friendly greetings in Malaysia:

• Welcome:selamat datang
• Welcome back:selamat kembali

Saying Goodbye in Malaysia

The expression for goodbye depends upon who is staying and who is leaving:

• Goodbye (if you are the one leaving):selamat tinggal (sounds like 'teen-gahl')
• Goodbye (if the other person is leaving):selamat jalan (sounds like 'jal-lan')

In the context of goodbyes, tinggal means 'stay' and jalan means 'travel.' In other words, you are telling someone to have a good/safe stay or a good/safe travel.

For a fun way to say goodbye to a friend, use jumpa lagi (sounds like 'joom-pah lah-gee') which means 'see you around' or 'meet again.' Sampai jumpa (sounds like 'sahm-pie joom-pah') will also work as a 'see you later,' but it's more commonly heard in Indonesia.

Saying Goodnight in Malaysia

Ordinarily, you would say selamat malam at the end of the day when leaving or going to bed. When actually going to sleep, you can say the final goodnight with selamat tidur. The word tidur means 'sleep.'

• Goodnight:selamat tidur (sounds like 'tee-dur')

The Malay language, or Bahasa Melayu, is a language spoken by ethnic Malays, an ethnic group that live in the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia, as well as the Austronesian people of the area. It is the national language of Malaysia (Malaysian), Brunei, Indonesia (Indonesian), an official language in Singapore, a working language in East Timor (Indonesian), and a recognized and significant minority in Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Cambodia. The Malay language is part of the Austronesian family of languages.

Malay vs Indonesian[changechange source]

There are innumerable dialects, creoles, versions and forms of Malay. The language is extremely diversified.

In Indonesia, the language is based on the distinct Riau-Johor dialect and is standardized as Bahasa Indonesia, 'Indonesian language'. In Malaysia, the language is registered as Bahasa Malaysia, 'Malaysian'. In Singapore, Brunei and Thailand is referred to as Bahasa Melayu, 'Malay language'. Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Melayu are the same versions and based on the same dialect, Bahasa Indonesia however contains many differences such as false cognates and false friends when compared with Malaysian/Malay. Yet, 80% of Indonesian and Malaysian are cognates. In southern Thailand, the Malays living in the country do speak Bahasa Melayu, but their also speak a distinct dialect of Malay, known as Yawi or 'Bahasa Jawi'. Bahasa Melayu is Brunei's national language but Bruneians also speak their own dialect of Malay, known as Brunei Melayu or 'Bruneian Malay'.

Indonesians do not see Indonesian and Malaysian/Malay as the same language, and are generally upset when Bahasa Indonesia is ever referred to as 'Malay' or 'Indonesian Malay'. Malay is distinguished as a local language in Indonesia as opposed to the national language, Bahasa Indonesia. The Malays in Indonesia learn their own dialects of Malay before learning Indonesian. Malaysians see the two as the same language.

Writing system[changechange source]

Malay is normally written with the Latin alphabet called Rumi. But there is also a modified Arabic alphabet that is called Jawi. Rumi is official in Malaysia and Singapore, and the Indonesian language has a different official orthography that uses also the Latin script. Rumi and Jawi are both official in Brunei. Efforts are currently being undertaken to preserve Jawi script and to revive its use amongst Malays in Malaysia, and students taking Malay language examination in Malaysia have the option of answering questions using Jawi script. But the Latin alphabet is still the most commonly used script in Malaysia, both for official and informal purposes.

Historically, Malay has been written in various types of script. Before the introduction of Arabic script in the Malay region, Malay was written using Pallava, Kawi and Rencong script and are still in use today by the Champa Malay in Vietnam and Cambodia.

References[changechange source]

1. ↑Influences come mostly from Indonesian
2. ↑Nationalencyklopedin 'Världens 100 största språk 2007' The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007
3. ↑Uli, Kozok (2012-03-10). 'How many people speak Indonesian'. University of Hawaii at Manoa. Retrieved 20 October 2012. Even if we are very conservative and consider only two third of Malaysians and 85% of Indonesians as fluent speakers (either native, or near-native), there are still more than 215 million speakers of Malay-Indonesian.
4. ↑'Kedah MB defends use of Jawi on signboards'. The Star. 26 August 2008.

Other websites[changechange source]

• Malay-English Dictionary (from Malay to English only) from Webster's Dictionary