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learned by teacher 20 hours lessons
learned also by myself with colleagues/friends
i just can integrate me in malaysian groups because i do speak some bahasa malaysia
when you try to excercise bahasa malaysia in practise with anyone in KL, everytime person replies to you in english...
because obviously you have a "western" accent and
you physicaly look "western", so no chance for me to progress in bahasa malaysia. People in KL are too nice.

Yes I agree

I do you speak Bahasa Melayu, I learn this language from my housmate some of them senior here so I catch some words, for courseI think they have some classes in KL I'm not sure where exactly, you can find online.

As filmmaker student sometimes we have to go and shoot in the village area outside the city, so most of them non English speaker, I found it easy to communicate, and I gain more respect from the locals when they know I can speak Bahasa.

Tips: Try to learn more vocabulary, then start practice with locals in the street/shopping mall/taxi drivers, this is how I did it.

PRACTICE PRACTICE & PRACTICE 

Ghaith

No, I don't.  I worked here for most of the 1990s, but in environments where English was the business language used.  This is common amongst expats.

As many language you know as great you are.I would like to learn bhasa malaysia.kindly guide me through

No, I can't but I wish I can learn.

no, unfortunately i don't speak bahasa. i say unfortunately because i wish i would be able to learn it, but i find it difficult to start learning it.

hi no i speak only basis of malay , am not that much aware , but yes you can check with the learingn schools in KL city , which they can provide the class.

A little, but often people look astonished and then look at my wife (She's local) as if to ask, "What did he say?".
Weird thing is that even speaking English, locals understand my wife's pigeon English better than my correct English!
But let's be honest, in KL Bangladesh is a more useful language as most service staff don't speak English or Malay.

I was wondering why no one asked this earlier! The answer is NO and I have only myself to blame for it. No doubt, I didn't NEED to speak it to get around doing my daily business while I was in Malaysia, but I had ample opportunity to pick it up from my local buddies. Beyond Satu and Dua, I didn't put any effort to learn the local language. I am going to brush my Malay when I return to KL the next time around.
Cheers,
Ravi

Hi,
It's really important to learn Bahasa to do business here.
I can speak few & trying to learn. It would be better if I
get professional language course for Bahasa here.
Tks

I can speak malay.

As a visitor, travelled many times to various parts of Malaysis, I never found it's necessary (if you know it's better) to learn English in order to survive in Malaysia, though it may be an issue if you go to an interior part of Malaysia which is yet to expose to the world or tourists.

Hi Pricila,

Good morning. malay is simple and easy to learn,  There r other languages like Chinese and Indian.


Just speak  satu , dua, tiga, empat........ie one two three four......





Albert

You from

She is the moderator here, not looking for any job or migrating to Malaysia, rather posting this thread in Malaysia forum which will help a new person who wants to visit or migrate to Malaysia (whether to know the language is important at the beginning or not).

Secondly, don't give your personal number or mail ID unless until someone asks you using private personal message as it's not safe to share personal number or details in a public open forum and it looks cheap as a person.

Knowing a different language is always great.. But doesnt meant you can only survive in Malaysia only if you know Malay. I would say it all depends on your work. if you are working in a IT field the official language is always English. however if you are Restaurant owner yes you should know Malay...

Hi Priscilla

Good morning I really actually interested in learning how to speak malay.

I can speak and write fluent Malay.
Though I am a Chinese, I find that the Malay language is a lot easy to learn and write.
I decided to switch my second language from Mandarin to Malay when I was in school.
My advice to the expat community,  try to learn the language as much as you can as it does not only help you to understand and communicate better with the Malays, it can also help you to build and widen your business contacts.
Several years back, I was invited by the Malaysia Tourism to an event and we were entertained by Latin singer, Julio Iglesias.
Seated opposite me at the dinner table was a male Malay gentle from the Malaysia Tourism office and on my right was a Russian businessman also from Singapore.
We were all speaking to each other in English but I decided to speak Malay to the only Malay gentleman at the dinner table.
To my surprise, he walked over and asked the Russian businessman if he could sit next to me.
We then exchanged name cards and continued speaking to each other in Malay and not long after, the Malaysia Tourism Minister came over and thank everyone at the dinner table for attending the event.
By the way, the Malay gentleman who asked the Russian businessman if he could sit next to me is the Malaysia Tourism Director.
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It is common to hear that even a Malay speaking to another Malay with a smattering of English, so don't be shy to try to speak the Malay language to a Malay.
Good luck.

Yes, I can speak BM, went to a local language college for some classes when I got here. Apart from using it with Indonesian maids in the past and when buying things at the pasar malam, have no need of it as where I work everything is conducted in English. In the corporate world, (except perhaps GLCs) business is conducted in English and it is wrong to say that BM is even essential.

What surprises me is that a director or MT who is representing the country overseas doesn't speak English well, this is a huge problem in my opinion.
These people should not have international posts if they cannot communicate in the international lingua franca.

Perhaps the question we should be asking is

In your day to day activities, which language is essential in the conduct of said activities.

Yes Priscilla I agree with you, and I am so grateful that I can communicate malay well, it's just happened that I can speak also many languages from Philippines, so one time when I came Malaysia, the place where I stayed with got kids, and this kids can speak malay well but cant speak my own language, like tagalog, however since I can speak her mother tongue language which is tausog from Sarah, in which originated from Philippines, so aid grab the opportunity to learn from them using the tausog translations to malay language, and in just one month I can speak already some... and gradually by speaking on it all the time, now I can communicate already well malay people Nd I am happy.

I did not at any time, gave the impression that the Malay director could not speak English well.
On the contrary, he spoke perfect English.
Read my letter carefully and understand the content in the right perspective.
I have cut and pasted part of my letter : >
"[b]We were all speaking to each other in ENGLISH but I decided to speak Malay to the only Malay gentleman at the dinner table".[/b]
If you still do not understand, let me put it in the simplest form.
Generally, the Malays are very friendly and proud of their language and I am not implying that other races are not proud of their own
But because you being a foreigner/expat and is able to speak their own language, chances are you will be treated more as a friend than as an acquaintance.
The END.

Hi edengarde, I am happy to know that you can speak Malay now.
Anyway, many Malay words are quite similar to Tagalog.
Maligayang pagdating sa Singapore if you are coming po.
I speak some Tagalog myself, having been many times to Manila, Cebu, Palawan and Pampanga.
In 1998, after his speech during his state visit to Singapore I shook hands with the then President Joseph Estrada and I spoke to him in Tagalog.
He smiled and said " Huh, you speak Tagalog" ?, I smiled back and replied Konti lang.
You see, being able to speak a foreign language is definitely an icebreaker.
In 1978, I was at my fav restaurant, the Aristocrat in Manila, a local walked up to me and asked " Pare, Pinoy Pare"? .. No lang. Singaporean Chinese ako.
He replied back pu...g i,..o, you look like a Pinoy and we both laughed.
Sige na, I got to go, we chika chika again ok.
Ingat po
Tq and God bless

Ha ha ha really? Happy to hear your story, I can even song well the Negara ko. Thanks for welcoming me in advance.

Sorry, I cannot speak Malay. I am managing with english only.

Hi, I know only the basic , so how and where we can learn Bahasa Malayu ???
If there is a center or community that teach BM please inform us.

Yes I can speak Malay language. I can feel very good.

I am a Chinese Malaysian.  I am English speaking.  The truth is English is basically
understood by a majority of Malaysians.  We learn Malay and English in schools so if
you speak English, many are able to converse or understand what you are talking.

Try some of the language schools. If you google you should be able to find quite a few.

Regards

I speak a mix of Malay and English if I have to , however, I find that most people speak English much better than my attempts at Malay.  I'd love to speak Malay at least fluently enough to be understood.

Well, it's always polite to make an effort to learn the language of your host country, even if it's only a few words. I wouldn't say it's essential to learn BM to survive, but it certainly helps a lot.

As someone already pointed out, people are generally very nice here and will probably reply in English if they feel your BM isn't up to scratch!

That said, it's relatively easier to learn BM because of the Roman script. You can figure out the meanings of lots of words by context alone, and since you can read them, you can learn them (unlike, for example, Mandarin). I would start with the basics for visitors/foreigners for any language: learn to count, ask for directions and understand them, learn to order and buy food. With that, a good chunk of your daily interactions are sorted. Then you can progress further if you're interested!

What NOT to do in Malaysia
What do you people perceive as rude or offencive?
In our country it is rude to put your finger in your ear, nose and mouth in public or
To spit in public  or to to do the reverse gear mucus suck
Unknowingly a person can make a mistake that can offend other culture or religion
I do not know the Malaysian culture

I will be in Malaysia on Wednesday to register my MM2H  and to look for rental property

For your knowledge, I am from the English stream in school but in university, it changed to Malay.  I did my thesis in Malay and it was quite easy. I can say, I am also fluent in Bahasa Malaysia, no problems working with government departments and I write fairly well in Bahasa too.  But I still maintain that English is an international language. Speaking English and applying here in Malaysia will get you far.

Yes, I do speak Malay. You have to learn Malay because not all of Malaysian can speak English.

Hi nice to meet you 😊I can speak Malay and can write in malay it's is easy to study the Malay language it not hard and because you now in Malaysia. You can easily study Malay language example we see the Indian work in restoran in Malaysia first they come they don't no Malay but after I seeing them all wow they Malay  language improvement because they listening all word and interest in malay languages. It seem you interest in malay languages and you can takes classes in malay languages  or study with people Malay language it's can help to improve your Malay language the important is that you interest in what you doing.  😊

Just don't do anything you wouldn't do in the Western World plus:
1. Slurping when eating is ok, farting especially with sound) is a NO, NO;
2. Take off your shoes when entering someone else house. You house... who cares!
3. Don't get drunk on the street.
4. Don't show too much affection on the streets: kissing, smooching, petting... do it in your own house
5. Try to touch everything with you right hand, especially foods. Not many southpaw here...
6. Try to take shower at least once a day. Twice a day is normal for Malaysian. Water is abundant here and its quite cheap.

Many more but learning by experience is better. Have fun