PETALING JAYA: More needs to be done to protect languages in Malaysia, with some fading from use especially among youths, due to a lack of formal lessons and weaker transmission in families.
Experts say there is a need to intensify efforts to teach the young, while social media and podcasts can also be tools to revive languages.
While Bahasa Malaysia stands as our national language and unifying factor, they say preserving disappearing languages will add to our strength as a diverse society.
Universiti Malaya’s (UM) Prof Dr Stefanie Shamila Pillai, from the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, said there are more than 130 languages in Malaysia, based on the research website, Ethnologue.
“These include regional varieties of Malay, Indigenous languages, Chinese dialects, Tamil and English.
“Our Indigenous languages make up about 80% of the languages in Malaysia, but more than half of them are in danger of disappearing, such as Che Wong, Kensiu and Mah Meri,” she said.
“This is also happening to contact languages like Melaka Portuguese, Baba Malay and Chitty Malay as well as specific Chinese dialects like Kelantan Hokkien.”
Prof Stefanie said younger Malaysians may not speak their heritage languages because they are not taught formally, so home becomes a space to learn them.
“If the home’s heritage language is replaced by another variety of Bahasa Malaysia, English or Mandarin, this change is passed on to the next generation.”
For example, English replaced Melaka Portuguese at least three generations ago in many Portuguese-Eurasian families who moved away from Melaka.
“Thankfully, the existence of the Portuguese Settlement and efforts of community members have sustained the use of this language,” she said.
“However, how many youths in various communities can actually speak their heritage language?”
To preserve languages, Prof Stefanie said greater efforts should be made to teach heritage languages, citing the Punjabi community’s initiative as an example.
“At the national level, three Indigenous languages are taught in selected schools: Iban, Kadazandusun and Semai.
“Concerted efforts are needed to expand this for other languages, from the government, communities and language researchers,” she said.
At the same time, Prof Stefanie said Bahasa Malaysia is a unifying force and something we should be proud of as multilingual Malaysians.
Prof Dr Salinah Ja’afar, a lecturer and linguist at UM’s Academy of Malay Studies, said some young Malays who move to cities for their studies speak less in their state dialects, either because they feel shy or as language habits evolve with the times.
But others are pushing back with social media, where many influencers proudly celebrate dialects and inspire others to do the same.
“This is one way to preserve Malay dialects,” said Prof Salinah.
Meanwhile, there is also a declining trend in using Chinese dialects like Hokkien and Cantonese, especially among youths.
Dr Yeoh Yin Yin, a senior lecturer at UM’s Department of Chinese Studies, said the main issue is a weakening of intergenerational transmission.
“In many families, grandparents may speak Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew or Foochow, but parents increasingly use Mandarin with their children.
“As such, many youths can understand the dialect but are much less confident speaking it,” she said.
“Youths can contribute to revitalising dialects through family use, social media, music, podcasts and community activities.”
Media in Arms is a media collaboration comprising five mainstream media outlets: Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily, Malay daily Sinar Harian, local news broadcaster Astro Awani, Tamil newspaper Malaysia Nanban and The Star – which formed this initiative in February 2022 to share resources and collaborate on diversified news content.
