Language, Culture and Food in Malaysia

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country, in which Malays account for 56% of the total population, Chinese account for 23%, aborigines 1 1%, and Indians account for 7%. In recent years, due to the influence of birth control, immigration and economic factors, the proportion of Chinese in Malaysia has gradually declined. Historically, Chinese have always been the leading community in Malaysian economy and commerce, accounting for the majority of the population in Penang, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Shiwu, Furong and Johor Bahru, while Ipoh and Penang have also retained rich traditional China culture. Indians began to immigrate to Malaysia at the beginning of the19th century.

language

The official language of Malaysia is Malay, which is a standardized Malay language. English used to be the actual official language for a long time, but Malay became the main language after the racial riots in Malaysia in 1969 (May 13 incident). Even so, Malaysia is still an English speaking country. In many fields of Malaysian society, English is still a very active second language. In some public schools, English is used as the teaching language of mathematics, science, science departments and information technology departments. Since the new curriculum of 20 17 of Malaysian Ministry of Education, mathematics and science in No.1 middle school have been taught in Putonghua, while biology, physics, chemistry and computer science in middle school science department continue to be taught in English.

Malaysian English, also known as Malaysian Standard English (MySE), is a form of English derived from British English, although this name is rarely used in formal occasions except in educational discussions. Malaysian enterprises also widely use Malaysian English, which is a spoken form and is greatly influenced by Malay, Chinese and Tamil. The government does not encourage the wrong use of Malay, and fines public signs that mix Malay and English. There are also Chinese schools in Malaysia, which not only teach Malay and English, but also use Chinese (Mandarin) as the teaching language, mainly for local Chinese.

There are actually many other languages in Malaysia, including 137. West Malaysia has a 4 1 language, while the aboriginal tribes in East Malaysia have their own languages, which are related to Malay, but they are easy to distinguish. In Sarawak, the main tribal language is Iban dialect, while the aborigines in Sabah speak Dushun. The Malaysian government has not restricted the use of dialects by local Chinese. Chinese in Malaysia mostly speak Chinese from southern provinces of China, including Min dialect (Minnan dialect in Zhang Quan), Cantonese, Hakka dialect, Hainan dialect, Chaozhou dialect, Fuzhou dialect (Southeastern Fujian dialect), and Chinese popularized by Chinese communities in Malaysia after 1980. Tamil is mainly used by Tamils, accounting for the majority of Indians in Malaysia. Tamil in Malaysia is a prominent dialect, which is different from Tamil in India and has many words from Malay. Other South Asian languages and Thai are also widely used in Malaysia [22]. In addition, a small number of Malaysians are of Caucasian descent and speak Creole, such as Malacca Creole based on Portuguese and Chavacano based on Spanish.

culture

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual society. The earliest culture originated from local indigenous tribes, and later Malays moved here. The substantial influence of China culture and Indian culture can be traced back to the time when foreign trade became active in this region. Other cultures that have a great influence on Malaysian culture, including Persian, Arabian and British cultures, have produced minimal cultural assimilation to ethnic minorities due to the political structure and social contract theory of the government.

197 1 year, the government established a set of "national cultural policies". The policy clearly defines Malaysian culture, pointing out that its foundation must be based on Malaysian local culture, which may include appropriate elements from other cultures, and Islam must play an important role in Malaysian culture. This policy has also raised the status of Malay relative to other languages. The Malaysian government's intervention in culture has aroused dissatisfaction among non-Malays, who feel that their cultural freedom has been damaged. Organizations in China and India have submitted memos to the government, accusing the government of formulating undemocratic cultural policies.

There are some cultural disputes between Malaysia and its neighbors, especially Indonesia. These two countries have similar cultural assets and many common traditions, even Malaysia and Indonesia. However, there are often disputes on some issues, from cooking dishes to Malaysia's national anthem. Indonesia attaches great importance to protecting its cultural heritage. Malaysia does not have such a strong feeling. In Malaysia, most people realize that there are many cultural values enjoyed by * * *.

sensitive

Malaysian cuisine reflects the multi-ethnic composition of its population, and many cultures from home and surrounding areas have a great influence on cuisine. Most of the influences come from Malay, China, Indian, Thai, Javanese and Sumatran cultures, mainly because this country is located on the ancient spice trade route. Malaysian food is similar to Singapore and Brunei, and also similar to Filipino food. Singapore is dominated by Chaozhou and Minnan people, so the taste of food is biased towards Chaozhou and Fujian; Malaysia is dominated by Minnan, Guangdong and Hakka people, and even people from Guangxi and Fuzhou, so the food is rich in taste. Different states have different dishes. In Malaysia, food is often different from the dishes of origin.

Sometimes the food that can't be seen in the primitive culture of each ethnic group is also integrated into the cultural elements of this ethnic group in Malaysia. For example, Malaysian Chinese restaurants also serve malaysian cuisine. Food from one culture sometimes adopts the cooking style of other cultures. This means that although many Malaysian foods can be traced back to a specific culture, they have their own unique identity, and rice is common in many dishes. Spicy peppers are often used in Malaysian cuisine, but they are not spicy!