Friday, February 23, 2024

Malay: pt 7 How to Address Strangers

Addressing people is very important in language so here's how you address people in Malay:

Uncle would be: Pak Chik (pronounced: Pa aak, chi ek)
so in a sentence, it would be: "pak chik mana saya Kuching".
if you were to translate it it would be: "Uncle, where is my cat" (Kuching means cat, pronounced: ku ching), fun fact there is a place in Malaysia called Kuching and it is in Sarawak.

Auntie would be: Mak Chik (pronounced: Ma aak chi ek)
if used in a sentence would be: "Mak Chik boleh saya tolong"

The elder brother would be: Abang (pronounced: Aa baa ng, also baa ng)
So if you wanted to order food at a restaurant you could say "Bang boleh order?" meaning older brother can I order?).

The elder sister would be: Kakak (pronounced: Kaa kak, or kak)
 "Kak boleh order?" meaning older sister can I order), even though 

For the younger siblings both boy and girl, you would say: Adik (pronounced: Aa dik)

Grandfather would be: Datuk (pronounced: Daa tuk)

Grandmother would be: Nenek (pronounced: Nee nek)

Mister would be: Enckik (pronounced: Een cik)

Missus would be: Puan (pronounced: Puu an)

Miss/mis it would be Cik (pronounced: Cik)

The safest option when talking with older people (adults) is to call them Enchik and Cik as it is the safest and the most polite. But if you are a kid you don't really need to say Enchik and Cik as it is mainly reserved for older people, so using hai and oi is easy and effective, sure it is cruder and definitely ruder, but it does work. 

Pak Chik and Mak Chik are mainly used for someone above 30, but some might be offended if they are unmarried so bang or kak works too.

Datuk and Nekek if strictly for grandparents and generally senior folk, but don't call them that if they don't like it because some people don't want to be that old.

Datuk and Dato are titles given by heads of state to Malaysians for serving the country, the female version is Datin (pronounced: Daa tin).

Excuse me in Malay would be "Excuse me", yes you can just say Excuse me and and most Malays will understand, but tumpang tanya (pronounced: tum paang taan ya) is usually used to ask a question.
You don't have to say tumpang tanya, when you bump into someone or when you sneeze a little too loud because it sounds strange, just say excuse me, it is meant as a way of asking permission or to ask a question for example: "tumpang tanya boleh makan"  translated to would be: "ask if you can eat food".




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