The official language or national language of Malaysia is Bahasa Melayu and it is also known as Bahasa Malaysia. Due to the multi ethnic society in Malaysia, various mother tongues are spoken by the respective ethnic groups.
The language for the Malays is Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese speak Mandarin (Chinese language) and various dialects such as Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Teochew, Hainan, Foochow and so on. Tamil are spoken by the respective Indian ethnic groups. In addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest are Iban and Kadazan.
English is the second language in Malaysia and it is also the language of business and also helps communications between language groups. English is widely being spoken in Malaysia, especially in the cities.
As a result of the different races gathered in this country, many different languages are spoken. Bahasa Malaysia (the Malay language) is the predominant language but English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Tamil and Hindi are also widely spoken.
Visitors who speak English should not have any communication problem with the local people in Malaysia, especially in the cities.