Malaysian Mandarin

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Malaysian Mandarin (simplified Chinese: 马来西亚华语; traditional Chinese: 馬來西亞華語; pinyin: Mǎláixīyà Huáyǔ) is a variety of the Chinese language spoken in Malaysia by ethnic Chinese residents. It is currently the primary language used by the Malaysian Chinese community^[1]

Due to the multilingual nature of Malaysian society, Malaysian Mandarin speakers often colloquially code-switch to Malay or English when it comes to local terms or names, even if an official, formal Mandarin term exists. For instance, the formal translation for the street "Jalan Bukit Kepong" is known as "武吉甲洞路" (Wǔjí Jiǎdòng lù; 'Bukit Kepong Road') and is used as such in local Chinese media, but the latter term is rarely used colloquially; instead people will often use the original Malay name as-is. There are exceptions, for example Taiping, since this name is derived from the Chinese language, when people mention this place when speaking local Mandarin, they always use its Mandarin pronunciation, "Tàipíng", instead of using its Malay pronunciation, which is closer to "Taipeng". Another example is when a place's Chinese translation varied vastly with its native Malay name, for example: for Teluk Intan, Seremban, Kota Kinabalu and Bau, they are preferably referred respectively as Ānsùn (安順) (which refers to "Teluk Anson", Teluk Intan's former colonial name), Fúróng (芙蓉) Yàbì (亞庇), and Shilongmen (石隆門).