Although Malaysia and Indonesia are two different countries, the language we speak is somewhat similar. This is why Malaysians are able to converse with Indonesians most of the time. However, one Indo netizen shared that while Malaysians can understand him clearly, he struggles to pick up on the simplest questions and phrases in the Malay language.
Indonesian TikToker Juarez Aprio posted a TikTok video to share his experiences with the language grasp while in Malaysia. He started off by saying that Malaysians consumed a lot of Indonesian content – from music to TV series – which is why they are able to understand the Indonesian speech.
@juarezaprio Sebenarnya language shock, haha. Sumpah lah awal gua di malaysia banyak banget hah hah hah nya ☹️☹️☹️☹️🤲🏼✨ tapi tergantung logat, logat sabah gua faham banget, logat KL juga masih lah, banyak logat2 aneh lainnya di telinga gua, logat kelantan, logat kedah, logat penang, rasaanya duhh pls kill me i dont get what u say 🫠😫🔫 tpi insyaallah faham nnti wkwk #cultureshock #cultureshockindonesia #cultureshockmalaysia #bahasamelayu #bahasaindo #bahasamalay #malay #indo #bahasamalaysia #bahasaindonesia #bahasamalaysiaindonesia #indomalay🇮🇩🇲🇾 #indomalay #indomalaysia #malaysia #indonesia #malaysiatiktok #indotiktok
Apparently, Indonesians don’t consume as much Malaysian content in their home country. “Apart from TV shows like ‘Upin & Ipin’, Indonesians rarely hear how Malaysians talk casually on a daily basis so we’re not entirely familiar with the speech and pronunciations,” he explained. To further prove his point, the content creator shared a few experiences when he first came to Malaysia.
The TikToker recalled when he visited a stationary shop to print something and got really confused when an employee asked, “Nak colour ke, hitam putih (Do you want it in colour or black and white)?”. He also clarified that the employee spoke too fast that he couldn’t picked up on what was being said. “I felt so dumb at that moment and I needed them to repeat back it slowly for me. Only then, I finally understood the question,” he added.
Another incident was when Juarez wanted to buy doughnuts where the staff asked him, “Nak sekali ke, asing (Do you want them together or separately)?” Once again, the Jakarta-born TikToker was left confused by the question until the staff asked him again in English before he was able to understand.
“The Indonesian and Malaysian languages may be ‘similar’ but the semantics we use are very different so I did struggle a lot when I first came here. Please don’t judge others when they’re struggling to learn a new language, even if the languages have a lot of similarities,” he said before ending the video.
The TikTok post became Juarez’s most-viewed video on his channel with netizens from both Malaysia and Indonesia sharing similar experiences of “language shock” when they travel to each other’s countries. Have you faced a similar struggle before?
Source: TikTok
