Manglish or in other words Mangled English is the colloquial version of English language as spoken in Malaysia and it is a portmanteau of the word Malay and English. It is also known as Rojak or “Bahasa Rojak”.

So what is the history behind Manglish? Since 1968, Malay has been the country’s sole official language. Although English was widely practised, many Malay words have become part of common usage in informal English.

For example, the common word, we, Malaysians, all know, -lah, for instance, “Don’t be so worried-lah”. It is usually used to describe a sentence as rather light-going and not so serious. This suffix doesn’t really have a specific meaning."-Lah" softens the tone when we speak.

In any typical Malaysian conversation, you’ll never fail to use Manglish. It has become a common practice. Who knows, Manglish might be a language on its own soon!