Indian Languages
Tamil is used predominantly by Tamils, who form a majority of Malaysian Indians. It is especially used in Peninsular Malaysia where they still maintain close cultural ties with their homeland. However, many Indians in East Malaysia, especially the younger generation, do not speak much Tamil and speak either Malay or English as their first language. This is because there are far fewer Indians in East Malaysia than in the Peninsula. Thus, the Indians in East Malaysia prioritise on Malay and English because those languages are more useful in daily life in that region. Malaysian Tamil is a significant dialect which is different from Tamil spoken in India, with many loan words from Malay entering into its vocabulary. Other south Asian languages such as Malayalam, Telugu and Punjabi are also spoken.
Read more about this topic: Languages Of Malaysia
Famous quotes containing the words indian and/or languages:
“Our Indian said that he was a doctor, and could tell me some medicinal use for every plant I could show him ... proving himself as good as his word. According to his account, he had acquired such knowledge in his youth from a wise old Indian with whom he associated, and he lamented that the present generation of Indians “had lost a great deal.””
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Wealth is so much the greatest good that Fortune has to bestow that in the Latin and English languages it has usurped her name.”
—William Lamb Melbourne, 2nd Viscount (1779–1848)