Singkawang - Languages

Languages

Singkawang people use Indonesian as the primary language not only in conversation or trading, but they also use their own mother tongue. As Singkawang consists of three major ethnic groups, Chinese, Malays and Dayak, Hakka Chinese is the most among all, then almost all of the Singkawang people use Hakka for conversation beside Indonesian, even some parts of the other ethnic people can use it too. The Indonesian used in Singkawang commonly for daily conversation is not standard Indonesian, but has some Malay influence on vocabulary as Malay is the closest language to Indonesian, as Singkawang people have for years been accustomed to Malay.

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