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Here in Malaysia there are three main ethnicities, Malay, Chinese, Tamil, and most people speak more than one language.

There are four main language groupings:

  • Malay - national language and language of the ethnic majority.
  • Chinese - Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese, Teochew, Mandarin, and other varieties are all spoken among parts of the ethnic Chinese Malaysians.
  • Tamil - by far the most commonly spoken language among the ethnic "Indian" Malaysians, who are mostly ethnic Tamils.

Here's the generalization / expectation:

  • Malays speak Malay and often English to some degree.
  • Chinese speak one or more Chinese variety and often either or both Malay and English.
  • Tamils speak Tamil and usually English and often Malay.

Now I had been wondering for the past couple of weeks how common it is for Indians here to speak Chinese or for Chinese here to speak Tamil. It doesn't seem to be usual.

But then two days ago I arrived in Penang and I was talking to a local Tamil who told me he spoke Tamil, Malay, English, and (Mandarin) Chinese, in that order. Not long after this I observed an ethnic Chinese talking to the same guy in fast fluent Tamil.

Are there some statistics or studies on how common this is in Malaysia?

(For the sake of this question I'm interested just in this pair. I am aware the linguistic and ethnic situation here are both much more complicated than I have this simplified intro in my question.)

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    It may well be a situation more common in Penang than in other states; I would expect it to vary with population density. I.e, how useful is it for Chinese to speak Tamil, or Indians to speak Mandarin (less likely, Hakka or other minority Chineses)? Probly more likely to be useful (and easier to pick up) in Penang than in many other Malaysian locations. You need a sociolinguist who's familiar with the local scene. I'd look at Universiti Sains Malaysia, which is conveniently located in Penang.
    – jlawler
    Commented Dec 7, 2014 at 18:25
  • 1
    I would hope that the Malaysian education board(s) have looked into language comprehension, and published their findings. Have you looked on govt. websites?
    – prash ♦
    Commented Dec 8, 2014 at 5:03

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