Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
Vice Asia recently released results for a survey they supposedly ran on the sexiest accents in Asia and Malaysia didn’t even place! The Singaporean accent came in at number 5, with the Chinese and Indian accents above it at spots 4 and 3 respectively. Thailand snagged number 2 and the winner was the Filipino accent.
Travel content company Big 7 Travel Media ranked the Malaysian accent as the 39th sexiest in the world following a poll they ran back in 2019, where the top spot was held by New Zealand.
We asked Malaysians what they think!
We here at In Real Life felt it was an injustice to our beautiful country. Manglish is kind of hot, right? Sometimes?
We ran a survey to ask a very simple question – Malaysian accents, sexy or nah? Here’s what you said!
We had a total of 50 respondents for our survey and 64% said they liked the Malaysian accent/Manglish!
An anonymous respondent said “It’s simple and direct, but also very honest depending on the context of the situation. It doesn’t go on to make long and beautiful speeches with fancy language, but it is excellent in making a point. Even if it may sound crude, it shows that Malaysians are practical and more sincere with their emotions from the way they speak.”
The ones who answered no for this question however, were a bit more curt with one respondent saying “It just feels the opposite of classy.”, and another saying “It sounds uneducated.”
There’s more to love than accents
We’ve all heard people say they love the British accent and that they fall in love with Benedict Cumberbatch just by listening to him read a phonebook, but when it comes down to it, does it really matter what accent your partner has?
78% of our respondents said it doesn’t! We were very proud of our fellow Malaysians as most of the responses said that accents are just a surface level concern.
24 year-old Darrsini says “Who cares about the accent when you actually love a person for who they are.” and 25 year-old Sean makes it clear, point blank, “I am not that shallow.”
What is the Malaysian accent?
Malaysia takes pride in being a ‘melting pot’ of different cultures and ethnicities(PMR English essay flashbacks anyone?). We boast hundreds of languages and dialects that differ in intonation and vocab based on the region and even different tribes.
Because of this eclectic mix of people, it’s obvious that there cannot be one single accent we call the Malaysian accent. Malaysia is not, and has never been a monolithic country and for that we should be proud!
It’s safe to say that Malaysians do in fact love the way we sound. It is comforting and reminds us of home. So whether you’ve got a smooth Kelantanese twang or you sound like that Hakka uncle in your kampung kopitiam, we love to hear it.
Know anyone with an interesting story to share? Drop us an email at hello@inreallife.my and we may feature the story!
For more stories like this, read:
Amusing Conversations Overheard in a Language They Think You Don’t Know
Malaysians & English Proficiency – Have Our English Education Standards Dropped?
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