Find your job
Choose your speciality

Languages & Phrases

Wording
Phonetic
English
     
Apa Khabar Ah-Pah Cah-Bah Hello/Hi
Selamat Tingal Sell-ah-mat Teng-ahl Good Bye!
Adakah anda fasih berbahasa Inggeris / Malayu Ah-dah-cah an-dah fah-seh ber-bah-hah-sah Ing-gur-riss / Meh-lay-oo Do you speak English / Melay?
Nama saya… Nah-mah say-ah My name is…
Anda boleh membantu saya? Anda boleh membantu saya? Can you help me?
Saya mencari… Say-ah men-cha-ree I’m looking for…
Ya / Ta Ada Yah / Ah-dah Yes / No
Terima Kasih Teh-ree-mah Kah-seh Mr / Mrs / Miss
Hari Ini / Kini Hah-ree ee-nee / Kee-nee Today / Now
Esok / Semalam Esok / Semalam Tomorrow / Yesterday
Ini / Yang / Di Sini / Ada Ee-nee / Yah-ng / Dee see-nee / Ah-dah This / That / Here / There

Phrases

Above are a few common Malay phrases to help you get around.

Languages

The most widely used and official language in Brunei is the Malay language, however, English is also incredibly widely spoken, especially for business purposes, and is considered the country’s other official language. Today, English and Malay are taught in all schools and subsequently most of the country is considered to be bilingual. The specific dialect of Malay spoken in Brunei, Melayu Brunei, is spoken by over a quarter of a million people and is about 84% understandable to speakers of Standard Malay.

Many Chinese languages are also spoken within Brunei, these most commonly include the Mandarin, Hokkien and Hakka dialects but also include Hoisan, Fuchow, Hainanese and many other variants. Additionally, the peoples of Tutong, Dusun, Lun Bawang, Belait, Bisaya, Mukah, Iban and Penan each speak their own language respectively.  Other common languages spoken include Arabic, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Gurkhali, Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia.