Malaysia is a multilingual nation whose official language, Bahasa Malaysia (Malay), belongs to the Austronesian language family. Malay has been the dominant language of the Malay Peninsula and maritime Southeast Asia for centuries, serving as the primary trade lingua franca of the region long before European colonisation. The Malay Sultanates, particularly the Sultanate of Malacca (15th century), spread the language widely. British colonial rule brought English as a language of administration and commerce, while waves of Chinese and Indian immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries introduced Mandarin (and Chinese varieties such as Hokkien and Cantonese) and Tamil. Today, Malaysia's three major ethnic communities — Malay, Chinese, and Indian — maintain distinct linguistic traditions, making the country one of Southeast Asia's most linguistically diverse. English remains widely used in business, higher education, and daily life, particularly in urban centres like Kuala Lumpur.
