I just arrived in Malaysia for the first time. Malaysia i similar to other countries in the region but also a whole lot different. They are muslims, most of them, even though I have seen a lot of catholic churches as well.
They are friendly, the people I have talked to speak quite good english and the local food is good.
One thing that is very different from lets say Vietnam and Thailand is that Malaysia has decided to use the Western alphabet.
Why one could ask?
Is that good or bad?
I try to read every word I see now, not understanding its meaning but at least it looks ok to read. Some words I can figure out though; Bus is Bas and Mini is Mini so Mini Bas is Mini Bus. Sekola is school which means that Bas Sekola probably means school bus. But they can all be false friends…
Have they lost their identity by doing this? Or haven´t they changed a thing, did their alphabet always used to look like this?
Then maybe they know what a certain sound looks like when you spell it with western letters, whereas in Thailand for instance it is a complete mess. The sound for “ch” as in Chatuchak Market is sometimes spelled with a “J”. “Soi” which is the word for alley or a small street crossing a bigger street with a proper name is sometimes spelled “Sai”.
This can be confusing, but if the Thais like it that way, then that is how it is going to be.