Malay woman sings along to Tamil songs
Malaysia is a culturally diverse nation with different spoken languages helping form our unique identity. Now and again, we come across Malaysians who are able to speak multiple languages beyond their native tongue, and fluently too – such as this multilingual makcik, who impressed netizens with her fluent Tamil and Cantonese.
This time around, a Malay woman is going viral for singing along to Tamil songs and lip-syncing to Tamil audio tracks on TikTok. She now has over 200,000 followers and more than five million likes amassed on her account for her videos.
Malay woman sings along to Tamil songs on TikTok
Image credit: @era.rawther
TikTok user, Era Rawther has been gaining the attention of Malaysians online, especially the Tamil-speaking community, with her videos – many of them garnering hundreds of thousands of views and likes.
In the videos, the TikTok sensation can be seen lip-syncing to Tamil soundbites from films and singing in Tamil, earning her a captivated audience online. A recent video she uploaded – which showed her ‘dubbing’ over an audio recording in Tamil – has amassed over 260,000 views and more than 20,000 likes from netizens, at the time of writing.
HELP, I AM ADDICTED TO THIS SONG😭 karaoke before going home, okay lesgo home😭 bye
In another video posted on 18th February 2022, Era can be seen singing along to a Tamil song. She captioned the video “Help, I’m addicted to this song”. It has since garnered over 125,000 views, and more than 17,000 likes.
Era’s Tamil content have a significantly high number of views on her channel, showing just how much Malaysians love her videos that showcase her interest in a language beyond her own mother tongue.
She doesn’t speak Tamil, but knows how to write in it
Image credit: @era.rawther & @era.rawther
From her smooth lip movements in her videos, it seems like Era can actually speak in Tamil.
But in a video responding to a viewer’s comment in November 2021, she clarified that she cannot speak Tamil and can only say and understand a few basic sentences.
She also shared with her followers that she learnt to sing along to Tamil songs and soundbites by writing down the lyrics in the original language. Despite not knowing how to speak, she can actually write in the Tamil language, a skill that she had picked up from her dad.
Netizens show support for local TikToker
Malaysians are showing great support for the TikToker, with many leaving comments praising and complimenting Era for her attempts to associate herself closely with the Indian community by learning the language.
Image credit: @era.rawther
One netizen show their appreciation for Era and her effort to learn to write in Tamil, as not many Indians know how to write in their mother tongue nowadays.
Image credit: @era.rawther
Meanwhile, another netizen echoed their admiration towards Era’s content with Tamil audios. “Admiring your content in Tamil audio more than other videos. Good luck. Hoping the best for you,” they wrote, indicating their love for her talent.
Image credit: @era.rawther
Another netizen simply expressed their amazement towards Era’s Tamil content on TikTok – like the many others who are viewing the videos for the first time.
Malay woman sings in Tamil
It’s not often that we get to see Malaysians like Era who know how to speak or write a language beyond their native tongue, and embrace the culture associated with it too. She shows how Malaysia would not be what it is today without our cultural and lingual diversity, and how there can be unity despite our differences.
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Cover image adapted from: @era.rawther, @era.rawther and @era.rawther