Common words Malaysians mispronounce
English isn’t the native language of most Malaysians. But we rely on it often enough for different reasons that a good number of linguistic fumbles have accumulated in our speech.
While we nail pronunciations of words like crispy and flatbread – ahem – with their straightforward letter arrangements and clear vowel sounds, we also somehow mispronounce several common English words.
Here’s a list of words that many of us butcher unintentionally and their correct pronunciations that might have you rethinking your spoken English skills.
Table of Contents
1. Library
Malaysian pronunciation: Lie-ber-ry
Correct pronunciation: Lie-brar-ee
Silence is golden at a library, but the first “r” is definitely not silent in “library”.
We get it, though. Pronouncing the letter “r” is already hard for most when it’s placed in the middle of a word – especially for Chinese language speakers – and harder when there are two of them placed not far apart from each other in a single word.
2. Colleague
Malaysian pronunciation: Ker-lick
Correct pronunciation: Col-lig
Don’t lick your “colleague”. There are two “l’s” in this word for your co-worker, and it ends like the league in Justice League rather than the “-lick” in Horlicks.
3. Tuition
Malaysian pronunciation: Tiu-shen
Correct pronunciation: Tyoo-ish-uhn
It’s definitely easier to read this one the Malaysian way, but “tuition” is a three-syllable word with an emphasis on the second syllable “-ish”.
4. Salmon
Malaysian pronunciation: Sell-muhn
Correct pronunciation: Sam-un
You know that joke about selling fish and being selfish? Well, you’re not selling “men” with “salmon”.
5. Flour
Malaysian pronunciation: Flah
Correct pronunciation: Fla-urh
It’s not as simple as po-tay-toes, po-tah-toes with this word. You pronounce “flour” similarly to “flower”, which is a far cry from the commonly pronounced “flah”.
6. Subtle
Malaysian pronunciation: Sab-tel
Correct pronunciation: Sa-tel
In English, silent letters in words can be tricky and almost incomprehensible. The phonetic pronunciation doesn’t always align with the spelling of the word itself.
Take for example the word “subtle”. It contains the letter “b”, but it’s pronounced, well, subtly or silently. Picture saying the word Setel – yup, the Petronas app – except you say “sa” instead of “se”.
7. Plumber
Malaysian pronunciation: Plum-ber
Correct pronunciation: Pluh-muh
We’re not quite sure what crimes the letter “b” did to the English language that it gets paid nothing but dust. “Plumber” is another common English word in which you need to ignore the letter “b” to say it properly.
8. Honestly
Malaysian pronunciation: Ho-nes-li/O-nes-li
Correct pronunciation: O-nest-li
Mispronunciations of “honestly” do exist. The letter “h” is silent, and the letter “t” is pronounced even though we honestly often ignore it.
9. Leisure
Malaysian pronunciation: Li-jher
Correct pronunciation: Le-jher
Since Malaysia adopted British English thanks to colonisation, the correct pronunciation for leisure starts with “leh” rather than “li”. But the American pronunciation uses “li”. So the mispronunciation for this word is forgivable.
10. Stomach
Malaysian pronunciation: Sto-mak
Correct pronunciation: Sta-mek
Repeat after us: English pronunciations of words almost never follow the spelling.
The word “stomach” is often wrongly pronounced, especially when we pair it with “ache” as in “stomachache”. However, it is pronounced as “sta-mek”, with the “ah” sound closer to an “oh” sound. The last syllable is “mek”, as in “mekar”.
11. Wednesday
Malaysian pronunciation: Wed-nes-day
Correct pronunciation: Wens-day
Many of us learned the correct pronunciation of this word when we tuned in to Netflix’s Wednesday. True story. Two syllables, not three, and drop the first “d”.
12. Often
Malaysian pronunciation: Of-ten
Correct pronunciation: O-fen
Similar to the word leisure above, it’s forgivable if you pronounce “often” the way that locals do with the hard “t”, even though the “t” is technically silent.
The “t” was once pronounced among Western English speakers, but now you can say the word without it to sound like a distinguished gentleman.
13. Their
Malaysian pronunciation: Di-ar
Correct pronunciation: Dayr
“There”, “they’re”, and “their” share a similar pronunciation. They’re probably cousins.
14. Sword
Malaysian pronunciation: Swod
Correct pronunciation: Sod
This mispronunciation is so common that the correct pronunciation seems almost…wrong. But the “w” in sword is not supposed to be sounded. The mistake is not too odd since there are words like “swish”, “swoon”, and “swan”. But “w” is singled out when pronouncing the word “sword”.
15. Lingerie
Malaysian pronunciation: Lin-ger-ree/Ling-er-ee
Correct pronunciation: Lawn-jer-ray
Let’s be honest – no one would have guessed the correct pronunciation of this word on the first try. Seriously. Just forge a French accent to pronounce this one.
16. Divorce
Malaysian pronunciation: Dai-vors
Correct pronunciation: De-vos
The mispronunciation of this word is a little funny. Malaysians manage to make this word more grim than it needs to be by pronouncing it with “die”. But sure, the marriage did die – sigh.
If you know Star Wars, you probably have heard the phrase “May the force be with you”. You can take the phrase “the force” and replace “f” with “v” – tada, you get “divorce”.
If you’re aiming for the British pronunciation, drop the “r”.
17. Sew
Malaysian pronunciation: Siu
Correct pronunciation: Sow
Malaysians were probably hungry when they saw this word and pronounced it “siu” like in siu mai. But it’s actually “sow”, despite its spelling.
18. Children
Malaysian pronunciation: Chew-ren
Correct pronunciation: Chil-druhn
It’s already complicated when the word “child” sounds different from its plural form “children”, unlike other pluralised forms. But we only follow the rules.
No chewing people, and the “d” from child remains in children.
19. Algae
Malaysian pronunciation: Al-gay
Correct pronunciation: Al-gee
It feels like Malaysians got it right with pronouncing this one, with the “a” before the “e” and all…But alas, the “-gae” in “algae” is pronounced “gee”, like “Oh ehM Gee”.
20. Debris
Malaysian pronunciation: Deh-bris
Correct pronunciation: Day-bree
No breeze with “debris”. Drop the “s”, stretch the vowels, and you get the proper pronunciation of this word.
21. Probably
Malaysian pronunciation: Pro-be-lee/Prol-ly
Correct pronunciation: Prob-uh-blee
It’s prolly simpler to pronounce “probably” the way that locals do, but you have to vocalise all the letters in the word to properly say it.
22. Hotel
Malaysian pronunciation: Hoh-tel
Correct pronunciation: Hoe-tel
Long “o”, not short “o”.
23. Purchase
Malaysian pronunciation: Per-chase
Correct pronunciation: Pur-chuhs
You know the sound that cats make? Yeah, the “pur-” in purchase sounds more like that happy “purr” and less like the angry “per” in “as per my last email”.
24. Three
Malaysian pronunciation: Tree
Correct pronunciation: Thuh-ree
The prefix “th-“ is a difficult one for locals. Any word that contains it will typically be replaced with a hard “t” when pronounced. The word “three”, like “thunder” and “thirsty”, share the same fate.
25. Zero
Malaysian pronunciation: Ji-ro
Correct pronunciation: Zeer-oh
No Sushi Jiro here. “Zero” with a “z”.
26. Vegetable
Malaysian pronunciation: Ve-ji-tay-ble
Correct pronunciation: Vej-tuh-bul
The short form of “vegetable” is veggies, so we get why Malaysians pronounce it the way that we commonly do. But drop the extra syllable, steer away from the dining room furniture reference, and you get the proper way to say the word.
27. Restaurant
Malaysian pronunciation: Res-to-ren
Correct pronunciation: Res-tuh-rahnt/res-trant
We pronounce the word “restaurant” as we would in Malay. But to say it in English, there’s less emphasis on the second syllable, and a hard “t” at the end.
28. Lavender
Malaysian pronunciation: Lah-van-der
Correct pronunciation: Lav-uhn-der
We love our lahs. But leave it out of “lavender”. The word is properly pronounced with a “lav-“ instead of “lah-“.
English words commonly mispronounced by Malaysians
Languages differ vastly from one another. Sometimes, our tongues aren’t used to making a specific sequence of sounds that’s uncommon in our native language, so it’s understandable when we fumble with English words that we use everyday. It’s part of our unique quirk as Malaysians who are able to speak different languages beyond our mother tongue.
Also read: 35 Malaysian Slang Words Only Locals Know ‘Cause We Can Juggle 3 Languages Like A Pro
Cover image adapted from: TheSmartLocal Malaysia