South-Eastern Asia
Video Chat with People from Malaysia
Malaysia is a place where one conversation can move through three or four languages. Malay (Bahasa Melayu) is the national language, English is widely spoken, and you'll also meet people who speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Tamil or one of the many languages of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo. Plenty of Malaysians blend them freely, so don't be surprised by a "lah" at the end of an English sentence. On any given evening you could meet someone in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bahru, Ipoh, Melaka, Kota Kinabalu or Kuching.
The whole country is on UTC+8 with no daylight saving, the same clock as Singapore and Perth, so Malaysian evenings fall in the morning on the US East Coast and around lunchtime in the UK. Food is an almost certain hit: nasi lemak, roti canai, char kway teow, a laksa that changes from state to state, and where to find the best mamak stall at midnight. Badminton and football are big, and people are quick with travel tips for Langkawi, the Cameron Highlands or Mount Kinabalu. For a few starter words, see our Malay practice page.
Malaysia at a glance
How to say hello
A friendly local greeting makes a great first impression.
| Language | Phrase | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malay | Apa khabar? | AH-pah KAH-bar | How are you? |
| Malay | Selamat malam | suh-LAH-maht MAH-lahm | Good evening / Good night |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 你好 | nee HOW | Hello |
| Tamil | வணக்கம் | vah-NAHK-kahm | Hello |
Tips for chatting with people from Malaysia
- Reply to "Apa khabar?" with "Khabar baik" (KAH-bar bike), "I'm well," and ask it back.
- Manglish words like "lah," "makan" (eat) and "tapau" (takeaway) pop up in English chats; ask what something means and you'll usually get a fun explanation.
- Ask which state someone is from; food and accents change a lot between Penang, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak.
- From the US, weekend mornings line up with Malaysian evenings, which makes them a good window for meeting people there.
Only meet people from Malaysia
Omlet matches you Worldwide by default. To meet only people from Malaysia, use the country filter, the only filter Omlet has:
- Open Omlet and press Country on the control panel.
- Search for Malaysia and select it.
- Press Start. Press Next to meet someone else from Malaysia, or switch back to Worldwide any time.
Your first day is free: you add a card through Stripe to start it, and nothing is charged that day. When the 24 hours end, the country filter costs $3 one time, charged to that card, unless you cancel before then in Settings (if you cancel, you can still pick a country until the day ends). It's not a subscription, and it stays unlocked on that device and browser. It doesn't carry over to other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data removes it. There's one free day per device, home network and card. Payment goes through Stripe, so Omlet never sees your card number.
The filter works both ways, and matching can be slower when fewer people from Malaysia are online. Chatting itself is free, and Worldwide matching never costs anything.
Your own country is detected automatically and shown to the people you meet as a flag.
Neighboring countries
Malaysia borders 3 countries. Curious about the people next door? Meet them too: