Local language

Malaysia, like many other countries, has a large number of different tribes and therefore there are also many dialects. In Penang people generally speak Malay or Bahasa as it is main official language of Malaysia. People in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei speak Malay as their first or second language, like English and other languages in the world.

Penang has many other different dialects, ranging from Batavian to Keletanese, each dialect has its own way of sounding and a native speaker of the language can usually tell a dialect from another.

Bahasa is the medium or instruction in schools and in universities, although English is taught as a second language and is widely spoken and generally understood.

Many other Asian languages and dialects are also spoken in Penang and in Malaysia in general including Mandarin and other Chinese dialects such as Hokkien, Hakka, and Cantonese. Also Tamil and other Indian dialects, Thai and Japanese.

Malay is an easy language to learn, as far as learning any language goes, it is deceptively simple in its structure, spelling is consistently phonetic and most sounds are pronounced in roughly in English.
For Example:

“If you can’t find it, bring another one”, in Malay is, “Ta jumpa, bawa lain” or literally “not find”, bring another one. That is the way Malay is spoken.