IN Malaysia, almost all of us are bilingual, being able to speak the standard Bahasa Malaysia and our mother tongue.
Many of us are multilingual, with the ability to speak languages such as Mandarin, Hokkien and Tamil, having grown up with friends and neighbours of different races.
One such example is a drinks stall owner in Shah Alam.
Stand-up comedian, Hindra Bose took to his TikTok account to do a quick food review of his favourite coffee stall, Kopi & Teh Larees, which is located at the parking lot of Masjid An Nur Temasya Glenmarie.
In the video, Hindra greets the stall owner cheerfully in Tamil, “Vannakam brother, what are you doing there? I want coffee.”
The Malay man then gets up from his seat and walks to Hindra, before replying in Tamil, asking Hindra what was his preferred choice of beverage.
READ MORE: Malay mom speaks fluent Tamil with neighbours during Raya celebration
Hindra then requests for a cup of coffee to which the man then asks him in Tamil if he wanted his drink in a small or large cup.
Throughout the entire 55-second video, the Malay man could be seen speaking fluent Tamil, even replying to Hindra, stating that his business was alright and that he was having a good day.
“Come visit this Tamil-speaking brother and this beautiful soft spoken sister,” says Hindra, adding in the comments that the drinks stall is only open during lunch time.
The video has since been flooded with comments from netizens who are in awe of the man’s Tamil-speaking skills.
“This is what’s called one Malaysia,” said one user.
“I love content like this. Glad to be a Malaysian!” said another.
ALSO READ: Elderly Malay man explains old proverb in fluent Tamil
