Understanding the Other in a Foreign Land：A Preliminary Case Study of Malay Language Learning Texts among Hakka and Cantonese Migrants in British Malaya
Abstract
Since the Ming dynasty voyages of Zheng He, Chinese migration to Southeast Asia has extended over several centuries. While earlier migratory routes largely focused on port cities such as Makassar, Batavia, and Manila, a new wave of migration from the mid-nineteenth century onward increasingly shifted toward the Malay Peninsula and Borneo. Many of these migrants settled permanently, forming the historical foundations of contemporary Chinese communities in Malaysia. Despite their significance, the ways in which early migrants adapted to unfamiliar environments, linguistic barriers, and cultural differences remain insufficiently examined, particularly with regard to how language learning facilitated everyday life and economic activities.Among Chinese migrants in colonial British Malaya, Hakka and Cantonese communities constituted a substantial proportion. Owing to their relative phonological and lexical proximity, these groups provide a valuable lens for examining early Chinese linguistic practices in Malaya. This article analyzes two Malay language learning booklets published between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—Zheng Ke Yin Yi Mu Lai You Hua (正客音译义木来由话) and Malayu Yue Yin Yi Yi (马拉语粤音译义). Through textual analysis, it explores how Hakka and Cantonese migrants learned and conceptualized the Malay language under colonial conditions, with particular attention to lexical selection and the organization of practical knowledge. By comparing these two texts, the study reconstructs aspects of everyday social contexts and examines how different Chinese speech communities formed understandings of the Malay language and local society. In doing so, it offers a preliminary perspective on migrant language learning and cross-cultural knowledge formation in colonial Malaya.
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