Hi everyone!
It's me Zarina, your friend from Malaysia.
How are you doing?
Today, we will learn how to say good afternoon in Malay.
This is another one of the small video chunk for each of the greetings.
This is another one of the small video chunk for each of the greetings.
Selamat Tengahari or Selamat Tengah Hari
Se-la-mat Te-nga-ha-ri
Se-la-mat Te-ngah Ha-ri
Again this phrase is a combination of two words or three words which has it's individual meanings. Let's start to know them, shall we?
Selamat means Safe, secure
Tengah means Middle, center (Note: There are other meanings)
Hari means Day
Notice that there are two ways of writing tengahari or tengah hari.
In reference to Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka (the body which regulates the grammar and usage of Malay Language), the correct way to write it is - tengah hari.
However, you might find some locals do write them either in tengahari or tengah hari. Either way is acceptable colloquially as long as you don't sit for a formal Malay Language exams. ;)
Well, from this point on, I will stick to the correct method of writing them, which is Selamat Tengah Hari. Three words.
Off we go to the manner of pronouncing Selamat Tengah Hari.
If you remember from the previous lesson or Ilearn Malay Unit 1 notice that I pronounce Se, not see or say or se.
Pronounce la as in LalaLand and mat, you may clip the 't' sound, doing away with the sound or you can pronounce the 't' softly like mat.
Pronounce te as in ter in 'inter'
ngah is something that is impossibly seen in English but I will try my best to find the most similar pronounciation in English. The way to pronounce it easily is by pinching your nose and try to say 'ah' from your nose and not from your throat. You will create a nasal tone. From there try to add the letter 'n' + ahhh..
I know it is hard. Good luck!
The easiest way is to get someone native to the language to assist you.
Moving on..
Pronounce ha as in ha in 'half'
Pronounce ri as in ri in 'river'
It is easy right?
Alright, let's practice this greeting. As usual, I will say the phrase of Selamat Tengah Hari first, and there will be a few seconds of silence for you to say the phrase.
Let's start.
To whom do we wish Selamat Tengah Hari?
We normally greet Selamat Tengah Hari to anyone, familiar or unfamiliar. Personally, I rarely wish Selamat Tengah Hari to my closest family or friends. It is likely because we seldom use this greeting towards each other.
But I do use them to other Non-Muslim people who I deal with formally like in the banks, in the department stores, in the government offices or in other general places like I previously mentioned.
Why do I refer to Non-Muslim? Because I am a Muslim and the greeting that I prefer to use towards other Muslim is - Assalamualaikum, when dealing with Muslim people whom I encounter.
However, it is not wrong to use the greetings that I have taught in this blog to anyone that you will encounter in Malay speaking countries.
Sometimes, I even say - Assalamualaikum and then followed by Selamat Pagi and other ‘Selamat’ greetings in places that I have mentioned before.
When do we use Selamat Tengah Hari?
Well, today's lesson ends here.
I hope that this lesson helps.
Sampai jumpa lagi! (Till we meet again)