Malaysian Chinese? What do you mean?

When clients engage our interpreting service, they often ask about our mother tongue.

So I tell them I'm a Chinese and my mother tongues are Cantonese and Mandarin.

"You're a Chinese? I thought you're Malaysian." they said.

"Yes, I am a Malaysian Chinese." I replied.

"Err... what do you mean by Malaysian Chinese? Are you a Malaysian or are you a Chinese?" they began to get confused.

Often our foreigner friends are confused with the term "Malaysian Chinese". To them, "Malaysian" and "Chinese" both depict nationality.

However in Malaysia, the word "Chinese" carries 2 meanings. One being a citizen of the People's Republic of China. Another depicts 'race' and 'ethnicity'.

Malaysia is a multi-racial and multi-cultural country. About 25% of its citizens is originated from China. Though we are all Malaysians by nationality, we (the Chinese descendents) always call ourselves 'Chinese', or more specifically 'Malaysian Chinese" - meaning a Malaysian citizen whose 'ethnicity' is 'Chinese'.

Well, I know, I know. There is no such differentiation in your western societies. Basically you guys just call us 'Asians'. And I know it's not easy for you to differentiate the looks of a Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese; or among Malays, Indonesians and Thais. However we Asians can see the differences.

Having said that, ethnicity and nationality should not become an issue. I believe humankind is one entity. We have the same origin.

Language wise? It's not a barrier too. Got a language problem? Get an interpreter!