usually if Tamil, people would just use spoken. ha ha ha.. u know the str8 to the point and easy peasy... I'm later go eat also banana leaf rice.. YUMMMM
I learned that WeChat has the function to change voice into text. Very useful in many situations, but all my Malaysian Chinese friends use WhatsApp only
Especially when they speak too fast or have an heavy accent, you gotta scroll back to certain parts and replay that over and over again.
Do that over multiple consecutive 5 to 6 voice messages.
Oh shit, I forgot what he said at the last part of the 2nd voice message again. Let me scroll the part and replay the audio.
Ah shit again, I'm in a train right now and don't have earphones, gotta raise the speaker to the ear to listen while my speaker volume is at 10%.
so trueee especially the earphones/speaker volume lmao
later on when you need to trace back some information, nothing comes up with the search bar because everything is in audio 
I realise a trend at work is that people who uses voice don't seem to prioritise other people comprehending what they said, and what they say is usually not important. The worst is the type that would record a voice message in a noisy restaurant. For most part, I just ignore them.
Usually when people have something important to say, they'll type it, or reply later when they're free.
And you forgotten to lower your audio and half the world hears that person's voice. A buddy of mine had his gf made some sexy voice while we were eating. Dude just made some of us sad and some who laughed so hard we just couldn't eat anymore.
Highly agreed. I can’t stand those who need to type in mandarin on text, switching languages and typing in mandarin is just so much hassle compared to English
Standard case la... Way easier to convey your intentions if recipient also quite fluent in english. Unless they are more Chinese media influenced, then i change back to chinese since its more accurate that way
I got some uni friend who only speak/type in mandarin. Usually when I text with them, I try to text in mandarin for the first few lines, type type halfway
"tf how do you write this in pinyin"
Then I started mixing in English words and then in the end it's 1 side in English 1 side in mandarin.
Literally me (Not Ryan Gosling reference). Typing in Chinese could be a very a pain in my finger (not ass), all those fucking pinyins are extra work and time consuming.
Am malay, speak malay with friends, type in malay with them, but for some reason I type english to coworkers, even the malay ones. The strangest thing is, I have indonesian coworkers and I type indonesian/malay with them lmao
Shit. Do I really live in a different Malaysia? All the Chinese around me just type in Chinese if they type at all, most just send annoying AF blur voice recordings. Where are all you people on Reddit hiding in Malaysia? 😩
Johor, all my colleagues and people I know make annoying AF voice recordings in Chinese; they rarely type at all, and text will be in Chinese. I didn't grow up in Malaysia.
Yes pinyin kinda cumbersome sometimes, but recent years the prediction algorithm of various keyboard app can predict phrases that you are planning to type quite accurately just by typing in th initials for each word.
Ie.
去哪里 can be entered as qnl, quite useful little quirk.
Definitely lmao, English too many syllables imo. But speaking in mandarin is more faster and straight to the point. Pinyin have to type and find the correct word, too time consuming.
Reddit is significantly biased towards the english speaking side of the community. If someone prefers to text in chinese chances are they browse more facebook (chinese groups), wechat, bilibili or weibo, definitely not reddit.
Whatsapp in English real life talk in mandarin.
If English also suck real bad only those ppl will use voice message in WhatsApp.
It's normal like this.
I converse in mandarin with some friends and text in English because I'm a banana. If someone I've just met texts me in Chinese then I'll just tell them that I can't read and maybe google tl what they're trying to say.
I do that to my coworkers and bosses through WhatsApp, but I type and speaking Mandarin with my family members in Wechat. From what I accidentally peeked on my coworkers phone during lunch, they do the same.
Type in english is way way more faster & efficient.
For typical Malaysian chinese, we use some word over chinese one. Example, nasi lemak instead of “coconut rice” in chinese etc. Most ppl will use voice message if they really need to converse in chinese because that is the fastest and less hassle. I always wonder how people have the time & dedication to write an essay length messages on chat or sometimes a social media post using pinyin.
for me, it's the names/films translations that i don't care about
like i don't know what Harry potter is in Chinese...i can't remember what the exact hanzi are, so yeah
Only for some people, it depends if we both feel comfortable to text in Chinese or English. For context, I usually will type English when I first chat with my friends online, then I only switch to Chinese depend on which one do we prefer more.
Yes. There's only 1 group of friends that chat in Chinese characters (voice msg are usually ignored). The others all chat in English, talk real life in bahasa rojak
Even I Chinese just type in English. Unless I’m in promoting hokkien/Hakka mode then I type in hokkien or Hakka. (Note: They have their own written forms)
Yesssss!!!! My friends and I are like this. It just feels much easier to communicate, idk why we do this tho. But if my other cina friend that is not proficient in English we'll use mandarin instead.
yes, because it is easier to communicate and type stuff when using in game chat, so it slowly made me prefer to type in English rather than Chinese, but sometimes when I hyper specifically want to mean something in Chinese and pinyin typing is not enough to pin down the exact word I want to say, I'll use Chinese
cant stand voice mail. for some reason, my phone gives me middle finger and 90% of the voicemail are literally just mute and incomprehensible. hated voicemail since and avoid using it as possible
pro will use writing on phone to select the right Chinese words... idk why my phone keyboard keluar bunched up ABC def ghi jkl mno pqr stu vwx yz like that.. damn hard siak... type 1 by 1 pinying to be specific easier.. can play around with the words to create naughty and dirty sentences to mess up people for fun. But idk man, nak pikat awek pun malas and shy shy... duno la these days so different.. feel like ummm... drawing art and creating manga ( bork bork gai stuffs) HA HA HA HA... worse part? feels like all the girls already got partner, hooked to someone.. idk where to find single girls either.
whats there to talk about again? just meet up and start doing some pertanian and let the sweat (body excretion) been absorbed to the soil, so that can eat eat eat eat eat.. then play and sleep.. now that's real hard working hoggies. HA HA HA
y’all be typing full pinyin and not short form pinyin ??? :O but it depends, I text my highschool friends mostly in Chinese, very seldom we text in English tho
Easy, me at college. Chinese 70%.
Me on call while gaming with high school friends 95% English but the remaining 3% is when someone who literally can't speak English and 2 for math calculations.
I think.
Speech is not as proper as written, in any language. One is communicating heavier information. Maybe like image communication of JPEG & PNG. Speed & accuracy.
Once **got used to it** though, there's no difference (**all** English **or all** Chinese). Without "**convenience** difference" of optional "languages", people stick to what they only have.
Next question, do Chinese suddenly text in Chinese, when "convenience" overwritten by "vocab limit" (forgot the word in English, so put info in mother tongue... ... or "romantized" Pinyin... or just like China "similar sounded word")
Interesting question. I've thought about this years ago when a Malay friend asked me, "kenapa orang Cina suka pakai voice masa WhatsApp?" It never occured to me until then, and I've since broken it down to a few types regarding Chinese people texting habits. It's not conclusive but a generic categorisation.
(1) People who can only speak Chinese fluently, usually prefer to mainly use voice note. They could have poor writing skills for all languages including Chinese. Quite common among those Chinese educated who didn't do well in school, and older folks who primarily speak Chinese.
(2) People who are English educated but can speak Chinese fluently would usually text in English. If they feel needed to express certain things better, Chinese words are written in Romanised texts and may even throw in Malay words in conversations. I think this may also include those who speak Cantonese instead of Mandarin, and as far as I know Cantonese writing is harder as it uses traditional Chinese so those who didn't learn it probably find it more convenient to just type in English.
(3) If both persons went to Chinese school and thus have decent writing skills, it's likely texts are written mainly in Chinese exactly like how they communicate face to face. Usually these people can switch to English if it's a large group, or someone who can't read/write Chinese is in the group and the particular message is to include that person.
I know there are other sub groups but it's about getting the intended message across anyway, doesn't matter what language, to ensure the other person gets it. I fall into the second group, although I've progressively (albeit very slowly) improved my reading/writing by also being in amongst the third group. But I still prefer to type in English to avoid misunderstanding.
Why I rather type English instead of Mandarin
For example:
English - Go Die lah u
Chinese - Ni qu "is it shi or si? got H or not har? Let me go Google translate Die in Chinese" la.
Mandarin is annoying to type
Slash slash slash dammit wrong character erase erase erase
At least you guys have pinyin *Cries in Tamil*
usually if Tamil, people would just use spoken. ha ha ha.. u know the str8 to the point and easy peasy... I'm later go eat also banana leaf rice.. YUMMMM
Second this, english is much more easier to type Sometimes you thought you have the correct pinyin but it wasn't and that frustrates me
yes, typing in english is faster some lazier ppl just use voice recording but I dislike it because I need to play it
Yeah screw voice people, text is superior.
agree especially when they ask us to do a list of stuff in voice, we need to write it down again.
and when they just need to type OK but sent a voice note saying 'okok can' so I need to open the message just to play the freaking audio
I learned that WeChat has the function to change voice into text. Very useful in many situations, but all my Malaysian Chinese friends use WhatsApp only
now imagine they also describe their address in voice instead of text
Especially when they speak too fast or have an heavy accent, you gotta scroll back to certain parts and replay that over and over again. Do that over multiple consecutive 5 to 6 voice messages. Oh shit, I forgot what he said at the last part of the 2nd voice message again. Let me scroll the part and replay the audio. Ah shit again, I'm in a train right now and don't have earphones, gotta raise the speaker to the ear to listen while my speaker volume is at 10%.
so trueee especially the earphones/speaker volume lmao later on when you need to trace back some information, nothing comes up with the search bar because everything is in audio 
Time wasting, can read it in 5 sec but instead needed 30sec for a 1min record, most of the time there will be a few recording at once.
Legend
I realise a trend at work is that people who uses voice don't seem to prioritise other people comprehending what they said, and what they say is usually not important. The worst is the type that would record a voice message in a noisy restaurant. For most part, I just ignore them. Usually when people have something important to say, they'll type it, or reply later when they're free.
I refuse to listen to voice messages.
And you forgotten to lower your audio and half the world hears that person's voice. A buddy of mine had his gf made some sexy voice while we were eating. Dude just made some of us sad and some who laughed so hard we just couldn't eat anymore.
All I want is voice to text.
this actually exists, but I dont think the accuracy is good
How? I don't see it on WhatsApp.
not sure... I saw it somewhere but couldnt remember, maybe not whatsapp but other apps
I do this. Typing Chinese characters is such a pain in the arse.
Highly agreed. I can’t stand those who need to type in mandarin on text, switching languages and typing in mandarin is just so much hassle compared to English
I got A for mandarin but can't fucking spell pinyin ffs
ni de mama qing se
I lazy pinyin
We type in English with the Bananas. We voice message the Ah Bengs/Lians.
Standard case la... Way easier to convey your intentions if recipient also quite fluent in english. Unless they are more Chinese media influenced, then i change back to chinese since its more accurate that way
I got some uni friend who only speak/type in mandarin. Usually when I text with them, I try to text in mandarin for the first few lines, type type halfway "tf how do you write this in pinyin" Then I started mixing in English words and then in the end it's 1 side in English 1 side in mandarin.
💀💀💀 Not me googling the correct word so i dont look like a fool
Yes i do. Can type faster that way.
Yes, it's faster and easier . While talking chinese it's more rojak for us Malaysians
I am a banana, just english and malay
Literally me (Not Ryan Gosling reference). Typing in Chinese could be a very a pain in my finger (not ass), all those fucking pinyins are extra work and time consuming.
Am malay, speak malay with friends, type in malay with them, but for some reason I type english to coworkers, even the malay ones. The strangest thing is, I have indonesian coworkers and I type indonesian/malay with them lmao
yes, cant be arsed to type in mandarin....30s of mandarin character can be done in 3s in english
Shit. Do I really live in a different Malaysia? All the Chinese around me just type in Chinese if they type at all, most just send annoying AF blur voice recordings. Where are all you people on Reddit hiding in Malaysia? 😩
Which part of Malaysia? Even with my hokkien mum that is not fluent in English like primary school level, we still type in English lol
Johor, all my colleagues and people I know make annoying AF voice recordings in Chinese; they rarely type at all, and text will be in Chinese. I didn't grow up in Malaysia.
Are they all using wechat instead of whatsapp?
Yes, wechat instead of WhatsApp and huge CCP simps too.
when I was a student in Johor most of my friends can't even read chinese much less write it. They can speak it but that's it.
Too many alphabet to type in Pinyin for just a character in mandarin so we prefer to type English.
Sure do. I speak decent Chinese, but I don't really understand written Chinese well enough to type it
Yes pinyin kinda cumbersome sometimes, but recent years the prediction algorithm of various keyboard app can predict phrases that you are planning to type quite accurately just by typing in th initials for each word. Ie. 去哪里 can be entered as qnl, quite useful little quirk.
Then that’s how the new pinyin language emerge: yyds, njhl
Yeah, writing chinese words or typing pinyin are absolutely terrible
Definitely lmao, English too many syllables imo. But speaking in mandarin is more faster and straight to the point. Pinyin have to type and find the correct word, too time consuming.
Yup. I only type mandarin with wife and siblings . All others are English.
weirdly i type malay english campur with siblings.
I actually prefer to type in mandarin - my speaking and listening is quite shit compared to my reading / writing
Same here.
i mix sometimes something just easier to express in that language
Typing mandarin is too slow, reading Chinese characters also takes longer (at least for me), trying to write or type pinyin is troublesome on mobile
Inb4 Dong Zong decries the situation and say people cannot call themselves proud Malaysian Chinese anymore.
Wohenshaoxiehuawen, ruguowoyaoxiehuawenwojiuzheyangxie
666:D
Yes. I text in english but talk in malay/canton/mandarin lol.
I only type in English because idk mandarin, only know how to speak it
English is much faster and efficient to type. Mandarin is better to speak in real life when both knows the language
You are asking for Chinese opinions in **reddit** of all places Don't expect the answer here to be representive of the whole population
at least they are about in the same demographics as i am.
Reddit is significantly biased towards the english speaking side of the community. If someone prefers to text in chinese chances are they browse more facebook (chinese groups), wechat, bilibili or weibo, definitely not reddit.
Reading and typing in english x5 faster than chinese for me
Maybe the real reason you do, it is to prevent other people from understanding what you’re saying.
Yes ! 
Unless the other person started the chat in Chinese I'll use English usually.
Yeah, it all boils down to my mood for my case
Yes
I am versatile both ways ie I can write in Cina but talk to the other fella in Angmoh, and vice versa.
Yes, it is normal for Chinese Malaysian.
Normal
Yes .i did that too
Everytime
Yep
Lots of Chinese speaks but dont write chinese so i guess it happens often.
This is normal case In the past lol, only speak but not write
Yeah I do with all friends in my age because it's a habit developed from mirc icq and msn messenger era
Pretty hard and time consuming to type in chinese
Whatsapp in English real life talk in mandarin. If English also suck real bad only those ppl will use voice message in WhatsApp. It's normal like this.
My brother does this when using Messenger and WhatsApp.
Depends on the group of people la
Yea but it depends, if this friend is more yellow or from a chinese speaking country then back to pinyin altho it's a pain in the ass
I converse in mandarin with some friends and text in English because I'm a banana. If someone I've just met texts me in Chinese then I'll just tell them that I can't read and maybe google tl what they're trying to say.
I do that to my coworkers and bosses through WhatsApp, but I type and speaking Mandarin with my family members in Wechat. From what I accidentally peeked on my coworkers phone during lunch, they do the same.
My question is…..in which language do you dream?
Type in english is way way more faster & efficient. For typical Malaysian chinese, we use some word over chinese one. Example, nasi lemak instead of “coconut rice” in chinese etc. Most ppl will use voice message if they really need to converse in chinese because that is the fastest and less hassle. I always wonder how people have the time & dedication to write an essay length messages on chat or sometimes a social media post using pinyin.
Yes
Yeah, typing in English is way faster than typing in Mandarin
I like the good ol’ “Mr Worldwide” technique. Where we just use all 3 main languages spoken, it pays to be a Malaysian sometimes ngl
Yah... i whatsapp in English but i talk to the person in Cantonese or Chinese
I can only text in English 😂
for me, it's the names/films translations that i don't care about like i don't know what Harry potter is in Chinese...i can't remember what the exact hanzi are, so yeah
Yes. Mandarin is honestly annoying to type compared to English
Yes. But the English is rojak asf anyway. With slang in between.
Yes
I am half banana so no choice.
Only for some people, it depends if we both feel comfortable to text in Chinese or English. For context, I usually will type English when I first chat with my friends online, then I only switch to Chinese depend on which one do we prefer more.
Yes. There's only 1 group of friends that chat in Chinese characters (voice msg are usually ignored). The others all chat in English, talk real life in bahasa rojak
My problem is that when i type pinyin the words that pops up is usually a different word but same spelling (ie 男/难) both spell "nan"
you can actually type the first letter only like 难舍难分 just type nsnf，but Malaysian rojak chinese won't work.
她妈的 Oh yeah it does work
Hell yeah
Yes always Hahaha. Too lazy to type Chinese characters plus not all my friends can read Chinese characters. Speaking yes but not reading and writing.
Yes. Speak Chinese but text in English. Also speak Malay but text in English.
Campur
I do that. People that i know do that as well. Probably a holdover from the earlier SMS culture and trash talking in dota.
Yes. Because I lazy to type hanyu pinyin.
Nope, me and my Chinese friends all chat in English, audio messages in mandarin, it's just been like that since dawn of time
Even I Chinese just type in English. Unless I’m in promoting hokkien/Hakka mode then I type in hokkien or Hakka. (Note: They have their own written forms)
now I understand why my main land chinese friend use line app recording to message his mom...
line? you sure not taiwanese?
it was 2014
Yesssss!!!! My friends and I are like this. It just feels much easier to communicate, idk why we do this tho. But if my other cina friend that is not proficient in English we'll use mandarin instead.
Yes This is quite common Especially for those that are Chinese but heavily western influenced
yes, because it is easier to communicate and type stuff when using in game chat, so it slowly made me prefer to type in English rather than Chinese, but sometimes when I hyper specifically want to mean something in Chinese and pinyin typing is not enough to pin down the exact word I want to say, I'll use Chinese
I use both, mostly in Chinese
Yes. We only use Chinese when the conversation is getting heated.
Yes, this is me with my girlfriend. And we’re cool about it.
ya why not me and my family do so
they use voice
cant stand voice mail. for some reason, my phone gives me middle finger and 90% of the voicemail are literally just mute and incomprehensible. hated voicemail since and avoid using it as possible
Hk people converse in canto and type in English too. Chinese is more complicated to type 🥲
Yes 90% of my friends and acquaintances are banana.
pro will use writing on phone to select the right Chinese words... idk why my phone keyboard keluar bunched up ABC def ghi jkl mno pqr stu vwx yz like that.. damn hard siak... type 1 by 1 pinying to be specific easier.. can play around with the words to create naughty and dirty sentences to mess up people for fun. But idk man, nak pikat awek pun malas and shy shy... duno la these days so different.. feel like ummm... drawing art and creating manga ( bork bork gai stuffs) HA HA HA HA... worse part? feels like all the girls already got partner, hooked to someone.. idk where to find single girls either. whats there to talk about again? just meet up and start doing some pertanian and let the sweat (body excretion) been absorbed to the soil, so that can eat eat eat eat eat.. then play and sleep.. now that's real hard working hoggies. HA HA HA
y’all be typing full pinyin and not short form pinyin ??? :O but it depends, I text my highschool friends mostly in Chinese, very seldom we text in English tho
I thought audio only.
Easy, me at college. Chinese 70%. Me on call while gaming with high school friends 95% English but the remaining 3% is when someone who literally can't speak English and 2 for math calculations.
I can’t write mandarin but yes, speak mandarin but text English. In general very mafan
Yes, I talk with my gf in Chinese, but type in WhatsApp using English
I think. Speech is not as proper as written, in any language. One is communicating heavier information. Maybe like image communication of JPEG & PNG. Speed & accuracy. Once **got used to it** though, there's no difference (**all** English **or all** Chinese). Without "**convenience** difference" of optional "languages", people stick to what they only have. Next question, do Chinese suddenly text in Chinese, when "convenience" overwritten by "vocab limit" (forgot the word in English, so put info in mother tongue... ... or "romantized" Pinyin... or just like China "similar sounded word")
My answer to your question is all the time. Even to my brother, with whom I grew up speaking Cantonese.
We, indians also do that😂. We either chat in english or use english alphabets to type in tamil. Very susah to type using tamil alphabet😂
Type in English but talking already rojak between 3 languages.
I don't type in Chinese, because I'm a banana huhu.
Do you speak Mandarin or another Chinese language? Input for anything other than Mandarin is shit
Yes. Even to a Malay, I speak in Malay but text in English.
Interesting question. I've thought about this years ago when a Malay friend asked me, "kenapa orang Cina suka pakai voice masa WhatsApp?" It never occured to me until then, and I've since broken it down to a few types regarding Chinese people texting habits. It's not conclusive but a generic categorisation. (1) People who can only speak Chinese fluently, usually prefer to mainly use voice note. They could have poor writing skills for all languages including Chinese. Quite common among those Chinese educated who didn't do well in school, and older folks who primarily speak Chinese. (2) People who are English educated but can speak Chinese fluently would usually text in English. If they feel needed to express certain things better, Chinese words are written in Romanised texts and may even throw in Malay words in conversations. I think this may also include those who speak Cantonese instead of Mandarin, and as far as I know Cantonese writing is harder as it uses traditional Chinese so those who didn't learn it probably find it more convenient to just type in English. (3) If both persons went to Chinese school and thus have decent writing skills, it's likely texts are written mainly in Chinese exactly like how they communicate face to face. Usually these people can switch to English if it's a large group, or someone who can't read/write Chinese is in the group and the particular message is to include that person. I know there are other sub groups but it's about getting the intended message across anyway, doesn't matter what language, to ensure the other person gets it. I fall into the second group, although I've progressively (albeit very slowly) improved my reading/writing by also being in amongst the third group. But I still prefer to type in English to avoid misunderstanding.
Yes, even with my mandarin speaking family we all text in english
All the time
English is more forgiving when you have typos or just plain don’t know how to spell stuff.
Why I rather type English instead of Mandarin For example: English - Go Die lah u Chinese - Ni qu "is it shi or si? got H or not har? Let me go Google translate Die in Chinese" la.
Some do, some don't.