When customers ask ChatGPT in Manglish, does it recommend different businesses? (Malaysia)

Partly. In our Malaysian test, ChatGPT understood every question typed in Manglish, but the businesses it named overlapped with its English answers to the same question only about one time in five. That's less overlap than when the same question was simply asked twice, but the test is too small to call it a Manglish effect: much of the change may be ChatGPT's ordinary answer-to-answer variation.

Picture a homeowner in PJ typing "any recommend aircon service PJ ah, the unit leaking water already" while water drips onto the floor.

For that aircon question, one Manglish answer named three of the four companies from the English answers and one other. The next named both companies from the Malay answers and one other. The English and Malay answers had no company in common.

Can ChatGPT understand a question typed in Manglish?

Yes. In our test, ChatGPT understood the question in all 12 answers to the six Manglish questions. Manglish here means the everyday mix of English and Malay that Malaysians type, sometimes called bahasa rojak. ChatGPT read "PJ", "JB" and "Subang" as places, "weak sikit" as a child who needs extra help, and "tak nak kena tipu" as a request for an honest workshop.

It also matched the mix. It answered the three mostly-Malay questions in Malay, and the mostly-English ones mostly in English with a few Malay words, each opening with "Ya", such as "Ya lah" or "Ya, boleh". One physiotherapy answer switched mostly to Malay.

Does ChatGPT name different businesses for Manglish, English and Malay questions?

Yes, partly. ChatGPT's Manglish answers shared about a fifth of their businesses with the English answers to the same question, and about a quarter with the Malay answers. The English and Malay versions shared the fewest, in line with our earlier language test.

Across all six questions, ChatGPT named 74 different businesses. Only seven of them appeared in all three forms.

Is the Manglish difference a language effect or ordinary answer change?

The Manglish difference is at least partly ordinary answer change. Asking the very same question twice shared only about two in five businesses here, and for a single question anything from none to all of them (why answers change).

Manglish answers overlapped with English ones less than that, which hints that the wording matters. But the English answers alone, asked twice, shared only about a quarter, close to the Manglish-English figure. Our larger stability test found even less repeat overlap, about one business in seven. With six questions and two runs each, a few answers can swing the average, so we read it as a hint, not a proven Manglish effect.

What does ChatGPT search for when a customer asks in Manglish?

ChatGPT searched the web in English for every Manglish question in our test, even the three written mostly in Malay. All 40 of its search queries for Manglish questions were in English. The same questions in plain Malay often got a Malay search as well (more on Malay searches).

Where the searches did change, it was the detail. "Not too pricey lah" became a search for "affordable brunch cafes Kuala Lumpur", and both Manglish answers to the brunch question led with cheaper places. A Manglish question can carry details the tidy English version leaves out, and ChatGPT followed them.

Does it matter if the Manglish question is mostly English or mostly Malay?

It made no clear difference in our test. Mostly-English Manglish questions shared about a quarter of their businesses with both the English and the Malay answers. Mostly-Malay Manglish leaned slightly towards the Malay answers.

With three questions of each kind, that's a description, not a pattern. The clearer difference was the reply language: Malay for mostly-Malay Manglish, mostly English for the rest.

What can't this Manglish test tell a Malaysian business owner?

• It's one model, on one day, through OpenAI's API. The ChatGPT app, with chat history or memory, may answer differently.
• Short buying questions are the easy case. A 2025 study of longer mixed-language chats, Malay-English among them, found AI models still made "subtle mistakes that alter the complete meaning" (CS-Sum).
• We wrote the Manglish ourselves. Real customers mix differently, including Chinese and Tamil words we didn't test.
• We tested questions, not pages. It can't tell you whether a Manglish website helps.

What should I do if my customers ask ChatGPT in Manglish?

A Manglish question can bring up a different shortlist from the tidy English one, so check both:

1. Request EasyFound's free check. It's a quick first look at how ChatGPT answers about your business right now.
2. Take your most common customer question and write it two ways: tidy English, and the way customers really type it, with the area, the budget and the "lah".
3. Ask each version twice, logged out, and compare the names. One answer is a single draw, so only a business that keeps appearing tells you much.

EasyFound is an AI search visibility (GEO) tool built for Malaysian businesses. It keeps each customer question exactly as typed, so a Manglish question isn't tidied into English first, and our team runs it for you today.