KOTA KINABALU: Sabah traders who won over foreign tourists by speaking their language are becoming a sensation on social media.
Many travel blogs and online platforms have showcased how these operators use a smattering of Korean to communicate with their customers.
Among these sites is Travelholic Korea on TikTok, which shows mango sellers at the Anjung Kinabalu and along the vendors’ stretch near the market conducting sales in Korean with foreign visitors.
Sabah is noted as a popular tourist destination for South Koreans and Chinese.
The state Information Depart-ment has also shared similar videos on its social media platforms, showing how tourism activities have not only boosted economic growth but also allowed traders to learn other languages to cater to the needs of their international clientele.
Traders who can speak a foreign language or two are found in various sectors, among them seafood restaurants and sales of handicrafts and souvenirs, around Sabah.
In the state’s east-coast seafood and dive haven of Semporna, traders can converse in basic Mandarin or Korean as tourism activities pick up with an influx of visitors from China and South Korea.
These locals can rattle off numbers in both languages when dealing with bargain-hunters or shoppers from overseas.
As the Chinese are known for their bold ways of negotiating prices, these operators at the markets and jetties have also learnt to be loud and firm with their customers.
“A deal goes both ways and as long as it makes sense and does not make us lose money, we are open to bargains and negotiations,” said a Bajau trader at the Semporna fish market near the Kahanga market.
He said speaking Chinese is not much of a challenge for them because local Sabahans also speak Chinese, and they learnt from their friends in the markets as well.
Chinese visitors often throng local markets to buy lobsters, fish, prawns and other seafood products.
Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Satta) chairman Datuk Winston Liaw commended local traders for improving their linguistic skills to better serve travellers.
“This is what tourism exchange is about – promoting not only nature but also cultures and languages.
“I know of some Korean frequent travellers who can speak Malay, which they claimed is easier to learn than English.
“As frequent and repeated travellers come to Sabah, they will learn our languages and cultures.”
Noting that the Chinese and South Koreans remain the largest tourist group arrivals to Sabah over the past few years, he urged industry players to learn Korean too.
“Most of our tour guides know English and Mandarin. If our guides can speak fluent Korean, they can earn more,” he added.
