Today's Ten Easy Indonesian and Malaysian Words

Problem
How to learn Malay or Indonesian (both the same) in a hurry.

Answer
Start with
1 Words which are the same or nearly the same in English.
2 Learn phrases or sentences consisting of two words.
3 Learn useful sentences.

Story
I raided my own bookshelves for old CDs and phrase books. I found two phrase books and two discs from long ago travels when I bought them but did not have the time and energy to learn.

Indonesian (and Malay)- English

a n d a - your
b a l k o n - balcony
bis - bus
b u k u - book
b u k u a n d a - your book
c i n a - China
c o k l a t - chocolate
d a n - and (same letters, mixed up)
k a m e r a - camera
k a r p e t - carpet
m u s i k - music
p a s a r - bazaar (it looks different, but p and b and the same upside down, remove the double a from the English and it is almost the same word) also when you say it the sound is very similar)

English - Malaysian /Indonesian
and - dan
balcony - b a l k o n
bazaar - pasar (it looks different, but p and b and the same upside down, remove the double a from the English and it is almost the same word) also when you say it the sound is very similar) Bazaar or market
book - b u k u
bus - bis
camera - kamera
carpet - karpet
China - cina
chocolate - c o k l a t
music - m u s i k
your - a n d a
your book - b u k u a n d a

Easy ways to remember
Child is anak ; children - plurals just double the word, anak-anak. How do you remember. Children create anarchy. a n a k.

Spaces are inserted to prevent the words being changed by an automatic spell checker.
However, the spaces also help you concentrate on each letter of a new word.


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, English teacher and tutor.