Malay Words Made Easy - Yes!

Problem
How do you learn Malay?

Answer
Start with the easy words. I looked at a survey on SilkAir airline. The first word I saw was:
s u r v e i - survey!

I have inserted spaces mainly because the spell checker tries to change words into recognizable English words. The spaces provide the additional advantage of enabling you to spot which letters are the same and which have changed in Malay.

Note that plurals are made by doubling the word, connecting with a hyphen. Malay, like many other languages, uses a k where English would use c or CK. (Compare the English word Kick.)

Malay - English
anak-anak - children (my memory aid is children have a knack for being amusing/annoying)
anda - you (think of  'and - er you?')
bisnis - business
check-in - check-in
dan - and (same letters, initial letter the same, next two letters reverses)
efisien - efficient
ekonomi - economy
kabin - cabin
kelas - class
kiosk - kiosk
makanan - meal / food (think 'Ma, can you make me another meal?')
minuman - drink (think in Malaysia we drink the minimum, man)
p a k e t - package / packet
s u r v e i - survey!
terima kasi - thanks (think terribly grateful)
tiket - ticket

English - Malay
and - dan
business - bisnis
cabin - kabin
check-in - check-in
children - anak-anak
class - kelas
drink - minuman
economy - ekonomi
efficient - efisien
food / meal - makanan
kiosk - kiosk
no - tidak
package - p a k e t
survey - survei
thank you (terribly much) - terimah kasi
ticket - tiket
yes - ya
you - anda

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. See next post for more. Please share links to your favourite posts.