Learn A Few Words Of Malay Easily During Malay Language Month In Singapore

Singapore flag.

Why bother learning the Malay language? It is spoken in Malaysia and Indonesia, is easy to learn, is all around in Malay restaurants and food kiosks and even Singapore airport signs and train station announcments. Why not? A new skill for free.

Signs You See At Singapore Airport:
(You will also see similar bilingual signs in Malaysia and Indonesia.)

English - Malay
bus - bas
taxi - taksi

Just say the words aloud and you will find the language is phonetic and you can often recgnie at least one word in every sign and sentence.

Pick up a Singapore map or travel guide and compare it with the version in Malay.

English - Malay
action - aksi
admission/ticket - tiket
app - aplikasi (like application)
category - kategori
customer - konsumen
Chinese - Cina
connectivity - konektivas
electric - elektrik
fares - tarif
festival - festival
focus - fokus
free - gratis
local - lokal
optical illusion - ilusi optik
recipes - resep
Singapore - Singapura
souvenir - suvenir
tour - tur
traditional - tradisional/tradisi
trail - rute
transport - transportasi
unique - unik

That's twenty-one words you can instantly recognize.

A couple more handy words:
and - dan (the same letters but the letter d is at the start instead of the end)
you - anda (I think of  'and you')

Restaurant Menus
Looking at Restaurants and food kiosks and the food in supermarkets at Singapore airport, you will soon learn that Makan / makanan means food, meal, or eat and Minuman means drink or drinks.

Some items you might spot on menus:
English - Malay
icon - ikon
chocolate - coklat
satay - sate

Also look for t-shirts with the flag.

And baseball hats. I bought mine for 5 dollars on the YWCA shop.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is an author, travel writer and photogrpaher and teaches English and other languages.

How to Learn Indonesian and the Malay language

Flag of Malaysia

The flag of Malaysia resembles the US flag. Both have red and white stripes. The difference is that the American flag has stars, whilst the Malaysian flag has a yellow crescent and a solo multi-pointed yellow star. Learn the difference and you have learned to recognize two flags. Teach it to pupils or relatives and they will have learned to recognize two flags.


The flag of Indonesia resembles the flags of Poland and Singapore. You can learn to recognize three flags at the same time. The Indonesian flag is red above white. I have reproduced a flag flying with people because that is livelier but mainly because the white part of the flag disappears when you are seeing it against a white paper page or screen.

The Singapore flag has an additional crescent and star on the red at the top.

The flag of Poland has the colours reversed.

Problem
How do I learn Malay, Indonesian or any language systematically, a minimum number of new words every day, plus some grammar?

Answer
A  Duolingo course in Indonesia is out. Malay is very similar, like American and English, with just some additional vocabulary in both languages. Indonesia was partly under the rule of speakers of Portuguese so Indonesian includes words which are Portuguese or which are developed from Portuguese. Indonesia includes many islands and the larger inhabited islands also have their local words.

My new year's resolution is to learn ten new words (or do one Duolingo session) every day. If I miss a day, I catch up the next day.

In Singapore you will hear all four of the national languages in the train announcements and announcements on the stations which you can hear near the ticket office and in the toilets nearby even if you do not go through the barrier to get on a train. The four national languages are English, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay and Tamil.

You will hear the English announcments often end with the words 'thank you'. It is easy to spot that the Chinese for thank you sounds like shay-shay, the Malay is terimah kasih and the tamil is nandri.

Other words you will quickly learn are the words for drink and food which you will see on roadside stalls in Malaysia. Makanan and minuman.

How do you remember which is which?  I think of make me some food. Makanan.

Drinks is minuman. Minimum amount of drink because no alcohol is served to Muslims. Minuman. You will probably not be able to buy it either except in certain hotels which have licenses. Places serving alcohol are sometimes run by the Chinese or Indians who are Malay but not Muslims. Bali is Hindu. A Muslim man will not drink alcohol in public.

English - Malay/Indonesian
drink - minum
drinks - minuman
food - makanan
thank you - terimah kasih
danger  (hazard) - bahaya

Malay/Indonesian - English
makanan - food
minuman - drinks / (have a drink)
terimah kasih - thank you
bahaya - danger (hazard)


A word you frequently see is
BAHAYA.
This mostly means danger. But in context it could mean hazard.

The sentence structure of Malay and Indonesian is simpler than English so it is easier to learn. The verb to be in many languages does not exist or is omitted.
The English sentence 'my name is' translates into 'my name' or I called.

I and me (and sometimes my) are also the same word in several languages and the language Esperanto, the most popular made up language, quick to learn and to communicate with others whose languages are hard, or whose languages are easy so they find English, Russian, German or your language hard.

Your new friend or colleague or companion at a class learning English who uses abbreviated sentences is not tired nor ill nor daft but may be translating words literally from Malay or Indonesian into English. If you listen carefully to what they are saying in English, you will get a clue as to how to construct a sentence in their language.

Useful Websites
duolingo.com
google translate
https://en.bab.la/dictionary/indonesian-english/berbahaya
August Even In Singapore
https://www.youngparents.com.sg/sponsored/5-ways-to-help-your-kid-love-mother-tongue-languages/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=sp_001_moe





About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author of 20 books, and speaker. 

What Does Google Translate Give Me In Malay and Indonesian For Big, High, Beautiful?

PETRONAS TOWERS, KL, Malaysia. How would I describe them? "Tinggi!"

Problem
What can I say when I visit a landmark in a foreign country? What am I likely to hear the local people saying?

I was looking at the pictures of the Twin Towers or Petronas Towers in KL (Kuala Lumpur) in Malaysia.

I went into Google translate and tried the words big, high, and beautiful.

In Malay language (which they call Bahasa Malay (not to be confused with Malayala which is in Indian language) I got these results:

English - Malay
big - besar (big as a bazaar)
beautiful - cantik (Malay is simple, K instead of c or ck; so beautiful it can tick all the boxes)
high - tinggi - (so high it makes me tingle just looking down!)


English - Indonesian
beautiful - indah (Indonesian girls are indah - beautiful)
big - besar (same as Malay)
high - tinggi (same as Malay)

So, two of the three words are the same in Malay and Indonesian. We can make ourselves understood and understand what others are saying.

My Malay memory aids are 'big as a bazaar'; besar, big. Alliterative b and b.

***

So now you can say, in Malay or Indonesian, in Malaysia, Indonesia, or Singapore, to a Malaysian, Indonesian - or just think it to yourself to remind yourself of your words in foreign languages. Tinggi - tinglingly high.

Tower on Community Club Tampines West in Singapore. "Tinggi!"Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

You always need to reverse to check the exact meaning of the translation. I once tried translating nail file into French and got the words clou (a nail which you hammer into wood, and dossier - clearly stationery).

Click on the arrows at the top of the text box in Google translate to reverse the languages (the words swap languages appear when you hover over the arrows) and you find the words:

MALAY - English

besar - big
tinggi - height
cantik - beautiful

Watch out if you try to change the order into alphabetical. I did that and ended up matching the wrong words. I thought it would save me time to just change one word at a time, but it then took me ages because I had to go back to the start and check every pair to be sure I had not got it wrong.

Reverse again and you get:

English - MALAY
big - besar
height - ketinggian
beautiful - cantik (Can tick all the boxes for beauty in Malaysia or worldwide.)

Now try that reversing check with Indonesian:

English  - INDONESIAN
big - besar
high - tinggi
height - tinggi
beautiful -  indah (Beautiful as an Indonesian girl.)

Now we know the three magic words to we can say and nod at the top of the Twin Towers in KL, or looking at pictures of the twin towers in New York or any skyscraper in the USA.

Trump Tower, USA. How would you describe it? Besar? Tinggi? Indah or cantik?

You and I can also say these Malay and Indonesian words when shown to a bedroom on an upper floor of the hotel next door to the Petronas Towers (the hotel where my husband and I stayed for two nights at the weekend in KL to get one full day of sightseeing).

I am an aspiring polyglot.

If you like the Google translations, or don't like them, you can join the Google Translate community. The idea is that everything has to be approved by several people before it is added or changed, or noted as a 'possible' translation. Several websites, nowadays, including Duolingo (language teaching) and Wikipedia, offer the public a chance to suggest changes and to go onto forums discussing translations or asking questions.

Useful Websites For Travellers Learning Languages
Duolingo
Duolingo.com

Google Translate
translate.google.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English language and other languages. Please share your favourite posts with your friends and family and colleagues.

Handy Malay Words To Use In Malaysia, Indonesia or Asian Restaurants

Malay and Indonesian are very similar with slight additions to vocabulary, like British English and American English

Learn a few of these and you can order from the menu in a restaurant in Malaysia or Indonesia or an Indonesian or Malay restaurant in Singapore or London or from a kiosk in a food court. In Singapore a food court is called a hawker centre.  The itinerant hawkers were grouped in a place which the govenment build and inspected to raise standards of food and hygiene. Now in the UK and worldwide we have food festivals and pop-up restaurants. Anyway, here goes with some handy vocabulary:

English - Malay
fish - ikan (I can swim said the fish)
chicken - ayam (I am running around like a headless chicken)
lamb - domba (the b and d look like revered letters,  letter amb in both words, letter am in both words)
grilled - dipanggang (notice the doubled g in the middle, g for grill, doulbe letter like double ll in grill)
roasted - panggang (not in a pan for frying but roasted in a pan in the oven)
cooked - matang
fried - goreng (like mee goreng which is fried rice)
stir fried - aduk goreng
rice - mee (as in mee goreng)
potato - kentang (do you ken John Peel, otatoes have no tang)
pasta / noodles - pasta mie
vegetable - sayur mayur (starting with s - either salad or vegetable)
raw vegetables - sayur mentah (you must be mental to eat raw vegetables)
cooked vegetables - sayuran yang dimasak (3 words, lots of effort, you'll be here until Sunday)
salad - salad (Order simple salad and no need to learn all those other words)

Malay - Indonesian
ikan -fish
ayam - chicken
domba - lamb
dipanggang - grilled
panggang - roasted
matang - cooked
goreng - fried
aduk goreng- stir fried (fried, usually in a bsin shaped wok for easy tossing and mixing but add effort in stirring)
Nasi - rice (letter i in both, c pronounced like s as in police but the write phonetically)
kentang - potato
pasta - pasta / mie
sayur-mayur
sayur mentah
sayuran yang dimasak
salad - salad

Test yourself
Malay - English
ikan - ?
ayam
domba
dipanggang
panggang
matang
goreng
aduk goreng
Nasi
kentang
pasta / mie
sayur-mayur
sayur mentah
sayuran yang dimasak
salad - salad

Test Yourself
English - Malay
fish - ?
chicken
lamb
grilled
roasted
cooked
fried
stir fried
rice
potato
pasta / noodles
vegetable
raw vegetables
cooked vegetables
salad

NB
The Chinese for fried rice is mee goreng. The Malay is nasi goreng.

Because the Muslims don't eat pork, restaurants in Malaysia and worldwide, whether run by the Chinese, Malays or others, serving Chinese food, Malay food or a mixture, might discreetly list 'meat' which is pork, or a mixture of meats including pork.

Useful Websites for travellers and learning Malay or Indonesian
amazon - books

Duolingo - free language courses and discussion forums
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/20796214/Malay-Basics-1
Duolingo also have tinycards. These flashcards reverse when you click and then ask you to select from three multiple choice answers.
https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/Seft5g/malay?lesson=1

If you don't see the exact set you want, create a set and share with others.

wikipedia - detailed language
simple wiki - I prefer this, less complicated and less technical, easier to understand, takes less time to find facts.

Travel Websites
visit-Malaysia.com
visitsingapore.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher, tutor and workshop leader for learning other languages. See my later and earlier posts on learning the Malay language. Please share links to my posts with your family and friends.

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.