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.

Indonesian words you need to get around - and what to see and do first

Indonesia is a good place for a get away from it all holiday, great if you like the great outdoors, the simple life and you are on a budget.

Indonesian is one of the easier languages of Asia. It is written in the Western alphabet (also known as the Roman alphabet - which is a lot easier than the Greek alphabet, unless you are Greek). You can use most of the same words in Malaysia, like British English and American English.

Please and thank you in Indonesian and Mandarin speaking businesses run by the industrious Chinese are not as prevalent and obligatory as in English (and European languages and Japanese). You can generally get by with a smile and a nod.

The words you need to recognize and say most often are for food and drink and transport and accommodation. You can make yourself a list of common words and the memory aids you will need the first day or the first visit until you have picked up the vocabulary.

FOOD AND. DRINK
Food - makan /makanan (Memory aid: Mack, make me some food for Ann, and ...)
Drink - minum (I drink the minimum alcohol when driving but ...)
Water - air (I survive on air and water)
breakfast - makan pagi
lunch - makan siang (mid-day meal) pronounced see-ang
selamat siang (greeting at that time)
dinner (evening meal) - makan siang

selamat like salaam in Arabic and shalom in Hebrew - peace (be with you)

Minibuses are called different names in different places.

day - hari (as in hari raya festival)
hour - jam (Memory aid: We have been in this traffic jam for an hour.) 

ACCOMMODATION
Room - rumah (The rumour is you have a room, uh?)

TRANSPORT
Motorbike taxi - ojek
taxi - taksi
Left - kiri
Right - kanan
straight on - trus
di depan - in front of

Tourist Destinations
1 Bali
Temples with flower petals on the steps, the scent of tuberose, shows of gamelan music and dancing, shadow puppets. Clifftop hotels with infinity pools.

2 Batam island

3 Jakarta (if on business, at the weekend, or weekdays the hanging around spouse can take tours to assorted monuments and theme parks)

4 Borobodur temple

5 Trek one of the extinct volcanoes with a group, either commercial or privately organized.
If you take a commercial group, you might find a fellow enthusiast who knows private groups. They generally send one person to do a recce or fact finding mission on transport, accommodation, food and routes and costs of hiring guides.

Do you need a guide? Some routes are well-marked and can be done in half a day or less.

But you don't want to get lost on a volcano. It's best not to climb alone and in case of bad weather or sickness or injury.

You will need a lot of water. On an overnight or dawn trip, it helps or just to have somebody carrying a heavy bag with food and water, or going on ahead to set up a tent or two and supper for the group. Plus, of course, carrying your bulky empty containers and litter back with you. As they say, leave only footprints.

Websites
wiki
simple wiki
wikitravel
wikivoyage
tripadvisor
lonely planet
indonesiatouristboard.com
indonesiatravel/gb/en/home

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of languages to individuals worldwide by Skype, plus keynote speeches, after dinner speeches and workshops for businesses and colleges. I am very busy with Toastmasters International which has meetings every night and most days. I even attended a Speakers' club meeting in Prague, Czech Republic on Boxing Day (Dec 26). If you think I might be able to help you or your family or business please get in touch.

Camping, cheap? Five star hotel expensive? What is Free?

Problem
Sometimes the holiday turns out cheaper than you expected. Sometimes it's dearer. Factors to remember?

Answers
Camping
You will need hiking and waterproof outdoor clothes and boots. Tents. Sleeping bags. Ground sheets. BBQ equipment. Caravan hire or mobile toilet. Camping ground fee, or permission from farm owner. (Some Scandinavian countries have a right to roam which lets you camp anywhere providing you remove your own litter and leave the place as you found it.

Hostel
Some hostels are like five-star hotels. Others expect you to bring your own sheets, and are so far away late at night that you need a taxi both ways to get you there before their closing time and to be safe.

I once stood at a station in Japan, having been told there were no seats left on the train. I asked the location of the nearest hostel. the price, the taxi price. So much money? And not meeting up with my boyfriend who was leaving next day.

Overnight Sleep Option
I sat down to contemplate. The ticket office man beckoned me over. was I willing to pay another £10 for a couchette?

Yes! Much cheaper than the cost of the hostel and two taxis. Less hassle. The train was due in thirty minutes later. I could be in bed and asleep in less than an hour and in Tokyo next day!

When you are taking an overnight flight and sleeping on a plane, or overnight on a train, offset that cost against what you would pay for a night at a hotel.

Five Star Hotel
You can get good deals on last minute, offseason, long-stay, free Sunday with a two night Friday and Saturday booking, or if the breakfast or dinner is included. Also look for free airport transfer (which would otherwise cost you up to £25 each way). But make sure the transport service does not incur a charge added to your bill which is higher than calling a taxi or uber using your mobile.

Useful Websites
lastminute.com
sportsdirect.com

AUTHOR
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.