Differences between Malay and Indonesian

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The differences between Malay (Bahasa Melayu) and Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) are slightly greater than those between British English and American English. They are mutually intelligible, but with differences in spelling, pronunciation and vocabulary.

Contents 1 Orthography 2 Pronunciation 3 Vocabulary 3.1 Vocabulary differences 4 False friends 5 Sample 6 Trivia 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Orthography

Before the 20th century, Malay was usually written in a modified form of the Arabic alphabet known as Jawi. Since then, Malay written with Roman letters, known as Rumi, has almost completely replaced Jawi in everyday life. The romanisations originally used in Malaya (now part of Malaysia) and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) reflected their positions as British and Dutch possessions respectively.

In Indonesia, the vowel in the English word 'moon' was formerly represented in Indonesian as oe, as in Dutch, and the official spelling of this sound was changed to u in 1947. However, oe was retained in some proper names long after this. Similarly, until 1972, the initial consonant of the English 'chin' was represented in Bahasa Malaysia as ch, whereas in Indonesian, it continued to follow Dutch and used tj. Hence the word for 'grandchild' used to be written as chuchu in Malay and tjoetjoe in Indonesian, until a unified spelling system was introduced in 1972 (known in Indonesia as Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan or the 'Perfected Spelling') which removed most differences between the two varieties: Malay ch and Indonesian tj became c: hence cucu. Indonesian abandoned the spelling dj (for the consonant at the beginning of the word 'Jakarta') to conform to the j already in use in Malay, while the old Indonesian j for the semivowel at the beginning of the English 'young', was replaced with y as in Malay. Likewise, the velar fricative which occurs in many Arabic loanwords, which used to be written 'ch' in Indonesian, became kh in both languages.

Nevertheless, the old spelling is still encountered in some Indonesian names, such as the name of the first President, Sukarno (written as Soekarno), although the post-1972 spelling is now favoured. Other examples include Achmad and Djojo (pronounced as Akhmad and Joyo respectively).

Although the representations of speech sounds are now largely identical in the Indonesian and Malay varieties, a number of minor spelling differences remain, usually for historical reasons. For instance, the word for 'money' is written as wang in Malay, but uang in Indonesian, while the word for 'cake' is written as kuih in Malay, but kue in Indonesian.

[edit] Pronunciation

Pronunciation also tends to be very different, with East Malaysia and Indonesia speaking a dialect called Bahasa Baku, where the words are pronounced as spelt and enunciation tends to be clipped, staccato and faster than the Malay spoken in the Malay Peninsula, which is spoken at a more languorous pace. Many vowels are pronounced (and were formerly spelt) differently in Peninsular Malaysia: tujuh is pronounced (and was spelt) tujoh, pilih as pileh, etc., and many final a's tend to be pronounced as schwas.

[edit] Vocabulary

[edit] Vocabulary differences

Indonesian differs from Malay in having words of Javanese and Dutch origin. For example, the word for 'post office' in Malay is "pejabat pos", whereas in Indonesian it is "kantor pos", from the Dutch word for office, kantoor. There are also some Portuguese influences: in Indonesian, Christmas is known as "Natal", whereas Malay uses "Krismas", derived from English. There are also instances where the Malay version derives from English pronunciation while the Indonesian version takes its cue from Latin: compare Malay "universiti" with Indonesian "universitas."

English	Malay	Indonesian
account (bank,bills)	akaun	rekening (from Dutch)
after	selepas	setelah
afternoon	tengah hari	sore (can also refer to the evening); petang (less frequent)
agent	ejen	agen
airport	lapangan terbang (lit. field/expanse + to fly)	bandara (from bandar udara, lit. airport), lapangan terbang (less frequent)
alcohol	arak	alkohol
apartment	apartment, flat	apartemen
archive	arkib	arsip
August	Ogos	Agustus - from Dutch augustus
auntie	makcik	tante (from Dutch), bibi
balcony	beranda,from Bengali, Portuguese or English verandah; (also used in Indonesia but less common)	balkon, from Portuguese balcão or Dutch balkon
basin	besen	wastafel - from Dutch, baskom - from Dutch waskom
because	kerana, sebab	karena, sebab
billion	billion	miliar, milyar
bishop	biskop	uskup
breast	buah dada, payudara	payudara, buah dada (slang), susu (slang), tete (slang)
Britain	Britain	Inggris, Britania
bus	bas	bus or bis - Dutch pronunciation of "bus"
bus station	stesen bas	stasiun bus, terminal bus
bus stop	perhentian bas	halte bus/bis - derived from Dutch
campaign	kempen	kampanye - (similar to the pronunciation of the Dutch word campagne
can (to be able)	boleh (used in Indonesia in the sense of 'to allow')	bisa
cancer	kanser	kanker
car	kereta (in Indonesian means train)	mobil
card	kad	kartu - from Dutch kaart
case	kes	kasus
census	banci (means "transsexual" or "effeminate" in Indonesian)	sensus
centipede	lipan	kelabang
chilli	cili, cabai (used in northern states of Malaysia)	cabe, cabai
China	China (More widely used now), Negara Cina	China (More widely used now), Republik Rakyat Cina, Tionghoa (race) or Tiongkok - rarely used/old spelling (country) *note: 'Cina' is sometimes considered as pejorative*
cinema	panggung wayang gambar (or more popularly when contracted, pawagam)	gedung bioskop (from Dutch bioscoop)
coat	kot	jas - from Dutch jas
cockroach	lipas	kecoa
college	kolej	kuliah
Commonwealth of Nations	Negara-negara Komanwel	Negara-negara Persemakmuran
counter	kaunter	loket - from Dutch
court	mahkamah	pengadilan
curtain	langsir, tirai	hordeng, gordin or gorden (from Dutch gordijn), tirai
dandruff	kelemumur	ketombe
degree (weather)	darjah	derajat
department	jabatan	departemen
discount	diskaun or potongan	korting (also "diskon") - from Dutch
driver	drebar, pemandu	supir (from: chauffeur), sopir (slang)
driving licence	lesen memandu	ribewis - from Dutch rijbewijs, surat izin mengemudi (SIM) now more widely used
December	Disember	Desember (pronounced: Désember)
eight	lapan	delapan (also found in archaic Malaysian texts)
electricity	tenaga elektrik (literally "electric energy")	listrik
emergency	kecemasan	darurat (from Arabic)
engine	enjin	mesin
extinct	pupus	langka, punah
factory	kilang - in Indonesia, rarely used except in a few words such as kilang minyak ('oil refinery')	pabrik - from Dutch fabriek
February	Februari	Pebruari
federal	persekutuan	federal
fermented rice	tapai	tape, tapai (Sumatera variation)
Finland	Finland	Finlandia
floor	tingkat	lantai
France	Perancis	Prancis
free of charge	percuma (in Indonesia means "worthless")	gratis (from Dutch)
government	kerajaan (derives from raja or "king")	pemerintah
head office	ibu pejabat (in Indonesia means "female officer")	kantor pusat
headscarf	tudung	jilbab
healthy	sihat	sehat
herb	herba	jamu (in Malay, means "to treat, to entertain guests")
hospital	hospital	rumah sakit (literally means "sick house") from Dutch structure "ziekenhuis"
I	saya, aku	saya, aku, gue (impolite)
ice	ais	es
ice cream	ais krim	es krim
illegal drugs	dadah	narkoba
immigration	imigresen	imigrasi
impotence	mati pucuk	impotensi
installment (payment)	ansuran	angsuran, cicilan
insurance	insurans	asuransi
international	antarabangsa	internasional
internet cafe	kafe internet, kafe cyber	warnet (short for "warung internet", warung is from Dutch "waroeng")
Ireland	Ireland	Irlandia
Italy	Itali	Italia
licence	lesen	lisensi - from Dutch licentie
Japan	Jepun	Jepang - from Portuguese Japão
Jordan	Jordan	Yordania
June	Jun	Juni - from Dutch juni
July	Julai	Juli - from Dutch juli
lane (roads/highway)	lorong	jalur
lawyer	peguam	pengacara
Lebanon	Lubnan	Lebanon
male	lelaki (also used in Indonesian but less frequent)	pria (also "cowok"-colloquial, or "laki-laki")
malfunction	rosak	rusak, mati
March	Mac	Maret - from Dutch maart
mattress	tilam	kasur
medication	ubat	obat
Middle East	Timur Tengah, Asia Barat	Timur Tengah
minibus	bas mini	mikrolet, angkot (angkutan kota)
minute	minit	menit
misses (married woman)	puan	ibu, nyonya (from Dutch)
Monday	Isnin	Senin
money	wang	uang, dana, duit (slang)
Moscow	Moskow (also used in Indonesian)	Moskwa
motorcycle	motosikal	motor
music	muzik	musik
naked	bogel	bugil, telanjang
national	kebangsaan	nasional
natural	semulajadi	alami
newspaper	surat khabar	koran, harian, suratkabar (less frequent)
New Zealand	New Zealand	Selandia Baru
noisy	bising	berisik
Norway	Norway	Norwegia
not	tak, tidak (formal)	tidak, tak (rarely used), nggak (slang), gak (slang)
number	nombor	nomor or nomer - from Dutch nummer
nurse	jururawat	perawat
office	pejabat	kantor - from Dutch kantoor
orange (fruit)	oren	jeruk
Palestine	Palestin	Palestina
party (political)	parti	partai - from Dutch partij
passport	paspot	paspor
penis	zakar, kemaluan lelaki	kemaluan, kontol (slang, vulgar), titit (slang)
percent	peratus	persen
pharmacy	farmasi	apotek - from Dutch apotheek
photograph	gambar	foto
pickpocket	pickpocket	copet
post code	poskod	kode pos
prayer (Islam)	solat, sembahyang	shalat, sholat ('sh' is pronounced as 's')
prayer room (Islam)	surau	mushollah ('sh' is pronounced as 's')
pregnant	mengandung, hamil (formal)	hamil
Private Limited Company	Sendirian Berhad abbreviated as Sdn Bhd (suffix)	Perseroan Terbatas abbreviated as PT(prefix)
prostitute	pelacur	pelacur, WTS (pronounced 'way-tay-es'; wanita tuna susila "woman without morals", Sanskrit), PSK (formal, pronounced 'pay-es-ka', pekerja seks komersial)
push, to (door)	tolak (used less primarily in Indonesian to mean 'subtract', it also means 'to refuse', also common meaning in Malay when used in arithmetics)	dorong (common usage in Malay is to push, to propel)
raspberry	rasberi	frambus or frambosen - from Portuguese frambuesa or Dutch framboos
refrigerator	peti sejuk	lemari es, kulkas - from Dutch koelkast
restaurant	kedai makan or restoran (also used in Indonesian)	rumah makan literally eating house
rob	rompak (also refers to piracy)	rampok
room	bilik - also used in Indonesia, but rarely	kamar from Dutch "kamer" (chamber)
roundabout (traffic)	bulatan i.e Bulatan DBP in Kuala Lumpur	bundaran i.e Bundaran HI in Jakarta
sauce	sos	saos
school (Islamic)	pondok	pesantren
science	sains - also used in Indonesia but less common	ilmu (Malay for knowledge)
Scotland	Scotland	Skotlandia
secret	rahsia	rahasia
sewer	longkang	got, selokan
shoe	kasut	sepatu
shop	kedai - (also used in Indonesia but less common)	toko
soya beans	kacang soya	kedelai
speak	bercakap - (means 'chat' in Indonesia)	berbicara - (means 'discuss' in Malay)
Spain	Sepanyol	Spanyol
spoon	sudu	sendok
sport	sukan	olahraga
station	stesen	stasiun (also spelled "setasiun")
stink	busuk	bau
stop	berhenti	stop (rarely "berhenti" is used)
strawberry	strawberi	stroberi also arbei - from Dutch aardbei
stupid	bodoh	bodoh, tolol, goblok (slang), bego (/slang), bloon (slang, Sundanese)
Sunday	Ahad - rarely used in Indonesia	Hari Minggu - from Portuguese Domingo (Lord's Day) (Malay for Weekends)
Sweden	Sweden	Swedia
Switzerland	Switzerland	Swiss
talk / say	cakap (also used in Indonesian)	bicara (used rarely in Malay), ngomong (slang)
tap water	air paip	air pipa
teacher	cikgu, guru	guru - (loanword from Sanskrit)
teacher (religious, Islam)	ustaz	ustad
telephone	telefon	telpon
terrorist	pengganas	teroris
testicles	buah zakar, testis	buah zakar, kanjut (slang, vulgar)
traffic jam	kesesakan lalulintas, jam (slang)	macet
turn	pusing (means 'dizzy' in Indonesian)	belok (also used in Malay)
tapioca	ubi	singkong, ubi kayu, ketela pohon
taxi	teksi	taksi
television	televisyen, TV	televisi - from Dutch televisie, (also TV, pronounced 'ti-fi' or 'te-fe')
toilet	bilik air or tandas	kamar kecil; kamar mandi (bathroom); WC (pronounced 'we-se') for watercloset.
Thailand	Negeri Thai, Siam, Thailand	Thailand
ticket	tiket - also used in Indonesia	karcis - from Dutch kaartje
tire	tayar	ban
train	keretapi, tren	kereta api
transsexual	pondan	bencong, banci, waria (polite)
tree	pokok	pohon
ugly	hodoh	jelek
uncle	pakcik	"oom" (derived from Dutch, pronounced and sometimes spelt as "oom") or "paman"
university	universiti	universitas
until	sehingga	sampai
urinate	kencing	buang air kecil, kencing (impolite)
USA	Amerika Syarikat	Amerika Serikat (A.S.)
vagina	faraj (from Arabic), puki (slang, vulgar), pepek (slang)	vagina, memek (slang, vulgar), puki (slang), nonok (slang, vulgar)
very	sangat	sangat, amat, sekali, banget (slang)
vice president	naib presiden	wakil presiden ('wapres')
virgin	dara	perawan (formal), gadis
website	laman web	situs web
window	tingkap (also used in Indonesian but less common), jendela	jendela - from Portuguese janela
you	anda (very formal), awak, kamu, kau	Anda (formal), kamu, kau (impolite)
zoo	zoo	kebun binatang derived from Dutch dierentuin (animal garden)

[edit] False friends

Besides vocabulary differences, there are also a number of false friends in both languages. As these words are in quite common use in either or both of the languages, misunderstandings can arise.

Word	Malay meaning	Indonesian meaning
ahli	a member (of a group) (when the word is used by itself)	expert in a field
akta	act (= law)	act (= written legal document)
baja	fertilizer	steel
banci	census	effeminate, transvestite homosexual
berbual	to discuss	to tell a lie
bercinta	love	make love, have sexual intercourse
biji	pill, tablet	seed, testicles ("balls", offensive)
bisa	poison, toxic	can/able, venom
bogel	naked	very short person, dwarf, midget
bontot/buntut	buttock	tail ('ekor' as commonly used in Malay)
budak	kid	slave
butoh/butuh	male genitals, an offensive reference	need
comel	cute, pretty	(to call) someone who can not keep a secret (example: mulutnya comel= her mouth can't keep a secret)
email	electronic mail (recently changed to "emel")	enamel
gampang	bastard from 'anak gampang' lit. easy child	easy (non negative meaning)
jabatan	department	position
jahat	bad, naughty	evil, criminal
jawatan	position	department
jeruk	pickles/preserved fruits or vegetables	oranges
kacak	handsome	ber-kacak pinggang (stands with hands on your hips)
kakitangan	employee	member of mafia/criminal organisation
kapan	Muslim burial shroud (kain kapan)	when (kapan mau pulang?= when are you returning?)
karya	work of art (karyawan=artists)	work (karyawan= workers)
kerajaan	government (historical association, most Malay states were governed by monarchs, from Raja = King, now refers to any kind of government)	monarchy/royalties
kereta	car	train
khidmat	service	fully concentrate
pajak	to mortgage	tax
pelan	plan	slow
pejabat	office	officer/officials (those who hold office, Malay (pegawai)
pemerintah	ruler	government
pengajian	education	mass recitation of Quran
percuma	free of charge	useless, not needed
pijat	bugs (software bugs i.e Year 2000 bug and also commonly referring to the bed bugs)	massage
polis	police	(insurance) policy
polisi	policy	police
pusing	to go around a place, circular in motion, to spin/rotate	dizzy, confused
pupuk	to nurture	fertilizer (also means 'to nurture' in the metaphorical sense of the word)
tambang	fare	mine, rope
tandas	toilet	to explain, to finish
sulit	confidential, difficult	difficult

[edit] Sample

Indonesian Malay text sample^[1]

Ensiklopedia, atau kadangkala dieja sebagai ensiklopedi, adalah sejumlah buku yang berisi penjelasan mengenai setiap cabang ilmu pengetahuan yang tersusun menurut abjad atau menurut kategori secara singkat dan padat.

Kata 'ensiklopedia' diambil dari bahasa Yunani; enkyklios paideia (ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία) yang berarti sebuah lingkaran atau pengajaran yang lengkap. Maksudnya ensiklopedia itu sebuah pendidikan paripurna yang mencakup semua lingkaran ilmu pengetahuan. Seringkali ensiklopedia dicampurbaurkan dengan kamus dan ensiklopedia-ensiklopedia awal memang berkembang dari kamus.

Malaysian Malay text sample^[2]

Ensiklopedia, (encyclopaedia) atau kadangkala dieja sebagai ensaiklopedia, merupakan koleksi maklumat atau himpunan fakta mengenai setiap cabang ilmu pengetahuan yang tersusun menurut abjad atau menurut kategori secara singkat dan padat.

Kata ensiklopedia diambil dari bahasa Greek εγκύκλιος παιδεία, egkyklios paideia (a circle of instruction) yang bererti sebuah lingkaran (circle) pengajaran (instruction) yang lengkap. Maksudnya ensiklopedia itu merupakan sebuah pendidikan sempurna yang merangkumi semua aspek ilmu pengetahuan. Seringkali ensiklopedia disalah ertikan sebagai kamus. Mungkin ini kerana ensiklopedia-ensiklopedia awal memang berkembang dari kamus.

Translation

Encyclopaedia, or occasionally spelt as ensiklopedi, was several books that contained the explanation about each branch of science that was compiled according to the alphabet or according to the category briefly and densely.

The phrase 'Encyclopaedia' is taken from Greek; enkyklios paideia (ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία) that means a circle of instruction or a complete teaching.

This means that the encyclopaedia is a complete education that included all the science circles. Often the encyclopaedia was mixed with the dictionary and early encyclopaedias actually started from dictionaries.

[edit] Trivia

During the May 1998 Revolution, when calls for political reform or reformasi in Indonesia led to the resignation of President Suharto, Malaysian satirists Instant Cafe lampooned a government broadcast in which 'Malaysians are reminded that reformasi is an Indonesian word, which has no equivalent in Bahasa Melayu.'

[edit] References

1. ^ From the article about Encyclopaedia on the Indonesian Wikipedia, version 15:14, 21 Agustus 2006
2. ^ From the article about Encyclopaedia on the Malay Wikipedia, version 21:41, 5 Oktober 2005

[edit] External links

• The Malay Spelling Reform, Asmah Haji Omar, (Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society, 1989-2 pp.9-13 later designated J11)