Differences between Malay and Indonesian
Categories: Austronesian languages
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.
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Orthography
Before the 20th century, Malay was usually written in a modified form of Arabic 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 Bahasa Indonesia as oe, as in Dutch, and the official spelling of this sound was changed to u during the Japanese occupation. 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 Bahasa Indonesia, 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.
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.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary differences
Bahasa Indonesia differs from Bahasa Melayu (also known as Bahasa Malaysia) in having words of Javanese and Dutch origin. For example, the word for 'post office' in Bahasa Melayu is "pejabat pos", whereas in Bahasa Indonesia 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 | BAHASA MELAYU | BAHASA INDONESIA |
| afternoon | petang | sore (can also refer to the evening) |
| August | Ogos | Agustus - from Dutch augustus |
| auntie | mackcik | bibi (also tante from Dutch) |
| balcony | beranda | balkon |
| basin | besen | wastafel - from Dutch, or baskom - from Dutch waskom |
| because | kerana | karena |
| Britain | Britain | Britania Inggeris ('English' or 'England' more commonly used) |
| bus | bas (also used in Indonesia) | bis - Dutch pronunciation of "bus" |
| can (to be able) | boleh (also used in Indonesia) | bisa |
| card | kad | kartu |
| case | kes | kasus |
| China | Tiongkok - (also used in Indonesia) | Tionghoa - ('Cina' also used) |
| Commonwealth of Nations | Komanwel | Negara-Negara Persemakmuran |
| counter | kaunter | loket |
| discount | diskaun | diskon |
| driving licence | lesen memandu | ribewis - from Dutch rijbewijs, but surat izin mengemudi (SIM) now more widely used |
| eight | lapan | delapan (also found in archaic Malaysian texts) |
| electricity | tenaga elektrik (literally "electric energy") | listrik |
| factory | kilang - in Indonesia, not so regularly used except in a few words such as kilang minyak ('oil refinery') | pabrik - from Dutch fabriek |
| federal | persekutuan | federal |
| fermented rice | tapai | tape |
| fruit juice | jus - also used in Indonesia, to mean a blended fruit drink | air (buah) |
| head office | ibu pejabat | kantor pusat |
| hospital | hospital | rumah sakit (literally means "sick house") from Dutch structure "ziekenhuis" |
| ice | ais | es |
| ice cream | ais krim | es krim |
| Ireland | Ireland | Irlandia |
| 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 |
| Lebanon | Lubnan | Lebanon |
| male | lelaki | laki-laki |
| March | Mac | Maret - from Dutch maart |
| minibus | bas mini | mikrolet |
| Monday | Isnin | Senin |
| Moscow | Moscow | Moskwa |
| New Zealand | New Zealand | Selandia Baru |
| Norway | Norway | Norwegia |
| orange (fruit) | oren | jeruk |
| Palestine | Palestin | Palestina |
| party | parti | partai - from Dutch partij |
| passport | paspot | paspor |
| pharmacy | farmasi | apotek - from Dutch apotheek |
| post code | poskod | kode pos |
| railway | keretatapi | kereta api |
| raspberry | raspberi | frambus - from Portuguese frambuesa |
| republic | repablik | republik |
| restaurant | restoran - also used in Indonesia | rumah makan literally eating house |
| science | sains - also used in Indonesia but less common | ilmu |
| Scotland | Scotland | Skotlandia |
| shop | kedai - (also used in Indonesia but less common) | toko - from Japanese |
| speak | bercakap (means 'chat' in Indonesia) | berbicara - means 'discuss' in Malay) |
| Spain | Sepanyol | Spanyol |
| strawberry | strawberi | stroberi also arbei - from Dutch aardbei |
| Sunday | Ahad - Minggu means 'week' - also used in Indonesia | Minggu - from Portuguese Domingo |
| Sweden | Sweden | Swedia |
| Switzerland | Switzerland | Swiss |
| television | televisyen | televisi - from Dutch televisie |
| Thailand | Negeri Thai | Thailand |
| ticket | tiket - also used in Indonesia | karcis - from Dutch kaartje |
| USA | Amerika Syarikat | Amerika Serikat |
| university | universiti | universitas |
| window | tingkap | jendela - from Portuguese janela |
| zoo | zoo | kebun binatang derived from Dutch dierentuin |
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 word, in English | Indonesian word, in English |
| kereta | car | train |
| polisi | policy | police |
| tandas | latrine | to explain |
| butuh | penis (used as profanity) | need |
| banci | census | effeminate, transvestite homosexual |
| berbual | to discuss | to tell a lie |
| tentang | to challenge | to oppose |
| pengajian | education | mass recitation of Koran |
| khidmat | service | humility |
| akta | act (= law) | act (= written legal document) |
| jawatan | position | department |
| jabatan | department | position |
| tambang | fare | mine, rope |
| repot | report | busy, occupied |
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.'ko:말레이인도네시아어