Malay

Malay is an Austronesian language spoken in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand. The total number of Malay speakers is about 18 million. There are also about 170 million people who speak Indonesian, which is a form of Malay. Indonesian and Malay are, to a large degree, mutually intelligible, however, Indonesian is distinct from Malay as spoken in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, where the language is known simply as Bahasa Melayu. In addition, when Islam arrived in southeast Asia during the 14th century, the Arabic script was adapted to write the Malay language. In the 17th century, under influence from the Dutch and British, the Arabic script was replaced by the Latin alphabet.

Map of Malay language speakers.
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Map of Malay language speakers.
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Basic stats

Total speakers: 20-30 million

Main Countries: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, southern Thailand, southern Philippines, Australia

Alternate names: Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Malayu, Malayu, Melaju, Melayu, Standard Malay

ISO 639-3 Code: msa


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Language Sample

Semua manusia dilahirkan bebas dan samarata dari segi kemuliaan dan hak-hak. Mereka mempunyai pemikiran dan perasaan hati dan hendaklah bertindak di antara satu sama lain dengan semangat persaudaraan.

(Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1)


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Some proverbs in Malay:

Jangan disangka air yang tenang tiada buaya
Do not think that placid water is without crocodiles

Sediakan payung sebelum hujan
Prepare the umbrella before it rains

Sekali air bah, sekali pasir berubah
When a flood hits, the surroundings change with it

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Product Availability

The following products are currently available in Malay:

  • For Consumers

(Coming soon)

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Sources

Retrieved from "http://ns2.eatoni.com/wiki/index.php/Malay"
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