Wikijunior:Languages/Malay

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Languages

Arabic Assamese Bengali Bikol Catalan Dutch English Esperanto Estonian French German Hebrew Hindi Japanese Korean Latin Mandarin Chinese Manipuri Marathi Nahuatl Norwegian Polish Portuguese Quenya Russian Sanskrit Serbian Spanish Swahili Sylheti Tagalog Tamil Turkish Urdu

What writing system(s) does this language use?

Malay traditionally uses the Jawi script, which is a variation of the Arabic script. Currently, it also uses the Latin alphabet.

Where is this language spoken?

It's spoken commonly in Malaysia and Singapore. 2 variations of it, known as Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Brunei, are spoken in Indonesia and Brunei respectively.

What is the history of this language?

According to historical sources, this language was spoken in the Champa Empire in Southeast Asia at around the 2nd century. It was influenced by Sanskrit. It was originally from Sumatera, Indonesia and spread around Southeast Asia. It has so many loanwords borrowed from other languages, like Chinese, Tamil, Portuguese, Dutch, English, Arabic and Sanskrit.

Who are some famous authors or poets in this language?

Tun Sri Lanang, who recorded the history of the Johor Sultanate under the orders of the Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah II.

Zaa'ba, who modernized this language around the 19th century.

What are some basic words in this language that I can learn?

Basic Greetings

• Selamat pagi! (Good morning!)
• Selamat tengah hari! (Good afternoon!)
• Selamat malam! (Good evening!)
• Apa khabar? (How are you?)
• Khabar baik. (I'm fine.)
• Selamat tinggal! (Goodbye!)
• Jumpa lagi! (See you later!)

Simple Words

• Ya (Yes)
• Tidak (No)
• kucing (cat)
• anjing (dog)
• matahari (sun)
• bulan (moon)
• gambar (picture)
• hati (heart)
• kereta (car)
• makan (eat)
• minum (drink)
• pergi (go)
• datang (come)
• nasi (rice)
• kampung (village)
• bandar (city)
• sini (here)
• sana (there)
• situ (there over there)
• saya (I)
• kamu (you)

Numbers

• satu (1)
• dua (2)
• tiga (3)
• empat (4)
• lima (5)
• enam (6)
• tujuh (7)
• lapan (8)
• sembilan (9)
• sepuluh (10)

Courtesies

• Minta maaf. (Excuse me.)
• Terima kasih. (Thank you.)
• Maaf. (Sorry.)
• Bolehkah saya...? (May I...?)