Differences between Malaysian and Indonesian

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

To non-native speakers of the two languages, Malaysian (Malay) and Indonesian, may seem identical, but to native speakers, the differences are very noticeable through diction and accent. These differences often lead to incomprehension when used in formal conversation or written communication. These differences also affect broadcasting business in relation to foreign language subtitling, for example DVD movies or TV cable subscriptions. In order to reach out to a wider audience, sometimes both Indonesian and Malaysian subtitles are displayed in a movie side by side with other language subtitles.

Perception

Besides differing in linguistics matter, the Malay language in Malaysia and Indonesia also differs in recognition and general perception by the people and government of both countries. This matter is almost unknown to foreigners and nescience may result in misconceptions.

The term "Malay language" (Bahasa Melayu) in Indonesia and Malaysia invites different perceptions. To Malaysians, the Malay language is generally the national language of Malaysia. "Malaysian language" (Bahasa Malaysia) is the Malaysian standardized form of Malay, besides serving a function to make the Malay language sounds more national (more Malaysia). Therefore, there is virtually no clear distinction between the Malay (Bahasa Melayu) and Malaysian (Bahasa Malaysia).

In Indonesia, however, there is a clean cut between the "Malay language" (Bahasa Melayu) and the "Indonesian language" (Bahasa Indonesia). Indonesian language is the national language which serves as the unifying language in Indonesia. It is derived from Malay, but it is not necessarily the Malay language. The term "Malay language" is exclusively reserved for the language indigenous to and spoken by Malay people. Thus, Malay is "legally" a regional language in Indonesia, enjoying the same status with Javanese, Bataknese, Sundanese, Buginese, Balinese and many others. Moreover, to Indonesians, the term "Malay language" often sounds more associated to Malaysia and/or, in this case, the Malaysian language.

Misconceptions often emerges in foreigners. The term "Indonesian Malay" and "Malaysian Malay" is sometimes treated parallel. There is no issues regarding the term "Malaysian Malay", but the term "Indonesian Malay" frequently invites a fallacy. "Indonesian Malay" should never be understood as "the Indonesian variant of Malay". It actually means "the Malay spoken by Malay people in Indonesia" or "Malay as a regional language in Indonesia". It is quite rare though to use the term "Indonesian Malay". "Bahasa Indonesia" is almost always only referred to as "Indonesian" in English and other languages, whereas "Bahasa Malaysia" or "Malaysian" term is quite newer than the terms "Bahasa Melayu" or "Malay".

Orthography

Before the 20th century, Malay was written in a modified form of the Arabic alphabet known as Jawi. After the 20th century, 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.

Similarly, until 1972, the initial consonant of the English 'chin' was represented in Malaysia as ch, whereas in Indonesia, it continued to follow Dutch and used tj. Hence the word for 'grandchild' used to be written as chuchu in Malaysia and tjoetjoe in 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: Malaysian ch and Indonesian tj became c: hence cucu.

Indonesia abandoned the spelling dj (for the consonant at the beginning of the word 'Jakarta') to conform to the j already in use in Malaysia, while the old Indonesian j for the semivowel at the beginning of the English 'young', was replaced with y as in Malaysia. Likewise, the velar fricative which occurs in many Arabic loanwords, which used to be written 'ch' in Indonesian, became kh in both languages.

However, oe was retained in some proper names, such as the name of the first President, Sukarno (written as Soekarno), and his successor Suharto, (written as Soeharto). The ch and dj letter combinations are still encountered in names such as Achmad and Djojo (pronounced as Akhmad and Joyo respectively), although the post-1972 spelling is now favoured.

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

Pronunciation

Pronunciation also tends to be very different, with East Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia speaking a dialect called Bahasa Baku,^{[citation needed]} 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.

Speakers of Malaysian Standard Malay in Peninsular Malaysia tend to speak at a more flowing pace, while words that end with the letter "a" often come out as a schwa (/ə/). Indonesian speakers speak in clipped staccato tones, their "r"s are more markedly trilled (rolled r), and all words are pronounced exactly as they are spelled.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary differences

Indonesian differs from Malaysian (Malay) in having words of Javanese and Dutch origin, although Indonesian is based on Malay in Riau (islands) (Bahasa Melayu Riau). For example, the word for 'post office' in Malaysia is "pejabat pos" (in Indonesia this means 'post officer'), whereas in Indonesia it is "kantor pos", from the Dutch word for office, kantoor. There are also some Portuguese influences: in Indonesia, Christmas is known as "Natal", whereas Malaysia uses "Krismas", derived from English (or in some rare cases also "Natal", due to Indonesian influence). The loanwords pronunciation Malaysian version follows English, while Indonesian follows Dutch, for example Malaysian "televisyen" (from English: television) and Indonesian "televisi" (from Dutch: televisie), the "-syen" and "-si" also prevail in other words, such as "eksyen" and "aksi" for 'action'. There are also instances where the Malaysian version derives from English pronunciation while the Indonesian version takes its cue from Latin. The Latin preference of the (older) Indonesian intellectuals in these instances may be ascribed to the influence of their classical-oriented education when Gymnasium schools were established during the Dutch colonial period : compare Malaysian kualiti, kuantiti, majoriti, minoriti and universiti with Indonesian kualitas, kuantitas, mayoritas, minoritas and universitas.

Some words which are spelt the same in both languages may even carry entirely different meanings in the other language, potentially leading to humorous or embarrassing situations: while baja means "steel" in Indonesian, in Malay it means "manure". Also, whereas the Indonesian word butuh means "requirement" or "need", in Malaysia it is a vulgar slang term equivalent to "cunt/cock". Conversely, where the word "banci" seems innocuous enough in Malaysia ("census"), in Indonesia it is a derogatory term for "transvestite".

The relatively large share of Islamic (Arabic or Persian) loan words shared by Malay and Indonesian often poses no difficulty in comprehension and usage, although some forms may have developed a (slightly) different meaning or have become obsolete either in Malaysian or in Indonesian, e.g. khidmat, wakil (see below).

English	Malaysian	Indonesian
abroad	luar negara	luar negeri
account (bank, bills)	akaun	rekening (from Dutch)
accountant	akauntan	akuntan
advertisement	iklan (also used in Indonesian)	reklame (from Dutch)
after	selepas	lepas, setelah (also used in Malay to indicate consecutive actions)
afternoon	tengah hari	sore (can also refer to the evening); petang (less frequent)
agent	ejen, agen (in science term)	agen
airport	lapangan terbang (lit. field/expanse + to fly)	bandara (from bandar udara, lit. port+air), lapangan terbang
apartment	pangsapuri, rumah pangsa, rumah kondo (only for 'condominium')	apartemen, rumah susun
archive	arkib	arsip (from Dutch archief)
assets	aset	aktiva (from Dutch activa), aset
auction	lelong	lelang
August	Ogos	Agustus (from Dutch augustus)
auntie	makcik (also used in bahasa Melayu Riau, Indonesia)	tante (from Dutch), bibi
autobiography	autobiografi (also used in Indonesian)	otobiografi (derived from the Dutch pronunciation of autobiografie, with au pronounced as French [o])
automatic	automatik (formerly otomatik)	otomatis (derived from the Dutch pronunciation of automatisch)
autonomy	autonomi	otonomi
awkward	kekok	kikuk
balcony	serambi, beranda,from Bengali, Portuguese or English verandah; (also used in Indonesia but less common)	serambi, balkon from Portuguese balcão or Dutch balkon
bag	beg	Tas (from Dutch tas lit. bag)
basin	besen	wastafel (from Dutch), baskom (from Dutch waskom)
because	kerana, sebab	karena, sebab
bed	katil	ranjang, kasur, tempat tidur
Belgium	Belgium	Belgia (from Dutch België)
bicycle	basikal	sepeda (from French velocipede)
billion	bilion	miliar, milyar (from Dutch miljard)
bishop	biskop, bisyop	uskup
bonnet, hood (of car)	bonet, bumbung, hud	kap (from Dutch)
boot, trunk (of car)	but	koper, kopor (from Dutch koffer)
breast	buah dada, payudara, tetek (slang)	payudara, buah dada, susu (slang), tetek (vulgar slang), toket (popular slang now)
Britain	Britain	Inggris (from Japanese igirisu), Britania
bucket; pail	baldi	ember (from Dutch emmer)
bus	bas	bus, bis (Dutch pronunciation of bus, bis)
bus station	stesen bas	terminal bis
bus stop	perhentian bas	halte bus, halte bis (from Dutch bushalte)
Cairo	Kaherah (from Arabic)	Kairo
campaign	kempen	kampanye (similar to the pronunciation of the Dutch word campagne)
can (to be able)	boleh (used in Indonesia in the sense of "may be allow"ed to), dapat	bisa, dapat
cancer	kanser, barah	kanker (from Dutch)
car	kereta (means carriage in Indonesian, commonly used as a short hand for kereta api which means train. Malaysia followed english derivation of car which was a contraction of horseless carriage)	mobil, oto - from Dutch auto
card	kad	kartu (from Dutch kaart)
carrot	lobak merah	wortel (from Dutch)
case	kes	kasus, hal
cash	wang tunai	uang tunai, kas
cashier	juruwang	kasir (from Dutch kassier), pemegang kas
census	banci (means "transsexual" or "effeminate male" in Indonesian)	sensus
centipede	lipan (also infrequently used in Indonesian)	kelabang
chilli	cili, lada, cabai (used in the northern states of Malaysia)	cabai, cabe
China	China (More widely used now), Negara Cina	China (More widely used now), Republik Rakyat Cina/China, Tiongkok rarely used/old spelling (country)
Christmas	Krismas, Natal	Natal
cinema	panggung wayang bergambar (or more popularly when contracted, pawagam), panggung wayang	sinema, bioskop (from Dutch bioscoop)
civic	sivik, bersifat kewarganegaraan	bersifat kewarganegaraan
civil	sivil	sipil
city	bandar (means "port" in Indonesian), bandaraya (city as opposed to a town), kota	kota
club (association)	kelab	perkumpulan, majelis, klub, klab, yayasan (Arabic: used for charitable clubs)
coat	kot	jas (from Dutch jas)
cockroach	lipas	kecoak (from the Chinese Hokkien dialect ka chuah)
college	kolej, maktab	perguruan tinggi, kampus, kolese, perkuliahan
Commonwealth of Nations	Negara-Negara Komanwel	Negara-Negara Persemakmuran
company	syarikat	perusahaan, firma, maskapai (from Dutch maatschappij)
constitution of country	perlembagaan	undang-undang dasar, konstitusi (from Dutch constitutie)
counter	kaunter	loket (from Dutch loket), konter
country, nation	negara	negara, negeri (in Malay, negeri solely refers into a state within a country)
court	mahkamah (in Indonesia mahkamah may refer to Mahkamah Agung (Supreme Court) or Mahkamah Konstitusi (Constitution Court))	pengadilan
cracker	keropok	krupuk
Croatia	Croatia	Kroasia
cupboard	almari (from Portuguese armário)	lemari (also from Portuguese)
current (topical)	semasa (also used in Indonesian)	aktual (from Dutch actueel)
current affairs	peristiwa semasa (also used in Indonesian)	aktualitas (from Dutch actualiteit)
curtain	langsir, tirai	tirai, korden (from Dutch gordijn), hordeng
customs (department)	kastam	bea cukai, pabean, duane (from Dutch douane but this word is never used in contemporary Indonesian)
cute	comel	imut
Cyprus	Cyprus	Siprus (similar to the Dutch pronunciation)
Czech Republic	Republik Czech	Ceko, Republik Ceko, Ceska, Republik Ceska
dandruff	kelemumur	ketombe
degree (temperature)	darjah	derajat
delicious, tasty	lazat	lezat
democratic	demokratik	demokratis (similar to the Dutch pronunciation of democratisch)
department	jabatan	departemen
difference	perbezaan	perbedaan
diocese	kawasan uskup, keuskupan	keuskupan
director	pengarah	direktur (from Dutch directeur), sutradara (Sanskrit-Javanese, film director)
directory	buku panduan, direktori	buku petunjuk
discount	diskaun, potongan (harga), rebat	korting (from Dutch), diskon (less frequently used), rabat, potongan (harga)
driver	pemandu	supir (from French, through Dutch: chauffeur), sopir (slang), pengemudi (formal)
driving licence	lesen memandu	ribewis (from Dutch rijbewijs) (slang), surat ijin mengemudi (SIM) now more widely used
December	Disember	Desember (pronounced: désember, as in Dutch)
duty (tariff)	duti, cukai (also used in Indonesian)	bea
Easter	Easter	Paskah (from Portuguese Pascoa)
editor	penyunting rarely used in Indonesian	editor, redaktur (from French-Dutch redacteur)
effectiveness	keberkesanan	efektivitas, (from Dutch effectiviteit) , kemanjuran
Eid ul-Fitr	Hari Raya Aidilfitri	Idul Fitri, Lebaran (from Javanese)
eight	lapan (also the Indonesian slang word)	delapan (used in Malaysia before the spelling reform)
electricity	tenaga elektrik (literally "electric energy")	listrik
emergency	kecemasan	darurat (from Arabic, also used in Malaysia to mean a state of emergency)
emperor	maharaja	kaisar (from Dutch keizer), maharaja (Sanskrit-Javanese, Majestic King)
empire	empayar	kekaisaran, kemaharajaan
engine	enjin	mesin (from Dutch machine, also used to refer to what translates into machine in English)
eraser	getah pemadam	karet penghapus
extinct	pupus	padam (of flames or lights), punah (of animate objects- i.e. species)
export	eksport	ekspor
factory	kilang (Indonesian word for mill or factory for processing or refining natural products, e.g. kilang minyak ('oil refinery')	pabrik (from Dutch fabriek)
faction (political)	puak (tribe)	fraksi (from Dutch fractie)
February	Februari	Februari, Pebruari (slang)
federal	persekutuan	federal
federation	persekutuan	federasi (from Dutch federatie)
fermented rice	tapai	tape, tapai (Sumatera variation)
financial	kewangan	keuangan, finansial
Finland	Finland	Finlandia
firefighter squad	bomba (means pump in Indonesian)	pemadam kebakaran (lit. means fire extinguisher), branwir/blanwir (informal, from Dutch brandweer)
floor (as in "the 2nd floor")	tingkat (also used in Indonesian- though it means floor as in a store or office e.g. "Fourth floor" )	lantai (means "floor"- ground surface in Malay)
France	Perancis	Prancis, Perancis
football	bola, bola sepak	sepak bola
free of charge	percuma (in Indonesia means "worthless")	gratis (from Dutch 'free of charge')), cuma-cuma
furniture	perabot rumah, perkakas rumah (also used in Indonesian)	mebel (from Dutch meubel)
garrison	garison	garnisun (from Dutch garnizoen)
gangster	samseng	preman (from the Dutch vrijman or free man), gengster (from English)
general (military)	jeneral	jenderal
ginger	halia	jahe
golf club (stick)	kayu golf	pemukul golf, tongkat golf
government	kerajaan (derived from raja or "king") - Indonesian word for "kingdom"	pemerintahan (used in Singapore to refer to government. In Malaysia and Brunei understood but less frequently used)
governor	gabenor, yang di-pertua negeri/negara (in Malaysian state)	gubernur (from Dutch gouverneur)
graduate	siswazah, sarjana	lulusan, sarjana
grandfather	datuk	kakek, opa (from Dutch)
Greece	Greece	Yunani (from Arabic Yūnān يونان)
head office	ibu pejabat (in Indonesia means "female officer" or "mother of an officer")	kantor pusat (from Dutch)
headscarf	tudung	kerudung, jilbab
healthy	sihat	sehat
herb	herba	jamu (in Malay and another definition in Indonesian, means "to treat, to entertain guests")
hospital	hospital	rumah sakit (literally means "sick house", from Dutch ziekenhuis. The word is still used in Brunei to refer to hospital but in Malaysia, the term 'hospital' is more prevalent since the mid-sixties))
maternity hospital	hospital bersalin	rumah sakit bersalin
I	saya, aku	saya, aku, gue (slang, informal)
Hungary	Hungary	Hongaria (influenced by Dutch Hongarije)
ice	ais	es
ice cream	ais krim	es krim
Iceland	Iceland	Islandia
illegal drugs	dadah	narkoba -an acronym for NARKotika dan OBat-obatan terlArang (narcotics and illegal drugs), napza -an acronym for NArkotika, Psikotropika dan Zat-zat Adiktif (narcotics, psychotropics, and addictive chemical substances)
image	citra (also used in Indonesian), imej, gambar	citra (as in Borrman image or corporate image), gambar (pictorial image), foto (photographic image)
immigration	imigresen	imigrasi (from Dutch immigratie)
import	import	impor
impotence	mati pucuk, impotensi, lemah syahwat	impotensi (from Dutch impotentie), lemah syahwat
ink	dakwat (from Arabic)	tinta (from Dutch tinte)
installment (payment)	ansuran	angsuran, cicilan
insurance	insurans	asuransi (from Dutch assurantie)
international	antarabangsa	internasional, antarbangsa
internet cafe	kafe internet, kafe cyber	warnet (short for "warung internet", "warung" is from Dutch "waroeng")
Ireland	Ireland	Irlandia
Italy	Itali	Italia
Japan	Jepun	Jepang
Jordan	Jordan	Yordania (from Dutch Jordanië)
journalist	wartawan	wartawan, jurnalis
June	Jun	Juni (from Dutch juni)
July	Julai	Juli (from Dutch juli)
late; a title refers to a respected person who had passed away	allahyarham (male); allahyarhamah (female)	almarhum (male); almarhumah (female) (used in Malaysia for royalty), mendiang (both sexes, usually used for non-Muslim), anumerta (from Sanskrit; usually reserved for hero, high-ranked military officer and royalty)
lane (roads/highway)	lorong	jalur lalu lintas (traffic) -modified version of jalur (track), (lajur is understood but not frequently used in Malaysia while jalur is used in Malaysia to mean stripe or band. e.g. broadband = jalur-lebar)
lawyer	peguam	pengacara (used in Malay to mean 'master of ceremony'), advokat (from Dutch advocaat)
Lebanon	Lubnan	Lebanon
lemon	lemon, limau	jeruk limun ('jeruk' used in Malay to mean 'pickle')
liabilities	liabiliti	pasiva (from Latino-Dutch passiva), kewajiban
licence	lesen	izin, lisensi (from Dutch licentie)
lift, elevator	lif	lift
lime (fruit)	limau	jeruk limau (not to be confused with jeruk nipis- the tiny lime for sambal)
Lisbon	Lisbon	Lisabon (as in Dutch Lissabon), Lisboa (as in Portuguese), Lisbon
Lithuania	Lithuania	Lituania
local	tempatan	setempat, lokal
magistrate	majistret	hakim (from Arabic حكم, used in Malay to mean judge)
male	lelaki, laki-laki, jantan (for animals, sometimes used as a derogatory term on men)	pria, lelaki, laki-laki, cowok (colloquial), jantan (plants-animals only)
malfunction	rosak, mati, tak berfungsi	malfungsi, kegagalan pemakaian (failed inner workings), rusak, mati, tak berfungsi
March	Mac	Maret (from Dutch maart)
mattress	tilam	kasur, matras
mathematics	matematik, ilmu hisab	matematika
mean verb	bererti	berarti
medication	ubat	obat
minibus	bas mini	mikrolet, angkot (short for angkutan kota), minibis (Dutch pronunciation)
minute	minit	menit
Mrs (married woman)	puan	Ibu, nyonya (from Dutch), puan (less frequent now)
mobile phone, cellphone	telefon bimbit, telefon tangan	telepon selular (ponsel), telepon genggam, hand-phone (HP) (colloquial, pronounced Ha-pey)
Monday	Isnin	Senin
money	wang, duit	uang, dana (used in Malay to mean 'funding'. In Indonesian, the actual meaning of 'dana' is 'fund' but it may also refer to 'money'), duit (slang, from Dutch duit)
mortgage	gadai janji	hipotik (from Dutch hypotheek)
motorcycle	motosikal	motor, sepeda motor (literally "motor bicycle", as in Dutch motorfiets)
music	muzik	musik
naked	bogel (means "short" in some local Indonesian dialect- it is a common Javanese word), telanjang	telanjang, bugil (slang, from Javanese)
national	kebangsaan (used in Indonesian to mean "nationality"), nasional	nasional, kebangsaan(e.g.,'lagu kebangsaan' means 'national anthem')
natural	semulajadi	alami
newspaper	surat khabar (coined from two Arabic words, ṣūrat - صورة / صورت 'form, appearance' and khabar خبر 'news')	koran, surat kabar (more formal)
New Zealand	New Zealand	Selandia Baru
noisy	bising, kecoh, memekak	berisik, ramai, bising (also means "buzzing"), ribut
Norway	Norway	Norwegia (influenced by Dutch Noorwegen)
not	tidak, tak (informal), endak (sabah language)	tidak, tak (rarely used - usually for the same usage as non-), nggak (slang), gak (slang - chat word)
number	nombor	nomor, nomer (from Dutch nummer)
nurse	jururawat	perawat, suster (from Dutch)
office	pejabat	kantor (from Dutch kantoor)
officer	kaki tangan (hands and leg in Indonesian)	pejabat
official (adj.)	rasmi	resmi (from Arabo-Persian rasmi رسمي)
orange (fruit)	oren, limau	jeruk, limau
orange (colour)	jingga, oren	jingga, oranye (from Dutch oranje)
order	order, perintah	order (from Dutch), perintah
Palestine	Palestin	Palestina
papaya	(buah) betik	(buah) pepaya
parliament	parlimen	parlemen (from Franco-Dutch parlement)
party (political)	parti	partai (from Dutch partij)
passport	pasport	paspor
pavement, sidewalk	jalan pinggir, jalur jalan untuk pejalan kaki, laluan jalan kaki, kaki lima	trotoar (from Franco-Dutch trottoir)
penis	zakar (from Arabic ذكر "male"- this word is extremely vulgar in Indonesian), batang lelaki, konek (slang)	alat kelamin laki-laki, kemaluan lelaki, burung (vulgar), titit (children's slang like "pee-pee"), kontol (slang, vulgar)
percent	peratus	persen, per seratus
pharmacy	farmasi	apotek (from Dutch apotheek), farmasi (usually for medicine manufacturers)
photograph	gambar, foto	foto, potret (from Dutch, means "portrait" in English)
pickpocketnoun	penyeluk saku	copet (contraction of colong dompet- wallet thief), pencopet
pirate (maritime)	lanun	bajak laut, perompak (means "robber" in Malay)
pipe	paip	pipa
platform (train)	platform	peron (from Franco-Dutch perron)
Poland	Poland	Polandia
police	polis	polisi (from Dutch politie)
post code	poskod	kode pos
prayer (Islam)	solat, sembahyang	salat, shalat, sholat (from Arabic, 'sh' is usually pronounced as 's'), sembahyang
prayer room (Islam)	surau	surau, musala, mushollah (from Arabic, 'sh' is usually pronounced as 's')
pregnant	mengandung, hamil (formal, from Arabic حامل), berbadan dua	mengandung, hamil, berbadan dua, bunting (informal)
press	media massa, surat khabar (see above)	pers (from Dutch), media massa
Private Limited Company	Sendirian Berhad abbreviated as Sdn Bhd (suffix)	Perseroan Terbatas abbreviated as PT(prefix)
prostitute	pelacur	pelacur, Wanita Tuna Susila (WTS) (Sanskrit, pronounced 'way-tay-es', i.e. "moral-less women"), Pekerja Seks Komersial (PSK) (formal, pronounced 'pay-es-ka' (commercial sex workers)), perek (slang)
province	wilayah (used in Indonesian to mean 'region'), daerah	propinsi, provinsi (from Dutch provincie)
push, to (door)	tolak (used less primarily in Indonesian to mean 'subtract', it also means 'to refuse/reject', also common meaning in Malay when used in arithmetics)	dorong (means "to push" in Malay, but often used to mean "to support")
rabbit	arnab (from Arabic)	kelinci
rape	rogol	perkosa
raspberry	rasberi	frambus, frambosen (from Dutch framboos)
receipt	resit, penerimaan	kuitansi, kwitansi (from Dutch kwitantie), struk
refrigerator	peti sejuk (rarely used in Indonesian)	lemari es, lemari pendingin, kulkas (from Dutch koelkast)
religion	ugama	agama
restaurant	kedai makan, restoran	restoran, rumah makan, kedai makan (rarely used now)
rob	rompak (Indonesian for "to commit piracy")	rampok, rampas
room	bilik (usually used to mean "compartment" in Indonesian), kamar(formal), also used in Indonesian	kamar (from Dutch "kamer"), ruang (Javanese, for storage areas etc.)
roundabout (traffic)	bulatan e.g. Bulatan DBP in Kuala Lumpur pusing keliling (in Brunei)	bundaran e.g. Bundaran HI in Jakarta
rubber	getah	karet
sauce	sos	saos, saus (ultimately from French sauce), bumbu
salty	masin	asin
school (Islamic)	pondok	pesantren, pondok pesantren
science	sains	sains, ilmu (from Arabic 'ilm), iptek (an acronym for "Ilmu Pengetahuan dan Teknologi", which literally means "science and technology")
Scotland	Scotland	Skotlandia
secret	rahsia	rahasia
secretary	setiausaha	sekretaris
session	sesyen	sesi
sewer	saluran najis, saluran kumbahan	selokan, parit (means 'ditch' in Malay), got, saluran air/pembuangan
shampoo	syampu (from Anglo-Indian / Hindustani chāmpo, the imperative form of (Hindi) चाँपना chāmpnā 'to smear, knead the muscles, massage')	sampo (via Dutch)
shirt	baju (also in Indonesian but more generally refers to clothes)	hem, kaos, kemeja (from Portuguese camisa)
shoe	kasut	sepatu (understood but less frequently used in Malaysia, from Portuguese sapato)
shop	kedai (less common in Indonesia)	toko
Slovakia	Slovakia	Slowakia
snow	salji	salju (from Arabic 'thalj')
sodomy	liwath (from Arabic)	sodomi
sour	masam	asam, masam (obsolete, usually used in connotative expression: bermuka masam: sour faced (unsatisfied/unhappy expression))
soya beans	kacang soya	kacang kedelai
speak/talk	berbicara, bercakap (means 'to chat' in Indonesian), bersembang, berborak	berbicara, ngomong (Javanese ngoko, colloquial)
Spain	Sepanyol	Spanyol
spoon	sudu	sendok
sport	sukan	olahraga (means "athletics" in Sanskrit and Malay)
stadium	stadium	stadion (from Dutch "stadion")
station	stesen	stasiun (formerly spelled "setasiun")
state within country	negeri	negara bagian
stop (verb)	berhenti	stop, berhenti
strawberry	strawberi	stroberi, arbei (from Dutch aardbei)
stupid	bodoh, bengap, tolol, bongok (slang)	bodoh, dungu, tolol, goblok (slang), geblek (slang), bego (slang)
Sunday	ahad (rarely used in Indonesia)	hari minggu (from Portuguese Domingo (Lord's Day) (minggu is used for week i.e. 7 days)
Sweden	Sweden	Swedia
Switzerland	Switzerland	Swiss
tapioca	ubi kayu	tapioka, tepung singkong
tap water	air paip	air keran, air ledeng (from Dutch leiding, "ledeng" also means "plumbing")
taxi	teksi	taksi
teacher	cikgu, guru	guru (from Sanskrit)
teacher (religious, Islam)	ustaz, ustad (ultimately from Persian استاد)	ustad
telephone	telefon (formerly talipon)	telepon, telpon, telfon
terrorist	pengganas	teroris (from Franco-Dutch terrorist)
testicles	buah zakar, testis, buah keranjut	biji kemaluan, buah zakar (slang, vulgar), kanjut (slang, vulgar)
traffic jam	kesesakan lalulintas, jam (slang)	macet
turn	pusing (means to spin in Indonesian, commonly used to mean dizzy as a short form of kepala pusing), belok	belok, putar
television	televisyen, TV	televisi (from Dutch televisie) , TV
tofu	tauhu	tahu
toilet	bilik air, tandas	kamar kecil, toilet, WC (pronounced 'we-se') for watercloset)
towel	tuala (from Portuguese toalha)	handuk (from Dutch handdoek)
Thailand	Negara Thai, Siam, Thailand	Thailand, Siam, Muangthai used in old scripts
ticket	tiket	tiket, karcis (from Dutch kaartje)
tyre	tayar	ban (from Dutch "[auto]band")
train	keretapi, tren	kereta, kereta api, kereta rel listrik (KRL) (commuter train)
transsexual	pondan, bapok, transseksual	transseksual, waria (polite), bencong, banci
tree	pokok, pohon	pohon
try	cuba	coba
turkey (bird)	ayam belanda	ayam kalkun, kalkun from Dutch kalkoen
ugly	hodoh, buruk	jelek, buruk
Ukraine	Ukraine	Ukraina
uncle	pakcik	paman, oom or om (derived from Dutch, pronounced and sometimes spelt as oom)
university	universiti	universitas
until	sehingga, sampai	hingga, sampai
United States of America (USA) also the United States (US)	Amerika Syarikat	Amerika Serikat (AS), Amrik (acronymic slang)
vagina	faraj (from Arabic, in Indonesian means vulva), pepek/pepet (slang)	alat kelamin wanita, liang pernakan, vagina, farji, memek (slang, vulgar), pepek (slang, vulgar)
very	sangat, amat, sekali	sangat, amat, sekali, banget (from Javanese ngoko)
vice president	naib presiden	wakil presiden ('wapres')
victim	mangsa	korban
virgin	(anak) dara, (anak) gadis	perawan (formal), gadis, (anak) dara
voucher	baucer	vocer
want	mahu	mau
warden	warden, penjaga penjara	sipir penjara (from Dutch cipier)
website	laman web	situs web
weekend	hujung minggu	akhir pekan, akhir minggu
well (water hole)	perigi	sumur, perigi (rarely used)
when	bila, apabila, ketika	kapan, bilamana, bila, ketika
window	tingkap (also used in Indonesian but less common), jendela	jendela (from Portuguese janela)
wire	dawai, wayar	kawat (e.g. copper wire), kabel (e.g. electrical wire, cable)
you	anda (very formal), awak, kamu, kau	Anda (everyday formal), kamu (for very familiar people only), engkau ('kau) (prose), elu/loe (very vulgar Betawi slang)
zoo	zoo, taman haiwan (kebun binatang was also frequently used in Malaysia before the mid-sixties)	kebun binatang (derived from Dutch dierentuin (animal garden), taman margasatwa (more formal form for zoological park)

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	Malaysian meaning	Indonesian meaning
ahli	a member (of a group) (when the word is used by itself) (from Arabo-Persian "ahli" اهلی 'belonging to a group, people, indigenous or sim.'), expert in a field (from Arabo-Persian "'aqli" عقلی 'belonging to the intellect or mind, intellectual')	expert in a field
akta (from Latino-Dutch acta)	act (= law)	act (= written legal document)
awak	you (casual)	shipper
baja	fertilizer	steel Malaysian: besi waja
banci	census	effeminate, transvestite homosexual
bandar	city	port
bapa	father (male parent)	specific to 'Father' (God) in religious context (Christianity) our Father which art in Heaven = Bapa kami yang di surga . Father in Indonesian is bapak (with an additional 'k' letter')
belanja	to treat, giving something for free	to shop (note: also carries this meaning in Malay, though in a context more akin to "spend".)
berbual	to chat	to tell a lie
bercinta	in (the essence of) love	make love, have sexual intercourse
beredar	From the root word "edar" which can means; to oscillate (planets only), to leave, or to distribute	distributed
biji	seed	seed, testicles ("balls", offensive)
bila	when	if, when (older version, almost obsolete)
bisa	venom	can/able (same as "boleh" in Malay), venom
bontot/buntut	buttock	tail ('ekor' as commonly used in Malay)
budak	kid	slave
butoh/butuh	male genitals, an offensive reference	need
cadangan	suggestion, opinion, proposal (example: peti cadangan = suggestion box)	reserve, spare (example: ban cadangan = spare tire)
comel	cute, pretty	(to call) someone who can not keep a secret (example: mulutnya comel= her mouth can't keep a secret)
daripada	A preposition that carries 5 meanings; 1. from (to explain the origin of something) 2.than (to do comparison) 3.from (to protect from, to avoid from ) 4. from (to state the sender of something) 5. from (to state the differences)	than (comparison)(example: Kamus ini lebih baik daripada yang itu= This dictionary is better than that one)
doktor	doctor (paramedic); doctorate (educational title)	doctorate (educational title) In Indonesian, the equivalent for paramedic doctor is dokter
duduk	to sit, a place to live on (only used informally)	to sit
email	electronic mail (recently changed to "emel")	enamel
gampang	bastard from 'anak gampang' lit. easy child	easy (non negative meaning)
getah	rubber, plant sap	plant sap
hemat	moral excellence	frugal, pennywise, save money or something e.g. electricity, gas or water usage
jabatan	department	position
jawatan	position	department
jemput	invite, pick up	pick up
jeruk	pickles/preserved fruits or vegetables	oranges
jimat	frugal, pennywise, save money or something e.g. electricity	amulet (the Malaysian equivalent is azimat)
kacak	handsome	ber-kacak pinggang (stands with hands on your hips) The Malaysian equivalent is bercekak-pinggang, a phrase to mean that a person is being bossy
kakak	elder sister	elder sibling (either elder brother or sister)
kakitangan	employee	subordinate (with negative meaning)
kapan	or kafan: Muslim burial shroud (kain kafan/kapan)	when (kapan mau pulang?= when do you want to go home?)
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)	kingdom
keranjang	'bola keranjang' = basketball (no other use than for basketball)	basket
kereta	car	train
khidmat	service	fully concentrate
koneksi	'konek' = dick (slang/vulgar)	connection
konfeksi	A soft solid made by incorporating a medicinal substance or substances with sugar, sirup, or honey	clothing industry, any fancy or luxurious women's clothes (Dutch: confectie. A non-standard spelling sometimes used is: "konveksi")
lucu	funny	funny, cute (slang)
mangsa	victim	prey for animal
operasi	mathematic operational symbol, tactical operation	mathematic operational symbol, police operation, operation/surgery (as in Dutch)
pajak	to mortgage, pawn	tax
paket	packet	packet, package (normally used for promotion purposes, as in Dutch)
pantas	speedily	appropriate, 'no wonder'
pantat	buttock (Sabahan Malay meaning), vagina/pussy (slang/vulgar)	buttock
pelan	plan (associated with architectural work, site map etc. only)	slow (perlahan in Malay)
pejabat	office	high-rank officer/officials (those who hold office, Malay (pegawai))
pemerintah	ruler	government
pengajian	studies	mass recitation of Qur'an
percuma	free of charge percuma can also mean free of charge in Indonesian, but its usage has become obsolete, replaced by cuma-cuma	useless, not needed
peti sejuk	refrigerator	cold Coffin
piawai	standard; correct bahasa piawai = standard language	expert; skillful (on something)
pijat	bugs (software bugs i.e. Year 2000 bug and also commonly referring to the bed bugs)	massage Javanese pijet
pohon	tree, to plea or to beg (from basic word: "mohon")	tree
pokok	tree	essential, basic, main kebutuhan pokok = essential necessities
polis	police	(insurance) policy (as in Dutch)
polisi	policy	police (as in Dutch)
punggung	buttock	back
pupuk	to nurture	fertilizer (also means 'to nurture' in the metaphorical sense of the word)
pusing	to go around a place, circular in motion, to spin/rotate	dizzy, confused, headache
putera	prince	son
rambut	hair (for head only)	hair
tambang	fare	mine, rope, passenger, fare
tandas	toilet	to explain, to finish
senang	easy	happy, relax
seronok	good, enjoyable	impolite, pornography-related gambar seronok = porn picture
sulit	confidential, difficult	difficult
wakil	representative	vice (for example, 'vice chancellor' and 'vice president'), representative

The Influence of English

One of the most important aspect in differences between Indonesian and Malaysian language is the degree of influence from English. Apart from being heavily influenced by the Dutch language, Indonesian language also adopted a significant number of English loan words in its vocabulary. There have been many changes in Indonesian language as a result of its historical development. Words have been freely borrowed from English and only partly assimilated, in many cases, to the Indonesian patterns of structure.^[1] By the late 1970s, English words pouring into the language, leading one commentator, writing in 1977, to refer to the "trend towards Indo-Saxonisation".^[2] A great many borrowings from English sometimes fulfill no communicative need, expressing concepts adequately covered by existing words. Among the examples are: akurat, beside tepat (accurate), aliansi, beside sekutu (alliance), eksis, beside ada (exist), kandidat, beside calon (candidate), konklusi, beside kesimpulan (conclusion) kontaminasi, beside pencemaran (contamination), opini, beside pendapat (opinion) and opsi, beside pilihan (option). On the other hand, in absorbing the numerous xenisms or loan words from English, Malaysian Malay has shown a remarkable resilience, despite being the former colony of British empire.^[3]

Some in Indonesia view this trend of excessive borrowings as "language dynamism", while some Malay linguists called it mass "language pollution",^[4] and lack of creativity in creating new terms.

Example

The original text in Indonesian:

^[5] Apabila peraturan pakta stabilitas Eropa dihormati sampai ke detailnya, rasio utang publik dibanding produk domestik bruto pada hari krisis akan berada di posisi 10 persentase poin kurang dalam zona euro, katanya.

The same text rendered in Malaysian:

Apabila peraturan pakatan kestabilan Eropah dihormati sehingga ke perinciannya, nisbah hutang awam berbanding keluaran dalam negara kasar pada hari krisis akan berada di kedudukan 10 titik peratusan kurang dalam kawasan euro, katanya.

English translation:

If the European stability pact rules been respected to the details, the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product on the days of crisis would have been at the position 10 percentage points less in the eurozone, he said.

Table of comparison

English	Indonesian	Malaysian
Abortion	Aborsi, also used: Pengguguran kandungan	Pengguguran
Accurate	Akurat, more commonly used:Tepat	Tepat
Alliance	Aliansi, more commonly used:Sekutu	Sekutu
Alloy	Aloi	Pancalogam
Administration	Administrasi	Pentadbiran
Apartment	Apartemen	Pangsapuri
Application software	Aplikasi	Perisian penggunaan
Architecture	Arsitektur	Seni bina
Association	Asosiasi	Persatuan
Assumption	Asumsi	Andaian
Astronaut	Astronot, also used Antariksawan	Angkasawan
Athletics (sport)	Atletik	Olahraga
Baseband	Baseband	Jalur asas
Basketball	Basket	Bola keranjang
Board of directors	Dewan Direktur	Lembaga Pengarah
Binary numeral system	Biner	Perduaan
Business	Bisnis	Perniagaan
Capacitor	Kapasitor	Pemuat
Censor	Sensor	Tapisan
Career	Karier	Kerjaya
Chaos theory (math)	Teori Chaos	Teori kekacauan
Cavalry	Kavaleri	Pasukan berkuda
Census	Sensus	Banci
Central bank	Bank sentral	Bank pusat
Civil	Sipil	Awam
Circuit switching	Circuit switching	Pensuisan litar
Circuit	Sirkuit	Litar
Claim	Klaim	Tuntutan
Clarification	Klarifikasi	Penjernihan
Committee	Komite	Jawatankuasa
Commission	Komisi	Suruhanjaya
Commissioner	Komisaris	Pesuruhjaya
Complaint	Komplain	Aduan
Compiler	Kompilator	Penyusun
Confirmation	Konfirmasi	Pengesahan
Constitution	Konstitusi, more commonly used: Undang-Undang Dasar	Perlembagaan
Consumption	Konsumsi	Perbelanjaan
Corporation	Korporasi	Perbadanan
Corruption	Korupsi	Rasuah
Conclusion	Konklusi, more commonly used:Kesimpulan	Kesimpulan
Condensation	Kondensasi	Pemeluwapan
Conference	Konferensi	Persidangan
Conservation	Konservasi	Pemuliharaan
Construction	Konstruksi	Pembinaan
Contamination	Kontaminasi, more commonly used:Pencemaran	Pencemaran
Continuous function	Fungsi kontinu	Fungsi selanjar
Conversion	Konversi	Penukaran
Criminal	Kriminal, more commonly used: Penjahat	Jenayah
Crucial	Krusial	Genting
Decimal	Desimal	Perpuluhan
Department	Departemen, also used: Jurusan (for department in University)	Jabatan
Depression (psychological)	Depresi	Kemurungan
Detail	Detil, also used:Rinci	terperinci
Detection	Deteksi	Pengesanan
Deputy	Deputi, more commonly used: Wakil	Timbalan
Design	Desain, also used:Rancangan	Reka bentuk
Discussion	Diskusi	perbincangan
Disinfectant	Disinfektan, also used:Sucihama	Penyahjangkit
Efficiency	Efisiensi, also used: Kemangkusan	Kecekapan
Elasticity (economy)	Elastisitas	Keanjalan
Embargo (political science)	Embargo	Sekatan
Energy	Energi, also used: Tenaga	Tenaga
Erosion	Erosi,more commonly used: Pengikisan	Hakisan
Estimation	Estimasi, more commonly used: Perkiraan and Dugaan	Jangkaan
Evaluation	Evaluasi, more commonly used:Penilaian	Penilaian
Evacuation	Evakuasi, more commonly used: Pengungsian	Pemindahan
Excess	Ekses, more commonly used:Berlebihan	Lebihan
Expose	Ekspos, more commonly used:Paparan	Pendedahan
Execution	Eksekusi	Hukuman mati
Exploration	Eksplorasi, also used: Penjelajahan	Penjelajahan
Facility	Fasilitas	Kemudahan
Federation	Federasi	Persekutuan
Fermentation	Fermentasi, also used:Peragian	Penapaian
Financial Ratio	Rasio finansial	Nisbah kewangan
Fungus	Fungi	Kulat
Fusion	Fusi	Pelakuran
Global Positioning System	Sistem Pemosisi Global	Sistem Kedudukan Sejagat
Governor (state)	Gubernur	Yang Dipertua Negeri
Gradation	Gradasi	Pemeringkatan
Gross domestic product	Produk domestik bruto	Keluaran dalam negara kasar
Group (mathematics)	Grup	Kumpulan
Hexadecimal	Heksadesimal	Perenambelasan
Hybrid (biology)	Hibrida	Kacukan
Impotent	Impotensi, also used: Kemandulan	Kemandulan
Inductor	Induktor	Peraruh
Injection	Injeksi, more commonly used:Suntikan	Suntikan
Instant	Instan	Segera
Introspection	Introspeksi	Kaji diri
Intelligent	Intelijen	Risikan
International	Internasional	Antarabangsa
Intervention	Intervensi, more commonly used: Campur tangan	Campur tangan
Invasion	Invasi, more commonly used: Serangan	Penaklukan
Investment	Investasi, also used:Penanaman modal	Pelaburan
Irrigation	Irigasi	Pengairan
Goal Keeper	Kiper, also used: Penjaga gawang	Penjaga gol/penjaga gawang
Guarantee	Garansi, more commonly used:Jaminan	Jaminan
Incineration	Insinerasi	Penunuan
Legislative	Legislatif	Perundangan
Liquidity (economy)	Likuiditas	Kecairan
Local area network (LAN)	Local area network	Rangkaian kawasan setempat
Military	Militer	Ketenteraan
Mass	Massa, also used: Kelembaman	Jisim
Matter	Materi	Jirim
Manufacturing	Manufaktur	Pengilangan
Mediation	Mediasi, more commonly used:Penengah	Pengantaraan
Mental arithmetic	Aritmetika cepat, also used: Mencongak	Congak
Memory card	Kartu memori	Kad ingatan
Malpractice	Malpraktik	Penyelewengan
Management	Manajemen	Pengurusan
Manager	Manajer	Pengurus
Military	Militer	Ketenteraan
Navigation	Navigasi	Pandu Arah
Negotiation	Negosiasi, more commonly used:Perundingan	Perundingan
Octal	Oktal	Perlapanan
Option	Opsi, more commonly used:Pilihan	Pilihan
Opposition	Oposisi	Pembangkang
Organization	Organisasi	Pertubuhan
Oscillation	Osilasi, also used: Ayunan	Ayunan
Oven	Oven	Ketuhar
Parallel port	Port paralel	Port selari
Patient	Pasien	Pesakit
Patrol	Patroli (for police and military), Ronda (for civilian)	Ronda
Percent	Persen	Peratus
Periodic table	Tabel periodik, also used: Tabel Berkala	Jadual berkala
Pollution	Polusi, more commonly used:Pencemaran	Pencemaran
Portion	Porsi	Sebahagian
Publication	Publikasi, more commonly used:Terbitan	Penerbitan
Precipitation (meteorology)	Presipitasi (meteorologi)	Kerpasan
Prediction	Prediksi, more commonly used:Ramalan	Ramalan
Premature	Prematur, also used: Dini	Pramatang
Preposition	Preposisi, also used: Kata Depan	Kata sendi nama
Privatization	Privatisasi	Penswastaan
Producer	Produsen	Pengeluar
Programming	Pemrograman	Pengaturcaraan
Property	Properti	Harta
Propulsion	Propulsi	Perejangan
Prostitution	Prostitusi, also used: Pelacuran	Pelacuran
Pulse	Pulsa	Denyut
Random-access memory (RAM)	Random access memory	Ingatan capaian rawak
Ratio	Rasio, also used: Nisbah	Nisbah
Real estate	Realestat	Hartanah
Recession (economy)	Resesi	Kemelesetan
Read-only memory (ROM)	Read only memory, also used in some textbooks: Memori Hanya Baca	Ingatan baca sahaja
Reclamation	Reklamasi	Tebus guna
Refraction	Refraksi, more commonly used: Pembiasan	Pembiasan
Renovation	Renovasi, also used:Perbarui	Pengubahsuaian
Research	Riset, more commonly used:Penelitian	Kajian
Retailing	Ritel, also used: eceran	Peruncitan
Resistor	Resistor	Perintang
Ring (mathematics)	Ring, 'Gelanggang' is also used in some Mathematics textbook	Gelanggang
Rumour	Rumor, also used: Desas-desus, Kabar angin, Kabar burung	Khabar angin
Routing	Routing	Penghalaan
Router	Router	Penghala
Secretary	Sekretaris	Setiausaha
Sensor	Sensor	Penderia
Sexagesimal	Seksagesimal	Perenampuluhan
Site	Situs, also used: Laman	Laman
Sublimation (phase transition)	Sublimasi	Pemejalwapan
Survey	Survei	Tinjauan
Supervision	Supervisi, more commonly used: Pengawasan	Penyeliaan
Supermarket	Supermarket	Pasar raya
Solution	Solusi, also used:Pemecahan	Penyelesaian
Specialist doctor	Dokter spesialis	Pakar perubatan
Standard	Standar	Piawai
Tank	Tank	Kereta kebal
Terrorism	Terorisme	Pengganasan
Transportation	Transportasi	Pengangkutan
National Team	Tim Nasional (Timnas)	Pasukan Kebangsaan
Team	Tim	Pasukan
Tornado	Tornado	Puting beliung
USB flash drive	USB flash drive	Pemacu kilat USB
Verb	Verba, more commonly used:Kata Kerja	Kata kerja
Verification	Verifikasi	Pengesahan
Visit	Wisata	Pelancongan
Viscosity	Viskositas	Kelikatan
Violet (color)	Violet, also used: Ungu, Lembayung	Lembayung
Volume (math)	Volume	Isi padu
Volleyball	Bola Voli	Bola tampar
Wide area network (WAN)	Wide area network	Rangkaian kawasan luas

Dynamic-adaptivism vs Resilience-conservatism

Further information: List of loan words in Indonesian

Further information: Indonesian slang

The Indonesian language is highly adaptive to foreign influences, in contrast to the resilience and conservatism demonstrated by the Malay language.^{[citation needed]} This is due to historical formation of each of these languages; the Indonesian language, although based upon the Sumatran Riau Malay language, is actually a newly generated generic, inclusive and open language. It is constantly enriched by both Indonesian regional languages and dialects (such as Javanese, Sundanese, Batak, Minangkabau, to Betawi) and by foreign languages (such as Sanskrit, Chinese, Persian, Latin, Dutch, French and English). As a result it is common to have multiple synonyms of a word that already has its own initial Malay word. It is also possible that new specific meanings or connotations were generated for newly adopted words. For example the words pustaka (from Sanskrit), kitab (from Arabic), and buku (from Dutch) all originally mean "book", however more specific use of these synonyms developed: pustaka is more eloquent, have poetic quality and associated to culture and literature, kitab is associated with law and religious scripture, while buku is more common and neutral word for book. The same case also evident in the word gita (from Sanskrit), tembang (from Javanese), and lagu (original Malay word), all words mean "song" but each has developed specific usage. This highly adaptive nature has caused Indonesian language to evolve much more faster and vibrant than Malay language. For example the current Malay vocabulary is actually very similar to Indonesian language in mid 20th century to several decades ago.^{[citation needed]}

Indonesian language is a dynamic language evolving continuously and vigorously. The spearhead of its evolution today is the Indonesian youth through Indonesian slang, influenced heavily by Betawi language; the regional language of capital city Jakarta, and English. Never considered as a standard and formal Indonesian — Indonesian slang — the language of Indonesian youth, are widespread within Indonesian popular culture; music, cinema and TV drama. Indonesian youth is at its most creative and dynamic when dealing with subjects such as social life, relationships, love and sex. The way young Indonesians communicate with each other is vibrant, creative, dynamic and, above all, fun. Young people in Indonesia practise and propagate the youth style of Indonesian as an expression of their identity and as a means to build solidarity with their peers.^[6] Indonesian slang had gave another complexity and depth to understand popular language and culture of Indonesia, thus add another differences and rift with Malay language. Nevertheless the standard Indonesian are always expected to be used in formal occasions, by government, academic communities and medias.

Convergence of vocabulary

The rift of evolution on both languages is actually based upon political nouance and the history of its formation than cultural reason, as the result there is different views on regarding each other languages among Malaysians and Indonesians. In Malaysia, the national language is Malay; in Indonesia, it is Indonesian. The Malaysians tend to assert that Malay and Indonesian are merely different varieties of the same language, while the Indonesians tend to treat them as separate — albeit related — languages. The result of this attitude is that the Indonesians feel little need to synchronise their language with Malaysia and Brunei, whereas the Malaysians are keener to coordinate the evolution of the language with the Indonesians.^[7] However both parties had realize the communication benefits of mutually comprehensive and intelligible shared languages among them, which motivated the efforts to synchronize the languages developments. The effort to synchronize both languages evolution to be more intelligible has been embarked by imposing standard rules of language, by Pusat Bahasa in Indonesian side and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in Malaysian counterpart.

The Malay language in Malaysia is not pervasively used in all spheres of life compared to Indonesia. Competition from the English language, the emotional attachment of Malaysian Malays to the language and the desire by non-Malays to preserve the use of their native languages are probably the reasons for this state of affairs. As a result, the Malay language in Malaysia is not as dynamic as Indonesian in Indonesia (note that the Malay language in Indonesia is considered as a regional language) in the introduction of new words through adaptation from other languages especially English. Many Malays are adverse to adopting English words. They rather prefer to find obscure Malay words or words from the Malay archipelago that are equivalent to the English term.^{[citation needed]}

Sample

Indonesian text sample

^[8] 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 kumpulan instruksi atau pengajaran yang lengkap. Maksudnya, ensiklopedia adalah sebuah sarana pendidikan lengkap yang mencakup semua bidang ilmu pengetahuan. Seringkali ensiklopedia disalahartikan sebagai kamus. Hal ini disebabkan karena ensiklopedia-ensiklopedia awal memang berkembang dari kamus-kamus.

Malaysian text sample

^[9] Ensiklopedia, 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 daripada bahasa Yunani εγκύκλιος παιδεία, egkyklios paideia (a circle of instruction) yang bererti sebuah lingkaran atau pengajaran yang lengkap. Ini bermaksud ensiklopedia itu merupakan sebuah pendidikan sempurna yang merangkumi semua aspek ilmu pengetahuan. Seringkali ensiklopedia disalahertikan sebagai kamus. Mungkin ini kerana ensiklopedia-ensiklopedia awal memang berkembang daripada kamus.

Approximate English equivalent

Encyclopedia, or occasionally spelled encyclopaedia, is a collection of books containing explanations and facts about all branches of science that are compiled briefly and compactly according to the alphabet or according to the category.

The word 'encyclopedia' is derived from Greek, ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία (enkyklios paideia), which literally means a circle of instructions or a complete teaching. It means the encyclopedia is a complete educational material which includes the whole aspects of science. Encyclopedias are often confused with dictionaries. This is probably due to the fact that early encyclopedias were actually developed from dictionaries.

Trivia

During the May 1998 Reform in Indonesia, when calls for political reform (Indonesian: reformasi) culminated in the resignation of President Suharto (and thus the fall of the New Order (Orde Baru)), Malaysian satirists Instant Cafe Theatre Company lampooned a government broadcast in which "Malaysians are reminded that reformasi is an Indonesian word, which has no equivalent in Malaysian language." This "soft propaganda" is no doubt a deliberate attempt by the Malaysian government to suppress the oppositions in Malaysia and to prevent any reformasi-inspired movements from happening in Malaysia.

References

1. ^ Roderick Ross Macdonald (1976). Indonesian reference grammar. Georgetown, USA: Georgetown University Press. p. 2. ISBN 9780878401635. 
2. ^ James Sneddon (2003). The Indonesian Language: Its History and Role in Modern Society. University of New South Wales Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0868405988. 
3. ^ Seong Chee Tham (1991). A Study of the Evolution of the Malay Language: Social Change and Cognitive Development. Singapore: Singapore University Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-9971691363. 
4. ^ "Bahasa Melayu dan Bahasa Indonesia". Berita Harian. 2008-03-19. http://www.dbp.gov.my/klikdbp/klikdbp3mac8.pdf. Retrieved 2011-02-09. 
5. ^ Antara News - Draghi: Krisis Zona Euro Berisiko "Sistemik"
6. ^ Inside Indonesia, Indonesian Youth
7. ^ Who is Malay?, July 2005
8. ^ From the article about Encyclopaedia on the Indonesian Wikipedia, version 15:14, 21 Agustus 2006
9. ^ From the article about Encyclopaedia on the Malaysian Wikipedia, version 21:41, 5 Oktober 2005

External links

• The Malay Spelling Reform, Asmah Haji Omar, (Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society, 1989-2 pp. 9–13 later designated J11)
• The MALAY LANGUAGE in MALAYSIA and INDONESIA: from lingua franca to national language Asmah Haji Omar article in The Asianists' ASIA