Learn Malay

Start at the alphabet

The Malay on-ramp is written by hand, not generated, and it is 194 cards long. Every card is spoken in a recorded Malay voice, and what you get right is scheduled for review rather than shown again at random. This is the shorter, starter size of on-ramp; most languages here have about 480 cards.

• 26letters
• 10digits
• 18pronunciation rules
• 100core words
• 20everyday phrases
• 20sentences

Three of the pronunciation cards, exactly as the on-ramp teaches them:

• e pepet — the DEFAULT e, and the one to assume: a quick, weak schwa, the “uh” of “about”. It is in emak, berat, sedap, kereta, sebelas, terima — most e’s in most words. It is never stressed and never heldsedap — delicious — the word you will say most often in Malaysia
• e taling — the other e: an open “e” as in “bed”, fuller and longer than the schwa. A much smaller set of words — meja, ekor, elok, teh, leher — but they are common onesmeja — a table
• kereta — so which one? Nothing in the spelling tells you — this is the only place Malay makes you guess. Two practical rules cover almost everything: assume the schwa unless you have heard otherwise, and in a word with two e’s the first is usually the schwa. kereta holds both, plus a final -a schwa: “kə-RE-tə”. And perang is the famous pair — “pərang” is war, “perang” is brownperang — war — or brown, depending on which e you say

Your first Malay phrases

The first phrase and sentence cards of the on-ramp, each spoken in a recorded voice:

• Apa khabar? A-pə KHA-bar — how are you? (literally “what news?”)
• Khabar baik, terima kasih. KHA-bar BAIʔ, tə-RI-mə KA-sih — I’m fine, thank you
• Siapa nama awak? si-A-pə NA-mə A-waʔ — what is your name?
• Nama saya Aisyah. NA-mə SA-yə ai-SYAH — My name is Aisyah.
• Saya dari England. SA-yə DA-ri ENG-land — I am from England.

What Malay actually costs a beginner

That ambiguity is the letter e, which is either the weak schwa of e pepet or the open eh of e taling, and nothing written tells you which. It matters: perang with one is war and with the other it is brown. Two practical rules cover most of it — assume the schwa unless you have heard otherwise, and in a word with two e's the first is usually the schwa — and the on-ramp teaches them on the words they apply to, each spoken in a recorded Malay voice, because this is the one place Malay makes you guess.