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Malay | ||
Tags: Malay | Indonesian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ElComadreja Senior Member Philippines bibletranslatio Joined 7030 days ago 683 posts - 757 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog | Message 9 of 15 12 September 2005 at 6:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just started on the Pimsleur Indonesian for kicks. How close is it to languages like Tagalog & cebuano?
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| onebir Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6955 days ago 484 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin | Message 10 of 15 25 December 2005 at 3:49am | IP Logged | ||
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I just spent 2 months in Kuala Lumpur and had a look at the stuff available there. I'd recommend:
1) Speak Malay & Write Malay by Edward S King (ISBN 981 261 006 5 and 981 204 114 1) These have very short lessons based on example sentences, presented side by side with english translations, with concise explanation of the underlying grammar. The author builds up vocabulary gradually, recycling it carefully, and in Write Malay introduces the affixes gradually too - starting with the most difficult one so you get plenty of practice. Unfortunately no audio - ironically, given that the books are based on radio courses designed to popularise Malay shortly after Malaysian indepence. One flaw - the only exercises are translations + free composition 'based on what you've learnt so far'. 2) Standard Malay Made Simple by Dr Liaw Fock Hang (ISBN 981 204 212 1) Seriously flawed: the lessons are too long, vocabulary is introduced too rapidly and recycled poorly. I think this makes the book almost unusable for someone who doesn't have a significant vocabulary already. But there are very significant strong points: - text based FSI type drills & copious additional exercises - short example dialogs (the examples in (1) are too numerous to rote-learn) - gradual introduction and formal explanation of sentence structures (ie subject-predicate) - 'word formation': introduction of the Malay affixes, followed by word-by-word discussion of derivatives of the common root words - 10 reading comprehension passages (4 with english translations) - a list of about 300 high-frequency words with different Indonesian equivalents I've worked through Speak Malay - and can speak about simple things haltingly. I'm working through Write Malay and plan to follow this up with Standard Malay Made Simple - which will be much easier to follow with an enlarged vocabulary. I'm hoping to get enough audio input to improve my pronounciation & build my (very poor) listening skills using a borrowed copies of linguaphone Malay/ colloquial Malay... Edited by onebir on 25 December 2005 at 4:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| onebir Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6955 days ago 484 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin | Message 11 of 15 25 December 2005 at 3:57am | IP Logged | ||
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Incidentally, I studied some Indonesian (from the Teach Yourself book and tape) before going to Malaysia, but got really confused by:
1) differences in vocabulary 2) differences in question formation (see Chris's post above) and 3) most of all, different pronounciation. on 3) I found this very clear comparison: Descriptive study of phonological differences between bahasa Malaysia & bahasa Indonesia by Farah Eleena Mahdzan Just a pity it doesn't include any sound files... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Linas Octoglot Senior Member Lithuania Joined 6704 days ago 253 posts - 279 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Lithuanian*, Russian, Latvian, French, English, German, Spanish, Polish Studies: Slovenian, Greek, Hungarian, Arabic (Written), Portuguese | Message 12 of 15 25 December 2005 at 4:09am | IP Logged | ||
Actually not very much similarity, although some words are indeed similar. In fact, the same degree of similarity as between different branches of Indoeuropean languages(eg. Romance with Germanic or Romance with Slavic). While Cebuano and Tagalog have among themselves relationship similar as two Romance or Germanic languages. Tagalog and Cebuano have much more complicated grammatical structure than Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia. They are caracterized by the grammatical category called "focus" which means that you shall use distinct verbal forms depending on what part of sentence - subject, object, place, instrument etc. you want to emphasize, put into focus. Edited by Linas on 25 December 2005 at 4:10am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6682 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 13 of 15 16 January 2006 at 11:02am | IP Logged | ||
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I've been recently looking into learning some Malay and have bought the Lonely Planet's Malay Phrasebook to grasp some of the basics. Also, I've been checking out a great free course online at http://pgoh13.free.fr/malay_course.php for information on Malay grammar.
I'm just wondering if the rumours of Malay and Indonesian being easy languages to learn are true. One major plus point, in my opinion, is the lack of verb tenses (I hate those!) and grammatical gender. How hard has it been for you guys to learn Malay? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| andee Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6869 days ago 681 posts - 724 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Korean, French | Message 14 of 15 17 January 2006 at 2:59am | IP Logged | ||
I haven't really studied Malay, just Indonesian, but when I was in KL recently I managed to use my Indonesian - with a few altertaions - to some success. One thing is that there are a number of the Chinese Malays that don't actually speak Malay all that well; just their Chinese dialect and English. I also have an Indian Malay friend that was raised in Johor Baru and speaks only English - although I think he's a rarity. Indonesian and Malay are 'easy' languages as far as grammar is concerned, but get virtually no transparency with vocabulary (from English - or other languages aside from Arabic and the like). So basically, what you gain in grammar with regards to difficulty, you have to make up in the vocabulary department. Edited by andee on 19 January 2006 at 2:47am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Duke Groupie United States Joined 6811 days ago 76 posts - 79 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 15 of 15 18 January 2006 at 3:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Is Assimil Indonesian available for English speakers? I do not speak French.
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