Malay Language Translation Services

 

An Accent on Accuracy

The highest quality translations, brisk turnaround schedules, competitive rates, and sharing of our knowledge, are all requisites for ALT's success. The complete and accurate translation of your company's communications is vital to your success. That's why ALT is obsessed with providing the best translators for YOUR project. High-quality translations are the product of a highly talented and experienced translation team with expertise in your industry. ALT puts all the pieces together to make it happen.

Why choose us for English to Malay or  Malay to English Translation?

Advanced Language Translation’s Professional Malay translation services utilize only native speakers to ensure quality and precision translations for your target audience. The ability to translate from/into Malay requires not only a strong knowledge of the Malay language, but also the diverse cultures of the Malay-speaking world, as well as an understanding of the target audience, purpose of the source text and technical aspects of written Malay.

When doing business in Malay, professional, human translation is a must. Do not expect to close a business deal or impress your clients with spotty software translation. Only through human translation, edited and customized to your target audience, can your meaning be honestly conveyed and your audience not be offended.

We are proud of our excellent reputation for reliable and high quality Malay to English and English to Malay translation services. We have assembled teams of translators from around the world, with an array of skills and specialties and can custom fit the knowledge and strengths of our teams to your specific projects. To demonstrate our commitment to quality and our dedication to our clients, we offer free consultations and provide an industry leading 180-day warranty on translation!

We provide quick and easy custom quotes for your Malay translation and localization needs.

Need to get the “gist” of Malay?

Although professional translation is highly recommended for any business, legal or sincere correspondence in Malay, sometimes it’s necessary to use machine translation (via software or the internet) to get the gist of an e-mail or web page. By no means is machine translation an acceptable substitute for professional translation—the technology is not there yet. But it is great for quickly getting the general idea of an article, e-mail, or web site.

Interesting Facts about the Malay Language

 Malay is considered an official language of Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia and East Timor, although the official name of the language varies by country.

Among Malay youth, the language has evolved by incorporating foreign words which are not familiar to older generations of Malay. Code switching, especially in Kuala Lumpur has created several hybrid languages of Malay and English, such as Bahasa Rojak and Manglish. The main difference between the two has to do with the language that serves as its base language, with Bahasa Rojak based in Malay, and Manglish based in English.

English has borrowed several words from Malay, including gecko, sarong, orangutan and bamboo.

History of the Malay Language

Malay belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian subfamily of the Austronesian language family. Other languages in this family are Malagasy, Javanese, Palauan, as well as languages in the Philippines. Although these languages are mutually unintelligible, there are striking similarities. Many of the roots have remained unchanged, with many cognates found between them.

The earliest written variant of Malay appeared about 1,500 years ago. Old Malay was written in Rencong, Pallava and Kawi scripts, which were used extensively with Sanskrit. In the 1500s, Malay was used as a language to spread Islam throughout the region, and therefore underwent radical changes with the addition of Arabic, Persian and Hindi loan words. In addition, a modified Arabic script, Jawi, began to be used to write in Malay. The earliest manuscript that exists today was written in Jawi during the 1600s. Later, Portuguese, Dutch and English words were also incorporated into Malay after Dutch scholars translated the Bible into Malay to spread Christianity throughout the region.

In the mid 1950s, national agencies began to establish regulations for the standardization of Malay. Currently, the Malaysian language is regulated regionally by the Brunei Darussalam – Indonesia – Malaysia Language Council, as well as country specific regulating bodies, such as the Institute of Language and Literature in Malaysia and Pusat Bahasa in Indonesia.

Written Language

Malay uses two writing systems. Most commonly, Malay is written using the Latin alphabet, called Rumi. Rumi is the official writing system in Malaysia and Singapore, while a different official orthography, still using Rumi, is used in Indonesia. There is also a modified Arabic script that is called Jawi. Jawi is only co-official in Brunei, and it is not used as extensively despite recent efforts to preserve and revive its use. Traditionally, there were several other scripts, called Pallava, Kawi and Recong. These were used to write Old Malay before the introduction of Arabic into the region, and later, the Latin alphabet.

Malay Language Statistics

• In addition to the 20-30 million native speakers of Malay, there are 3 million second language speakers.
• Malay is the official language in Singapore, where there is a literacy rate of 85% in a second language.

 

Translation and Localization Issues with Malay

Advanced Language Translation Inc has extensive experience with the in and outs of the Malay Language and we have a long and flawless record of success with complicated Malay translation projects. 

As there are several dialects of Malay, one of the major issues when translating into Malay is determining the locale in which it will be used. While stemming from the same language, Bahasa Malay and Bahasa Indonesia vary in spelling, pronunciation and vocabulary. Even some words that are used in both dialects have drastically different meanings. For example, pengajian in Bahasa Malay means ‘education’ while in Bahasa Indonesia, it is a ‘mass recitation of the Quran.’

Apart from the Indonesian and Malaysian variations, there are other dialects that are mutually unintelligible when spoken. These regional variants are critical to consider when taking on a Malay translation or localization project. This being the case, it is imperative to choose the region in which the translation will be used and determine the function of the translation before beginning the translation process.

Depending on the project and script in which the text is being written, there can be issues in terms encoding the text properly in websites and for correct display on computer screens. Since Malay typically uses the Latin script, there are less issues; however, any use of more traditional scripts must be handled carefully during the Desktop Publishing process to ensure the correct display of information.

Malay Language Vital Information

Speaking Population: 20-30 Million 
Where Spoken: Malaysia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, southern Thailand, southern Phillipines, East Timor 
Writing Systems:  Latin 1 (Rumi), Arabic script (Jawi), historically written in Pallava, Kawi and Recong scripts 
Code Pages: Windows-1252 (Latin) Windows-1256, win-1251 CP-1256 (Jawi) 
Unicode Supported: Yes 
Common Phrases: (phonetic pronunciations in parentheses) 
      Malay:  Bahasa Melayu (ba-ha-sa meh-lie-you) 
      Hello:  helo (he-lu) 
      Good-bye:  selamat tinggal (suh-la-mat ting-gal) 
      Please:  sila (see-la)
      Thank you:  terima kasih (tuh-REE-ma ka-see) 
      English:  Inggeris (ing-gur-is)  
      Yes: ya (yah)   
      No: tidak (tih-dak)