What is the difference between Indonesian and Malay?
Two standardised forms of the same language. Mutually intelligible for most purposes, with different vocabulary in specialised fields.
Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) and Malay (Bahasa Melayu) both derive from the same Malay source and are close enough that speakers of one generally follow the other without study.
The differences are mostly lexical and reflect colonial history. Indonesian absorbed a substantial Dutch vocabulary; Malaysian Malay absorbed English. So technical, administrative and academic terms often diverge even where everyday words are identical.
Both use the Latin alphabet, both are subject-verb-object, and both have unusually approachable grammar for English speakers: no verb conjugation, no grammatical gender, and plurals often formed by simple reduplication.
Side by side
| Indonesian | Malay | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing system | Latin | Latin |
| Reading direction | Left to right | Left to right |
| Language family | Austronesian | Austronesian |
| Word order | subject-verb-object (SVO) | subject-verb-object (SVO) |
| Speakers | Approximately 43 million native speakers, but over 200 million speakers as second language throughout Indonesia. | Approximately 290 million speakers, including those who speak Indonesian as a standardized form of Malay, making it one of the most spoken languages in the world. |
- โ Same writing system โ text from one looks familiar to readers of the other.
- โ Same language family โ expect shared vocabulary roots.
- โ Same word order โ sentences keep their shape between them.
The same phrases in both
Nothing shows how close two languages are like seeing identical meaning rendered in each. These are independent translations of the same English source.
Greetings
| Indonesian | Malay |
|---|---|
| Halo | Hello |
| Selamat pagi | Selamat pagi |
| Selamat siang | Selamat petang |
| Selamat malam | Selamat malam |
| Selamat tinggal | Selamat tinggal |
| Sampai jumpa lagi | Jumpa lagi nanti |
| Sampai jumpa besok | Jumpa esok |
| Selamat datang | Selamat datang |
| Bagaimana kabarmu? | Apa khabar |
| Saya baik-baik saja, terima kasih | Saya sihat, terima kasih |
Courtesy
| Indonesian | Malay |
|---|---|
| Tolong | Tolonglah |
| Terima kasih | Terima kasih |
| Terima kasih banyak | Terima kasih banyak-banyak |
| Sama-sama | Anda dialu-alukan |
| Ya | Ya |
| Tidak | Tidak |
| Permisi | Maafkan saya |
| Saya minta maaf | Saya minta maaf |
| Tidak masalah | Tiada masalah |
| Tentu saja | Sudah tentu |
Introductions
| Indonesian | Malay |
|---|---|
| Siapa namamu? | Siapa nama awak |
| Senang bertemu denganmu | Selamat berkenalan |
| Dari mana asalmu? | Awak dari mana? |
| Berapa usiamu? | Berapa umur awak? |
| Saya seorang pelajar | Saya seorang pelajar |
| Saya di sini sedang berlibur | Saya di sini sedang bercuti |
| Saya di sini untuk bekerja | Saya di sini untuk kerja |
| Ini temanku | Ini kawan saya |
Numbers
| Indonesian | Malay |
|---|---|
| Satu | Satu |
| Dua | Dua |
| Tiga | Tiga |
| Empat | Empat |
| Lima | Lima |
| Enam | Enam |
| Tujuh | Tujuh |
| Delapan | Lapan |
| Sembilan | Sembilan |
| Sepuluh | Sepuluh |
In practice
For general text, translating into one serves readers of the other reasonably well. For official, legal or technical material, pick the right target โ the terminology genuinely differs.
Other comparisons
Method and limitations
The structural rows โ writing system, family, word order, speaker numbers โ are taken from each language's own entry in our language data. The assessment of mutual intelligibility is editorial: it reflects the general consensus, and intelligibility always varies by speaker, dialect and exposure.
The phrase comparison uses the same 116 seed phrases translated into every language we support, so the two columns are independent translations of identical English source text rather than one translated through the other. Those translations are machine generated; the sample skips any row where one side repeats an earlier row, since a collapsed translation shows nothing useful.