Both varieties are generally mutually intelligible, yet there are noticeable differences in spelling, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary, as well as the predominant source of loanwords.
They affect the broadcasting industry with regard to foreign language subtitling, for example, in DVD movies and on cable TV.
[8] An intelligibility test was done in 1998 by Asmah Haji Omar to Malaysian Malay linguistics students with Indonesian newspapers shows the odd, unintelligible and unusual items consisted 30% of the totality.
[11][12] The term "Malay language" (Bahasa Melayu) in Indonesia and Malaysia invites different perceptions from its respective people.
Malay was designated as a national language by the Singaporean government after independence from Britain in the 1960s to avoid friction with Singapore's Malay-speaking neighbours of Malaysia and Indonesia.
During the 20th century, Malay written with Roman letters, known as Rumi, almost completely replaced Jawi in everyday life.
Likewise, the velar fricative [x] which occurs in many Arabic loanwords, which used to be written 'ch' in Indonesian, became kh in both languages.
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.
[36] Moreover, enunciation tends to be clipped, staccato and faster than on the Malay Peninsula, which is spoken at a more languorous pace.
[citation needed] Malaysian Malay has also experienced significant conservative pushback as precedent entities that existed within the British sphere made efforts to create words that would fit naturally foreign ideas of governance and thought through a Malay-oriented context.
The Pakatan Belajar Mengajar Pengetahuan Bahasa in Johore headed by Abdul Rahman Andak during the 19th century was especially important in introducing neologisms like pejabat ("office", cf.
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 Malay kualiti, kuantiti, majoriti, minoriti and universiti with Indonesian kualitas, kuantitas, mayoritas, minoritas and universitas.
[44] Conversely, where the word "banci" seems innocuous enough in Malaysia ("census"),[45] in Indonesia it is a derogatory term for "transvestite".
[46] The relatively large share of Islamic (Arabic or Persian) loan words shared by Malaysian 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 Malay or in Indonesian, e.g. khidmat, wakil.
[citation needed] One of the most important aspect in differences between Malay (Malaysian and Brunei) and Indonesian is the degree of influence from English.
Words have been freely borrowed from English and only partly assimilated, in many cases, to the Indonesian patterns of structure.
[47] By the late 1970s, English words began pouring into the language, leading one commentator, writing in 1977, to refer to the "trend towards Indo-Saxonization",[48] known in Indonesian as pengindosaksonan.
Many loanwords from English sometimes fulfill no communicative need, expressing concepts adequately covered by existing words.
There are several confusing difference in academic, scientific and legal terms between Indonesian and Malaysian Standard Malay.
[53][54] Original text in Indonesian:[55] In Malay (Malaysian and Brunei): In English: The following texts are excerpts from the official translations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Indonesian and Malay (Malaysian and Brunei), along with the original declaration in English.
The General Assembly proclaims This UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.