Malay to English Translation

 It is important to deal with linguistic and cultural differences

When translating from one language to another, it is important to keep in mind the differences between the two cultures. Malay to English translation service is no exception. 

Firstly, these two languages reflect two very different cultures. This manifests in different ways of expressing politeness, seniority, and other things. When our Malay to English translator translates between these languages, especially in a formal context, she will take note of this crucial difference.

Secondly, Malay and English belong to two different language families (Austronesian and Indo-European, respectively) and their sentence structures are very different. For instance, Malay nouns have no grammatical plural and Malay verbs are not marked for tense. To be able to translate documents from Malay to English correctly, you need to pay close attention to context and other non-grammatical markers of such things as number, tense, etc.

It is better to avoid machine translation

Online dictionaries that offer Malay to English translation software free are easily available nowadays. However, a free malay english translation tool (ie. machine translation) or an english translation tool is no match for an experienced translator. Although using a malay dictionary can easily translate separate malay words and simple phrases and sentences, it cannot possibly deal with all the nuanced meanings and differences in culture and grammar that you may encounter when you translate Malay to English in the English language. Only a human Malay translator can take into account all the context, including the level of politeness and seniority, non-verbal markers, and much more. We will also need to apply quality control to check the Malaysian to English translation for cultural accuracy.

Our translation company in Singapore employs highly qualified translators with a lot of experience in Malay to English translation service who will translate documents and other types of translated text with high-quality results.

One of the world’s top languages

With over 250 million speakers, Malay is one of the world’s most spoken languages. Around 80 million people speak it as their first language, and others as their second. Malay is spoken in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, as well as parts of Thailand.

The Malay language came into widespread use in the 15th century CE, when it was the lingua franca of the Malacca Sultanate. It still remains an important language in the region.

The lexicography of Indonesian and Malay is closely related. The Indonesian and Malay language originate from the same language called Melayu, which was the language of the people who lived on the coastal plains of east and southeast Sumatra and offshore islands. When choosing translation services between Bahasa Malaysia (bm) or Bahasa Indonesia (bi) or even bm to bi translation, you need to take note of the linguistic differences as an error in these similar languages will give your content totally different meanings!

Heavy Sanskrit and Arabic influence

The Malay language developed under the heavy influence of Sanskrit, Arabic, and Tamil. A large portion of Malay vocabulary originates from these languages.

Nowadays, Malay is mostly written in the Latin script. However, writing Malay in a modified Arabic script is also quite common.

Multiple dialects

The Malay language (Bahasa Melayu) is not one unified language. It actually includes several regional varieties with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility. Most notably, Bahasa Malaysia (generally known in Malaysia as Bahasa Melayu) and Bahasa Indonesia are both standardized Bahasa Melayu varieties.

Many people perceive these as separate languages, while these are actually varieties of Malay. There are other varieties of Malay as well. In Malay to English translation, it is important to keep in mind which of the dialects you are dealing with to be able to translate it adequately into English. A professional Malay translator, who is a native to the specific region or target market you are looking at, will greatly help you in your quest to capture market share.