Bahasa Anyone?

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Bahasa Anyone?

By McElroy Translation,
Austin, Texas 78701 USA

quotes at mcelroytranslation com
http://www.mcelroytranslation.com/

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Recently we have had a surge in requests for Indonesian and Malaysian for use in Bahasa. One of our Malaysian translators has provided clarification for our clients. "Bahasa" is not, in fact, another location or country, it simply means "language." Therefore, Bahasa Indonesia is Indonesian, and Bahasa Melayu is Malay.

There are really just two language options to consider:

- Indonesian (i.e. Bahasa Indonesia) for Indonesia;

- Malay (also called Malaysian i.e. Bahasa Melayu/Bahasa Malaysia) for Malaysia.

"The Languages of the World" by Kenneth Katzner states the following:

Indonesian is the national language of the Republic of Indonesia. When independence was declared in 1945, bahasa Indonesia ("Indonesian language") was decreed as the country's official language. Although it is the mother tongue of only 12 million people out of a population of 165 million, it is estimated that as much as three-fourths of the population now understand it. Indonesian is virtually the same language as Malay, the latter spoken in Malaysia. The principal difference is in the spelling, the Indonesian system having been developed by the Dutch, the Malay by the British.

For more information, view Bahasa Indonesia, Overview of Indonesia, and Learning Bahasa Indonesia.

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