Bahasa Malaysia / Melayu vs Bahasa Indonesia

I must say even after a few Indonesian trips, my Indonesian vocabulary is still close to non-existant 😅. Plus, my friend R wants to brush up on his Malay now that he didn't have much practice after he returned to Bandung for several years now 😂.

I'm not sure if I've documented this is in writing before but I've been telling this to friends as an example.

On my first ever trip to Bali back in 2018, we were having breakfast at the hotel, when I asked the waiter for a sudu.

Waiter: Apa itu sudu?
Me: Err, spoon.
Waiter: Oh, senduk

I told R, mak I marah kalau makan dengan senduk (my mom would scold me if we eat with a laddle 😅)
R: Itu senduk lauk, ini senduk makan 

LOL 😂

Sometimes English is a better common ground to get the word across. Hahaha.

Here are some common words that may lead to the "Apa itu?" (What's that?) question.

Malaysian Indonesian English Remark
tualahanduk towel -
comel lucu cute comel in Indonesian means to nag, I think
pelik aneh weird aneh and ganjil are also synonyms in Malay, but they are more formal
kurangkan kelajuan kurangkan kecepatan slowdown -
tandas toilet / WC toilet -
sinki wastafel sink classic English vs Dutch
kepala paip / pili keran tap or faucet
8 setengah setengah 9 8:30 one could either be late or early if they got the timing all wrong 😁
petang sore afternoon
terdedah kepada tanah runtuh rawan longsor prone to landslides

"Tewas" means "lost" in Malay, like in a badminton match. Tewas in Indonesian is "died" 🙊

When it comes to abbreviated words, it is limitless for Indonesian people 😄. We have only a handful when compared to Indonesians. Is it hard to keep up as Indonesians? 😁 Let me give you examples. Just a few. Some are formal and some aren't. Some are new and some aren't.

Abbreviation Actual phrase English
Lantatur Layanan Tanpa Turun Drive through
Rubanah (formal) Ruang Bawah Tanah Basement
Potram Potong rambut Cutting hair
Batagor Bakso Tahu Goreng
binor bini orang someone's wife
pelakor perampas laki orang
cipiki cipika cium pipi kiri, cium pipi kanan kiss the left cheek, kiss the right cheek
akamsi anak kampung sini native or local. but can be use as a derogatory remark


Indonesians are exposed to the Malaysian "Upin Ipin" cartoon series. So at times they would mimic the dialogs along with the intonation 😁.
Tugas Bomba lebih daripada itu, Bomba ni penyelamat; kucing atas pokok, kerbau masuk parit, kuda terlepas, ular dalam rumah, semua kami selamatkan


There's one more thing that my Indo friends also like to say.  "Lepas tu?" "Three"😆. It was from one of those viral videos that an uncle was having an argument with a food delivery guy 🙊

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