How long does it take for an English speaker to master Malay?
A person who speaks English only, no other languages, how long do you think it will take him to master the malay language? Like for example, and english speaker can probably master spanish between 3 – 5 years because the languages are highly linked to each other.
Anyways, i guess some of you are gonna answer “depends on his or her commitment level.” or “it depends.” If you are gonna answer like that, please provide an example.
I think Spanish is easier than Malay and English.
Category: Uncategorized | Tags: English...., Long, Malay, master, speaker, take 17 comments »
March 9th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
You can master it in 20 years
March 9th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
It depends on how much you like it,how much you can spend time for it and what yiur aim of learning it is.I myself learnd speaking english as a forign language about 3 years but not compeletly.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:28 am
Most foreign exchange students will learn the Malay language through Indonesian text and it usually take them between 2-3 years to master the language. Some even picked up the accent also. My friend on the other hand mastered Malay language in 1 year through mingling with the society and he picked up some profanities also.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:37 am
Yes, English, Spanish and some other European language are cognate languages which linking to each other.
Mastering Malay? I think in about 7-10 years. My Sweden friend came here 4 months ago but now he can speaks very basic Malay. He attended BM class.
March 10th, 2010 at 1:32 am
1 year at most.
The alphabets are the same and the pronunciations are easy to master. They are spoken the way the words are written. Moreover there’s quite a lot of words that have ‘crossover’ from English (they are just spelt differently) eg. polis,komplexs,pos,skooter,
lori etc….
So it’s very easy, lah!!
March 10th, 2010 at 2:08 am
I would say learning English or Spanish is much harder than Malay. I am saying this based on my personal experience as i have learned all these languages in the past. Malay is not a tonal language, the words are pronounced as there are written. Unlike English or Spanish, there is no complicated grammar and no tenses at all. I would say Malay is one of the easiest language to master. As for the duration to master the language, yes there is no doubt it depends on one’s committment to learn the language but it also depends on whether the learner on his own or in a Malay speaking environment. If you are learning the language in classes and in a non Malay speaking environment, i would say probably you are able to speak fairly good Malay in about 2 years but if you are learning in a Malay speaking environment, with your eagerness and committment to learn the language, it would probably take you 3 months to speak passable Malay and 9 to 12 months to speak fairly.
March 10th, 2010 at 3:03 am
I know some mat salehs in the America who took Bahasa Indonesia as a second language class and I heard them speak indonesia, they were pretty good…
should take 2 or 3 years maybe….. =)
March 10th, 2010 at 3:37 am
I started picking up the language within a few days, but to become a ‘master’ could take years. It’s quite easy for me because they use the Roman/Latin based alphabet.
Saya mula faham dalam masa dua/tiga hari tapi untuk ‘master’ mengambil masa beberapa tahun. Senang untuk saya belajar sebab ia menguna Roman/Latin alphabet.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:21 am
lol sorry dude, dont know the answer! i started learning english in kindy, but speaking malay like some 15 years well before i first spoke english. but do agree with chesney, malay is not a sophisticated language to learn, in terms of writing, reading, listening, speaking. it was my most most most favourite subject back in school and i had no problem talking like an average sabahan malay person with their particular slang and accent and what not
not the kl type with a smatter of english okies (grrr hate it). it’s a shame though, it’s all put behind my mind now, but im slowly picking up again as i needed BM to communicate with my sister in law (yay yay) haha. lol sorry got carried away but i was just attempting to translate bean’s paragraph. do correct me if i was wrong.
saya mula memahami bahasa itu dalam masa dua hingga tiga hari. manakala ia akan mengambil beberapa tahun untuk meguasai bahasa melayu sepenuhnya.
what did he say next? lol cant remember. thats all
sekian terima kasih.
—
damn doesnt sound right at all
March 10th, 2010 at 5:12 am
you mean the TV speaker or hi-fi speaker?
March 10th, 2010 at 5:47 am
Can’t tell. depends if he/she have friends to speak bahasa eith everyday it should be fine to get around. But to master it. Malay language is not an easy language.
with all the begining per, pem, peng, or at the end of the word with.. kan & an…You know what I mean. So good luck to the person wish to learn bahasa.
March 10th, 2010 at 6:29 am
i think mastering malay would be easier than Spanish,not because i know malay but because reading would be possible even to a 5 year old in a day……believe it or not because malay is more simple than english you just need to know how a,e,i,o,u
sounds in malay than start reading,but actually understanding what you read would take a year,depending on how fast you remember strange sounding words……..but,even i,a guy who has been speaking malay for 13 years,cant make sense of the poetry……its like you need to be a genius to do it
March 10th, 2010 at 6:47 am
6 to 12 months.
March 10th, 2010 at 6:58 am
1 year?
malay is not that hard..
u should ask chinese language.. its hella hard
like u know .. chinese dont use a.b.c
at least malay use a.b.c
March 10th, 2010 at 7:54 am
easy to learn but difficult to master
you can understand, speak, read, and write the language within a year, it’s a very simple language compare to european language.
To master it, it’s quite difficult, need to mix around, read, research, and practise a lot with malays for many years
March 10th, 2010 at 8:46 am
It’s an individual ability to catch up with other languages … for example siamese cat can’t speak siamese language even though they are Siamese … haha
March 10th, 2010 at 8:56 am
it will take them forever since they do not need to learn it …