Malay is a member of Malayo-Polynesian language group. Other languages in this language group include Tagalog, Maori and Malagasy to name but a few.
Standard Malay is spoken mostly as a second language by Malaysians. The government of Malaysia refers to the language either as Malay (officially) or Malaysian (unofficially). “Bahasa” is simply the word “language” in Malay.
It is also spoken in Singapore and Brunei (where it is called Bahasa Melayu/Malay language) and in Indonesia (where it is called Bahasa Indonesia/Indonesian language). Bahasa Indonesia and Standard Malay are 95% similar.
The alphabet used by Malay is based on the Latin alphabet, and is referred to as “Rumi” (as in Roman).
For more information contact us here: Malay Translation Services.