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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Book, June 30, 2004
This review is from: Malay for Everyone: Mastering Malay Through English (Pelanduk Pocket) (Paperback)
This book is one of the best available in a concise format for English speakers to learn Malay, the language spoken in Malaysia and Indonesia (with some minor variation). I lived in Malaysia almost four years and formally studied Indonesian at the university level for over three years on a language fellowship. With that background, I can say that this is the most useful single text I have seen. The organization is very clear and logical, explanations are sharp and crisp, there are plenty of succinct examples, the exercises are practical and accessible, and the vocabulary covered is excellent for everyday life. The organization also allows you to pick and choose what you want to concentrate on, i.e. to devise your own organization to some extent.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Choice, September 10, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Malay for Everyone: Mastering Malay Through English (Pelanduk Pocket) (Paperback)
I spent 6 months in South East Asia and was determined to master the Malay Language. As you may know both the Malays and the Indonesians speak a very similar language known as Bahasa.If you want to learn the Malay 'Bahasa Malaysia' then this book is perfect. It takes you through a number of lessons and by the end you really have a good grasp on this simple language. By taking the courses again and again and thus repeating the book you can develop a stronger handle on Bahasa and you are then ready to start practising! Bahasa Malayu (Malay) is very useful when in SE Asia in Malaysia and Singapore. Some Indonesians will be able to understand but you may need to adjust some words and pronounciations - similar to two people one from the UK and the other from the US with a strong American accent. Good Luck.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
takes you to a high level but has a few problems, June 8, 2010
This review is from: Malay for Everyone: Mastering Malay Through English (Pelanduk Pocket) (Paperback)
Overall I think this book delivers what it claims to do: teach modern Malay to a high functional level.
There are 48 lessons in the book, most are only a few pages long which is ideal for busy people who only have 15-20 minutes to spend each day. (Note: my edition is the one printed in year 2000.)
All chapters have excercises in the form of translations, and in a few chapters you get other types of exercises as well. In the whole book you learn between 2000-2500 words, which means that you will be well into intermediate-level Malay by the time you finish the book.
The chapters are arranged according to grammatical concepts: pronouns, adverbs etc. Just like the vocabulary the grammar taught covers boths basics and intermediate-level forms. So this book goes a long way in that it actually takes you from the basics to not far from advanced, technically speaking that is.
The vocabulary is quite modern and includes such things as: 'computer mouse, compact disc, laser disc,
comic book, marketing, internet etc'. The vocabulary is mainly aimed at practical use, for actually living in Malaysia.
But the book has a few problems:
1: the pronunciation guide is incomplete and I advise the buyer to look for more information on the web about it.
For example it shows the reader that the letter e has two sounds - 'e' as in bed, and 'ur' as in 'fur' - but in the rest of the book there is no indication of what the correct sound is when the letter e appears in a word.
One solution is to use a dictionary published before the 1972 Malaysian spelling reform - because in dictionaries and textbooks published before 1972 the letter e had a symbol above it to show that it was pronunced as 'ur' (if there was no symbol it was pronunced as 'e'). Amongst other things, the reform removed this symbol (in order to simplify writing).
A good dictionary I use is Winstedt's An Unabridged Malay-English Dictionary, those by Wilkinson are also good: An abridged Malay-English, English-Malay dictionary, as well as older Indonesian dictionaries such as Wojowasito's Kamus umum lengkap, Inggeris-Indonesia, Indonesia-Inggeris: Dengan ejaan yang disempurnakan because back then the two languages were more similar. Of-course any dictionary printed before 1972 should do the job. Obviously these older dictionaries don't include modern words such as those above, but there is not much option.
2: since the book aims to teach Malay as quickly as possible it does not explain the grammar as thoroughly as I would have liked it to.
3: I doubt that the book is significantly faster to work through than others because the chapters are very uneven in the amount they cover - some are short and simple with not much vocabulary, others cover alot of grammar and alot of words, so the speed of progress will be uneven.
4: in the exercises you are sometimes asked to translate words and use grammatical forms that have not been presented before, and worse yet is that some of these words are not even listed in the glossary
5: finally, the book covers almost nothing about Malay culture, and so you do not learn the context of many of the words and expressions used. The older books on Malay that I mention below have signifcantly more detail on both culture and context.
It is mainly points 1 & 4 that makes me withold a star in my rating, because I think they are the most problematic for users.
I still recommend 'Malay for Everyone' to those who wish to reach a high level of Malay relatively quickly and want to focus on modern usage and the core functional parts of the language - it is ideal for those planning a longer vacation in Malaysia or is set to work there for a few months. For business people in particular, this book is a very good option.
It is also the best modern and non-academic book on Malay that I have seen: compared to Colloquial and Teach Yourself Malay it covers significantly more grammar, is easier to use, is more "professional", and is often much more affordable. So if you are choosing between them my advice is easy, get 'Malay for Everyone'.
However, I do not recommend this book for those who want to:
1. learn Malay as thoroughly as possible
2. learn Malay because it is interesting and fun and are not in a hurry
3. understand the cultural context of Malay
For such a learner I recommend older books such as those by Andrew King - Speak Malay, and Write Malay: An Introduction to the Modern Written Language for English-speaking Malaysians- or the classic book by M.B. Lewis - Teach yourself Malay (The EUP teach yourself books). These older books have the pre-1972 Reform spelling where the correct sound for the letter e is shown in the script, they also explain the grammar much more thoroughly as well as the cultural context of the language. The books by King in particular are very good on cultural/social context. My suggestion is to learn the basics from these older books and use 'Malay For Everyone' afterwards to revise your knowledge and to learn modern vocabulary from, that is the best path in my opinion.
Regardless of purpose, 'Malay for Everyone' has a place in the bookshelf of any learner. Also, a good book to continue with afterwards is Bruce Gale's book Mastering Malay: A Guide to Reading Malay Newspapers(also published by Pelanduk). ublished by Pelanduk).
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by Alan M. Stevens
