Our (Singapore) Malaysian translation language

If you want to do business in Singapore, it’s important to know something about the language that is spoken in the country. Malay (sometimes called Malaysian) is an official language in Singapore and it is a difficult language. There are three other official languages, English, Mandarin Chinese and Tamil. If you are planning to do business in Singapore, it is advisable to have documents translated into Malay. Our agency has years of experience of translating which means that we can offer you tremendous support by translating your documents out of, and into, Malay. If you are curious, feel free to get in touch with one of our project managers or ask for a no-obligation quotation.

Malay

Malay is an Austronesian language. The name of this language family literally means ‘islands of the southern winds’ The languages are spread across many different islands in South-East Asia. Singapore has 63 of these islands. The Malay spoken in Singapore is practically the same as that spoken in Malaysia and Indonesia, although the latter two countries have agreed a standard Malaysian that doesn’t apply in Singapore. In Singapore, the language is called Bahasa Melayu, which roughly translated means ‘Malaysian language’.

Many varieties

Malay is spoken by 77 million people, of which about five million speak the Singaporean variety. The difference between standard Malaysian and Singaporean Malaysian can be ignored for all practical purposes and is comparable to regional varieties of English. There are different varieties of Malay all over the world. The language is very old which has given rise to those varieties, usually influenced by local languages. This is how the Malay arose that is spoken in Singapore.