What is the difference between malay and malaysian

The country is home to countless languages and ethnic groups with Bahasa Indonesia serving only as a lingua franca. Because of this diversity, Indonesian culture, as it were, is more open to different influences and more flexible when it comes to their language. As a result, Indonesian borrows much more heavily from other languages, both internally and globally, and is continuously infused with new words.

Malaysia on the other hand was in the past a more homogenous society. Thus, Malaysians tend towards preserving the purity of their Malay. This bears out in the fact that despite Malaysia being a former English colony, Indonesian now has more English loanwords that are used interchangeably with their Indonesian equivalent. Even when Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu do use the same words, oftentimes they have very different meanings. In Malay it means toilet.

This is just a small sample of words that could potentially cause confusion. In many other cases an innocuous word in one language is a lot less family-friendly in the other.

In Indonesia, by contrast, Bahasa Melayu refers specifically to the language of indigenous Malays, and is classified as a regional language belonging to particular regions or ethnic groups. That is to say Indonesia classifies Malay as a separate language from their national language Bahasa Indonesia. Perhaps that is the most important difference of all.

So I've edited it by adding recent links below, for those who want to know more about this thorny subject. Conclusion: This complex situation is at the root of our hesitation to use the terms "Malay" or "Malaysian". We can certainly say both, but that does not mean quite the same thing Malaysia: Peninsula and Borneo - July Travelling solo Which diving bag to travel with?

Reading Malay or Malaysian? Share Tweet. Malay or Malaysian? Share Tweet 7. Report copyright infringement. The owner of it will not be notified. Only the user who asked this question will see who disagreed with this answer. Read more comments. Malay is an ethnic or races stayed mostly in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore Malaysian are People of Malaysia with their Nationality regardless their races. See a translation.

Simplified Chinese China. Malay is one of the races in Malaysia Malaysian are the people who live in malaysia including Chinese,malays,indians and others.