Indonesian/Malay Language

Indonesia, as the biggest Muslim country in term of population, and the world's 4th most populated country is an important country, especially, in the south east asia region. Now, Indonesian language is become pretty important in the region, and hopefully, will be important in the world later. Indonesian language is similar to Malay language, so, if you can speak Indonesian language, you can talk to people in Malaysia and Singapore who speak Malay.

Some schools in Australia teach Indonesian language, and you can even apply in big universities in Australia to get a degree in Indonesian language. According to kaskus.us, more and more people are getting interested to study Indonesian language in Vietnam. In arenaonline.org, Yoon Hwan SHIN recommended Indonesian/Malay language to become the official working language of the East Asian community, because it can "contribute to narrowing and closing political, economic, and cultural gaps and discrepancies that stand in the way of integrating Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia" (arenaonline.org). Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia would be ASEAN +3.

Chinese were also recommended to be the official language, however, Indonesian/Malay language is still easier to learn. Here are some of the positive points to studying Indonesian/Malay language from arenaonline.org:

-Among thousands of languages and dozens of national languages found today in Asia, the Malay language stands out with easiness to learn, richness in vocabulary, and equality of speakers. It also has the largest numbers of speakers in Southeast Asia and, in East Asia, the second largest next only to Chinese.

-Throughout its life, Malay has been enriched by the introduction of all major civilizations with new words and expressions full of knowledge, wisdom, and beauty. Indian, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch, and English loanwords abound in contemporary Malay and Indonesian. The language will continue to adapt itself to the development of science and technology.

-Unlike languages of Mainland Southeast Asia and Chinese, Malay does not have tones. It is not a tonic language. Unlike English, stress on syllables is not distinct or not important.

-Unlike most languages, Malay verbs never change in the ending according to tense and subject. Changes between transitive and intransitive verbs are simple and consistent.

-All put together, Malay was being spoken by at most 10 million when WWII was over, while the number has grown to be now estimated at almost 300 million. It has been one of the most rapidly spreading languages in the world since World War II. Malay has now the fourth largest numbers of speakers after Chinese, English, and Hindi/Urdu.

- Over ten thousand overseas and ethnic Chinese have taken root or reside in Malay-speaking countries. They have developed their own version of Malay called Chinese Malay or Baba Malay. Now there are also found tens of thousands of Japanese and Koreans as sojourners. These groups of East Asians could play a bridging role in transmitting and disseminating Malay to Northeast Asia.

-A large number of Arab and Indian descendants, immigrants, and business people have long frequented and lived in Malaysia and Indonesia. The two countries have a larger Muslim population than West Asia (Middle East). Malaysian and Indonesian cultures have been heavily influenced by Indian and Arab worlds. Such contacts and traditions would help Malay to move beyond East Asia to the whole Asia to become a truly Asian language – and even a global language in the future.

After the whole reading, I think Indonesian/Malay language is pretty important, and luckily, it is easy to learn. So what do you think? Interested to learn more about Indonesian/Malay language?