Each full-time week of Malay at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has about 23 hours of class, and students study about 17 more hours on their own.
A course in Malaysia breaks the work into smaller pieces. At Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), each of the six levels of the intensive Malay course has 100 hours, including 20 hours of cultural activities such as workshops and trips.
Here is each total at a few amounts of study a week, rounded to the nearest month:
| Study per week | UKM Levels 1–2 (200 hours) | All six UKM levels (600 hours) | FSI full-time course (828 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 1 year 1 month | About 3 years 3 months | About 4 years 6 months |
| 7 hours | About 7 months | About 1 year 8 months | About 2 years 3 months |
| 14 hours | About 3 months | About 10 months | About 1 year 2 months |
| 28 hours | About 2 months | About 5 months | About 7 months |
These totals are teaching time only, so time you study alone comes on top.
Each of these six levels of Malay comes with something you can try out for yourself.
- Level 1
I'm just starting out or know only a few words.
Say Selamat pagi (good morning), and order a drink at a café.
- Level 2
I can handle simple exchanges.
Ask and answer short questions about your family or a price.
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Follow two friends chatting about food or work at the speed they really talk.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Watch a Malaysian drama with Malay subtitles and catch most of each scene.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Read news articles, and look up only the rare words that hold up a sentence.
- Level 6
I can read almost anything.
Read novels, and enjoy a fast talk show for its own sake.
At the Coffee Shop
Amir went to the coffee shop.
Good morning, uncle, the table is clean.
Good morning, don't be shy.
Don't forget to sit down.
Poppy, your AI tutor, wrote this lesson in Bubblegum, a language app with Malay lessons at six levels.
The next steps for every level are in how to learn Malay, step by step. For the parts of Malay that take the most practice, read is Malay hard to learn?
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Malay. You learn from Malay you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
- Lessons fit your level, interests, and goals.
- Read and listen to news and stories in Malay about things you care about.
- Ask Poppy about a sentence while you read.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, so you review them by reading. You can also export them to Anki.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Malay novels and blogs you found can't become lessons. Paste a passage into the chat, and Poppy explains it line by line.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Can I Learn Malay in a Year?
At 3 to 5 hours a week for 52 weeks, you study about 156 to 260 hours. That's close to the 200 hours of UKM's first two levels. Pick something you can try at the end of the year, like ordering a meal and chatting with the cook, and use the fastest way to learn Malay to split each hour.
Which Malay App Should a Beginner Choose?
If you are serious about learning Malay, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. For classes, tutors and dictionaries, see the Malay app comparison.
Is Bubblegum Free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (Category II, about 36 weeks or 828 class hours, includes Malay, German, Indonesian and Swahili; timelines for an ILR 3 in speaking and listening; a typical week is 23 hours in class and 17 hours of self-study)
- Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Institute of the Malay World and Civilization (ATMA), Malay Language Proficiency Intensive Course brochure (six levels of 100 hours each)
