Malay is the one to learn if you're moving to Kuala Lumpur or your family is Malaysian, while Duolingo has a course for Indonesian and none for Malay.
Most of the gaps are in the words, especially the ones each language borrowed.
| Malay | Indonesian | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it's official | Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore | Indonesia, with about 260 million speakers, most of whom also have a local mother tongue |
| Police | polis, from English | polisi, from Dutch |
| Car | kereta | mobil, since kereta means a train |
| One and a half | 1.5, with a decimal point | 1,5, with a decimal comma |
A shared spelling system arrived in 1972 and removed most of the old spelling gaps, like Malay ch and Indonesian tj, which both became c.
A few words look the same but mean something else across the border. In Malay, percuma means free of charge, but in Indonesian it means pointless, and Indonesians say gratis instead. In Indonesian, polis is an insurance policy, not the police.
For Malay or Indonesian, the U.S. Foreign Service Institute (FSI) sets aside 828 class hours, about 36 weeks of full-time study, so its students can use the language at work.
| Study per week | FSI full-time course, Malay or Indonesian (828 hours) |
|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 4 years 6 months |
| 7 hours | About 2 years 3 months |
| 14 hours | About 1 year 2 months |
| 28 hours | About 7 months |
A Malaysian university's intensive course has six levels of 100 hours each, as how long it takes to learn Malay shows.
| If you want to… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Live in Kuala Lumpur or Penang | Malay |
| Work in Brunei | Malay |
| Spend time in Bali or Jakarta | Indonesian |
| Watch Indonesian films and series | Indonesian |
Malay: Morning Greetings
Perbualan Pagi
Good morning, how are you?
Good morning, I am well. Thank you.
See you again.
See you again.
Indonesian: Good Morning
Selamat pagi
Good morning!
Good morning! Do you want some coffee?
Yes, I want some coffee.
Here is the coffee. Please go ahead!
Thank you! See you later.
You're welcome! See you later.
Both lessons open with Selamat pagi, the same good morning in Malay and Indonesian. Bubblegum, a language app, has a journey for each, with lessons by Poppy, your AI tutor.
Bubblegum
Bubblegum is the best app for serious learners. You learn from text and audio you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Poppy can write you a lesson about a market in Penang or a beach in Bali, at your level.
- Malay lessons are set in Malaysia and use the words people say there.
- Malay news comes from Malaysian outlets and Indonesian news from Indonesian ones, rewritten at your level.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Bubblegum can't make lessons out of a Malay or Indonesian novel you bring. When a sentence in it stumps you, Poppy breaks it down once you paste it to her.
- 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 Malaysians Understand Indonesian?
Generally, yes, but not every word. In a 1998 test, Malaysian students of Malay found about 30% of the items in Indonesian newspapers odd, unusual or unclear.
Which App Should a Beginner Choose?
If you are serious about learning a language, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. More options are in the best apps to learn Malay and the best apps to learn Indonesian.
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
- Wikipedia, Comparison of Indonesian and Standard Malay (two standardised varieties of Malay, Indonesian official in Indonesia and Malaysian Malay in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore; generally mutually intelligible, with differences in spelling, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary and the main source of loanwords; English-influenced and Dutch-influenced romanisation, unified in 1972, when Malay ch and Indonesian tj both became c; Indonesian uses a decimal comma and Malay a decimal point; a 1998 test by Asmah Haji Omar found 30% of the items in Indonesian newspapers odd, unintelligible or unusual to Malaysian Malay linguistics students)
- Wikipedia, Indonesian language (about 80 million first-language and 180 million second-language speakers, 260 million in all, by the 2025 census and Ethnologue)
- Wiktionary, polis (Malay: police, borrowed from English; Indonesian: insurance policy)
- Wiktionary, polisi (Indonesian: police, borrowed from Dutch politie)
- Wiktionary, kereta (Malay: car; Indonesian: train)
- Wiktionary, mobil (Indonesian: car, short for otomobil, from Dutch automobiel)
- Wiktionary, percuma (Malay: free of charge; Indonesian: pointless, wasted)
- Wiktionary, gratis (Indonesian: free, without charge)
- Duolingo: course list (read October 24, 2026; an Indonesian course for English speakers and none for Malay)
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (Category II: Indonesian and Malay, about 36 weeks or 828 class hours, for an ILR 3 in speaking and listening)
- Bubblegum
Checked on October 5, 2026 against each app's own pages.
