Speak Malay clearly: free pronunciation test

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The hardest Malay sounds for learners

• Pure vowels

  Malay vowels are short and pure, with no glide at the end: a is like the a in 'father' but shorter, i is like 'ee', and u is like the oo in 'book'. Hold each vowel steady: saya, makan, pagi, buku. Don't let o slide into 'oh-oo' as in English 'go'.

• The two e sounds

  Malay spelling uses one letter e for two sounds. The common one is a short, relaxed 'uh' called e pepet: sekejap, besar, kereta. The other, e taling, is a clear e as in 'bed': boleh, pen, telefon. Normal spelling does not show the difference, so you learn it word by word: perang (war) has 'uh', but perang (blond) has a clear e.

• The rolled R

  Malay r is a tapped or rolled r made with the tip of the tongue: rumah, Rahman, kereta. At the end of a word it is often very light or dropped in everyday Malaysian speech, so pasar can sound like 'pasa', but in careful speech keep it as a light tap.