Vowel, Consonant and Phonics in Malay Language

Malay language or Bahasa Malaysia is presented in the Roman alphabets which is from A to Z
Therefore, the names of each alphabet is the same as English language. 

Initially, Bahasa Malaysia was known only as Bahasa Melayu and back in the early 40's until the British colonalized Malaysia it was written in Jawi. The image below shows an example of Jawi.

 Click on each alphabet to hear how each alphabet is pronounced.

Vowels : a i u e o

Pronunciation of a i u e o

A few things to take note:

1. Differentiate sounds of the stressed "e" and unstressed "e".

Stressed 'e' or 'e' pepet ; sounds like i in "bird"

Example: menang 

Unstressed 'e' or ē  taling ; sounds like e in “hey”

Example: memang

Word that has e' pepet and ē  taling
Example : Kerepek - a type of snack in Malaysia

Image: Kerepek pisang - banana snack

2. Blending of the letters to form the common diphthongs "ia", "ai" and "ua" etc are straightforward once you know each vowel sounds.

Example: sa ba ca ka da

Consonant :  b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z

ba bi bu be bo

ca ci cu ce co

da di du de do

fa fi fu fe fo

ga gi gu ge go

ha hi hu he ho

ja ji ju je jo

ka ki ku ke ko

la li lu le lo

ma mi mu me mo

na ni nu ne no

pa pi pu pe po

qa qi qu qe qo

ra ri ru re ro

sa si su se so

ta ti tu te to

va vi vu ve vo

wa wi wu we wo

ya yi yu ye yo

za zi zu ze zo

Phonics

There are 2 major phonics that you need to be aware of:

1. ng - nga ngi ngu nge ngo

Example for ng -

mengapa means why
mengiau means cat's impersonation voice
mengomel means babbling
mengurat means hitting on girls
mengeja means spelling

2. ny - nya nyi nyu nye nyo

Example for ny -
menyanyi means singing
menyimpan means saving
menyumpah means swearing
menyekat means preventing
menyolek means make up