When traveling to Kuala Lumpur there’s no excuse for not learning some of the Malay words.
There’s no replacement for picking up the basics, and you should definitely learn as much as you can and not rely on a fancy app to do the job for you.
But with a smartphone and a few translation apps, getting by in a foreign city like KL or Bangkok can be a little easier. The downside is you need an internet connection for these apps to work.
Here are a few apps to help you Malay, Mandarin (and Thai) during your time here:
1. Google Translate
Seasoned travellers will need no introduction to the Google Translate app.
You may use this app to translate your speech into Malay or vice versa, or favorite your favorite translations to get back to them later.
You can also take a photo of a sign, menu, or any other text in another language using your phone and the app can try translate it based on a selection of the text that you specify.
The app is free and supports devices running iOS and Android.
Google Translate (Android)
Google Translate (iOS)
2. SayHi Translate
This paid app supports 40 languages (including Malay) and comes with simple interface.
Here’s how it works. Instead of typing, you just push a button, speak, and push it again when you’re done.
SayHi will then translates your text, and then speaks it back to you in the language you prefer. But there is no voice support for the Malay language at the time this is written.
3.Vocre Translate
While the speech recognition in Vocre is not as good as SayHi, this app is available in both Google and Apple stores.
You just need to speak something in English the app could then say and write the same phrase in other languages you had chosen.
Unfortunately, while Vocre translates you words into Malay text, it cannot speaks in Malay right now.