Indonesian (Malaysian, Malay) | Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales

Discover the language

"The language formerly known as "Malay" is better known today as "Indonesian" (in Indonesia) and "Malaysian" (in Malaysia): these are variants of a single language, two forms of which are recognized as official languages, in Indonesia on the one hand, and in Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Singapore on the other. These countries make up the Malay-speaking world.

Malay - both the standard forms and the many dialectal variants - today unites some 260 million speakers, of whom around 60 million use it as their mother tongue, in the countries already mentioned, as well as in Timor Leste and southern Thailand.

Malaysia has long been one of the "Asian Dragons". After plantations and light industry, the country is now banking on tourism and educational engineering, in particular. The Indonesian take-off is more recent, but Indonesia is now a member of the G20, recognized as a "major emerging country" by the French government. It is also Southeast Asia's largest democracy, a country with a gigantic domestic market and a wealth of opportunities.

The Malay-speaking countries are not only home to a unique linguistic and cultural diversity, a wealth of remarkable traditions, but today their writers, creators and artists are recognized far beyond the Southeast Asian region: this is also where tomorrow's world and culture are being built.

Malay was one of the four languages included in the founding decree of Langues O' in 1795, but was not taught there until 1841. The teaching offered today in Inalco's South-East Asia and Pacific Department (ASEP) focuses on Indonesian, but Malay is also covered.

Malay is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

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Training courses

Inalco offers a complete Indonesian-Malaysian curriculum in Licence and Master. From L 2 level upwards, students of Indonesian-Malaysian have the option of entering one of Inalco's five professionalizing Bachelor's and Master's courses.

Teachers of Indonesian and Malaysian language, literature and civilization also provide supervision for Doctorates (host laboratories: CASE and CERLOM).

Inalco also offers three Diplômes de Langue et Civilisation (DLC) Indonesian and Malaysian, which are one-year diploma courses, with the possibility of direct access to levels 2 and 3, depending on candidates' language skills. The content of these courses is identical to the core curriculum of the Bachelor's degree.

All Indonesian-Malaysian Bachelor's courses are eligible for enrolment in Passeport as well as, for students enrolled at other universities, in Mineure Bachelor's and Master's courses.

Bachelor's and DLC courses in Indonesian and Malaysian language, literature and culture include language learning to a proficiency level equivalent to B 2 or higher in Indonesian and B 1 or higher in Malaysian.

Student life

The Becak! association brings together students from the section. It circulates cultural, academic and other information among them, and organizes activities throughout the year.
In addition, a number of meetings, shows, scholarships, competitions and so on, are offered by the Indonesian Embassy in Paris.

Partnerships and mobilities

Erasmus

Erasmus mobilities involve a small number of European universities, where Indonesian-Malaysian is taught at Bachelor and/or Master levels. These are mainly L'Orientale (Naples, Italy), Universiteit Leiden (Leiden, Netherlands), SOAS (London, UK), Humboldt Universität (Berlin, Germany), Goethe Universität (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) and Passau Universität (Passau, Germany).

Indonesia and Malaysia

Existing agreements between Inalco and several universities in Southeast Asian Malay-speaking countries enable Inalco students to spend a partially or fully integrated semester there:

Universitas Airlangga (Surabaya, Indonesia)
Universitas Indonesia (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (Bandung, Indonesia)
Universiti Malaya (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Universiti Putra Malaysia (Serdang, Malaysia)