Is it free to translate a Malay document to English?

You can try it free, with no account needed, and signing in gives you a larger daily allowance. Pro and Scholar are there for longer documents and regular use.

Can it read scanned or photographed Malay documents?

Yes. Upload a scanned PDF or a JPG, PNG or HEIC photo and the text is recognized before translation. Stamped certificates, laminated cards photographed flat and old typewritten records in pre-1972 spelling all work; faded stamps, embossed seals and handwritten remarks are what need checking against the original. Photograph each page straight on in even light.

How accurate is it? What is the difference between Fast and Advanced?

Fast is for a quick reading. Advanced runs a frontier model and is the tier for anything you will act on: it infers tense and number from context (Malay marks neither), picks kami or kita and the right form of 'you' (anda, tuan, puan, encik, cik) for the reader, expands acronyms like LHDN and KWSP into words, keeps titles and name particles untouched, and is far less likely to drift into Indonesian vocabulary. For certificates, contracts and academic prose, use Advanced and have a fluent reader check the critical lines.

Will the translation keep my document's original layout?

The translator produces a translated PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel or EPUB file that aims to preserve the original layout, including tables, columns and headers. Text size, fonts and line breaks may change, so review the result against the original. Malay text is usually longer than the same content in English, so the formatted output adjusts type size and line breaks to fit.

Can I use this for a visa application, a court or a government office?

Not directly. Malaysian courts and agencies generally want a translation by the Institut Terjemahan & Buku Malaysia or a translator recognized by the Malaysian Translators Association, and embassies and immigration services abroad require a certified translation with a signed statement of accuracy. Use this to understand your documents, prepare drafts and decide which pages need certifying, then have those done formally.

Is Malay the same as Indonesian, and does it matter whether my document is from Malaysia, Brunei or Singapore?

Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore share one written standard (Bahasa Melayu, called Bahasa Malaysia in some Malaysian contexts), so a translation here works in all three. Indonesian is a different standard with false friends that change meaning: kereta is a car in Malay and a train in Indonesian, pejabat an office versus an official, budak a child versus a slave, percuma free of charge versus useless, bisa poison versus 'can'. Malay borrows from English (bas, teksi, stesen) where Indonesian borrows from Dutch (bis, taksi, stasiun). If the document is Indonesian, use the Indonesian page.

What file types can I upload?

PDF, DOCX (Word), PPTX (PowerPoint), XLSX (Excel) and EPUB, plus photographed or scanned documents as JPG, PNG or HEIC. Word files keep their paragraphs and tables editable, and spreadsheets keep their cell structure. Free and Pro accept up to 20MB and 100,000 extracted characters per file; Scholar accepts up to 50MB and 1,000,000 characters.

Malay PDF & Document Translator — English ↔ Malay

Translate English to Malay or Malay to English while preserving your document’s layout. Upload your file, choose the target language, and get a natural translation that keeps the meaning of the original.

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See “Keep formatting” in action

Real examples of the “Keep formatting” option: original on the left, translated document on the right. Click either page to enlarge.

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A civil complaint filed in Mexico City, Spanish to English. Caption block, numbered pleadings, the evidence table and the signature block all keep their places. — Original — A civil complaint filed in Mexico City, Spanish to English. Caption block, numbered pleadings, the evidence table and the signature block all keep their places.

An Italian birth certificate, photographed rather than scanned. The framed masthead, the field grid, the marginal annotations and the round seal all hold their positions. — Original — An Italian birth certificate, photographed rather than scanned. The framed masthead, the field grid, the marginal annotations and the round seal all hold their positions.

A handwritten archaeological field notebook from 1974. The engine reads the hand and keeps the ruled inventory table intact. — Original — A handwritten archaeological field notebook from 1974. The engine reads the hand and keeps the ruled inventory table intact.

A handwritten archaeological field notebook from 1974. The engine reads the hand and keeps the ruled inventory table intact. — Translation — A handwritten archaeological field notebook from 1974. The engine reads the hand and keeps the ruled inventory table intact.

A German hospital discharge summary. Diagnoses with ICD codes, lab values and the medication table survive the translation unchanged. — Original — A German hospital discharge summary. Diagnoses with ICD codes, lab values and the medication table survive the translation unchanged.

A German hospital discharge summary. Diagnoses with ICD codes, lab values and the medication table survive the translation unchanged. — Translation — A German hospital discharge summary. Diagnoses with ICD codes, lab values and the medication table survive the translation unchanged.

A 1747 parish baptism register in Latin. Ruled columns, godparents and marginal notes stay aligned, so the genealogy still reads as a register. — Original — A 1747 parish baptism register in Latin. Ruled columns, godparents and marginal notes stay aligned, so the genealogy still reads as a register.

A 1747 parish baptism register in Latin. Ruled columns, godparents and marginal notes stay aligned, so the genealogy still reads as a register. — Translation — A 1747 parish baptism register in Latin. Ruled columns, godparents and marginal notes stay aligned, so the genealogy still reads as a register.

A scanned 17th-century Italian index of sermons. Two columns of dense small print, translated in place. — Original — A scanned 17th-century Italian index of sermons. Two columns of dense small print, translated in place.

A scanned 17th-century Italian index of sermons. Two columns of dense small print, translated in place. — Translation — A scanned 17th-century Italian index of sermons. Two columns of dense small print, translated in place.

How Malay documents come out

Translate a Malay PDF, Word file or scanned certificate into English, or an English document into Malay, with the layout kept. People upload a sijil kelahiran, a marriage or death certificate, SPM and STPM certificates, university transcripts, a Surat Akuan Sumpah, tenancy and sale agreements, SSM company documents, LHDN and KWSP letters, government circulars and theses, from Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. Malay output is standard formal Bahasa Melayu, the register of a surat rasmi. Indonesian is a separate language option with its own page.

Malay is written in the same 26-letter Latin alphabet as English with no diacritics, so nothing needs transliterating, and what matters is history and convention. The 1972 spelling reform shared with Indonesia (Ejaan Rumi Baharu) changed ch to c and sh to sy and dropped the ĕ of the older Za'ba spelling, so a document from before the mid-seventies reads chuba for cuba and sharikat for syarikat; personal names kept their old spellings and must stay as printed. Names follow patterns a translator must not touch: bin and binti (son and daughter of) for Malays, a/l and a/p (anak lelaki, anak perempuan) for Malaysian Indians, dialect-romanized Chinese names, and honorifics such as Haji, Dato', Datuk, Tan Sri and Tun that are titles, not first names. Official letters follow a fixed frame (Ruj. Kami, Ruj. Tuan, Tarikh; Tuan/Puan; Sekian, terima kasih) and are dense with acronyms (JPN, LHDN, KWSP, SSM, SPM, PTPTN, JPJ) that carry the meaning. Numbers use the decimal point and comma thousands (RM1,234.56), dates run day/month/year, and Islamic documents add Hijri dates. Many Malaysian and Bruneian documents are already bilingual, Malay beside English, and Jawi (Malay in Arabic script) appears on religious and Bruneian papers. Malay text usually runs longer than the English equivalent, so the formatted output adjusts type size and line breaks to fit.

Translate your document and keep its structure

The translator keeps your file’s structure while translating the text in context. The downloaded format depends on the source file.

PDFs and scanned pages: The translated PDF follows the page visually, with translated pages rendered as images. Selectable PDF text and identical fonts are not guaranteed.
Word documents and PowerPoint presentations: Start with DOCX or PPTX when you have it. Native paragraphs, table text and slide text can stay editable in the corresponding file format. Translated text inside pictures remains image content; review text wrapping and font changes in your editor.
Excel workbooks and EPUB books: Use the original XLSX or unprotected EPUB for a translated workbook or ebook. Review formulas, numbers and text cells in a workbook; check chapter order, navigation and text flow in your ebook reader.

What people translate to and from Malay

Civil, school and immigration documents

Birth, marriage and death certificates from the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara, a sijil nikah from a state religious department, MyKad details, SPM and STPM certificates and result slips, matriculation and university transcripts, a Surat Akuan Sumpah (statutory declaration), police clearance letters and Brunei identity records are translated into English for Australian, British, American, Canadian and Singaporean visa files, university admissions and credential evaluators. Many are bilingual already; the Malay-only parts are usually the stamps, remarks and cover letters. Upload the scan, use Advanced, and check that names, bin/binti and a/l particles, and identity-card numbers came through exactly as printed.

Company, tax and government paperwork

Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia records (the Section 17 notice of registration and company profiles), LHDN tax letters, Borang B and BE returns and notices of assessment, KWSP and PERKESO statements, Kastam forms, government tenders and pekeliling circulars, licences and permit conditions are all in formal Malay, and companies operating from Singapore, Australia or the Gulf translate them into English for compliance and audit. The other direction matters too: Malay is the national and official language, and while many agencies accept English, a Malay version is often required or expected for government submissions. The output is the standard official register, a draft for a local officer or lawyer to finalize.

Contracts, land and legal documents

Sale and purchase agreements, perjanjian sewa (tenancy agreements), land titles (geran and hakmilik, issued in Malay in Peninsular Malaysia), wills (wasiat) and Syariah court documents, powers of attorney (surat kuasa wakil) and court filings, since Malay is the language of Malaysian courts with English permitted, all reach people who need to know what they are signing or contesting. Read them in English before a meeting with a lawyer, or translate an English agreement into Malay for the Malaysian side as a working draft. Advanced holds defined terms and party names consistent across a long agreement.

Academic, heritage and Jawi materials

Malaysian universities produce theses and journal articles in Malay across Malay studies, Islamic studies, education, history and the social sciences, and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka publishes books and journals in it; researchers abroad upload them to read, and Malaysian students translate abstracts and coursework into English. Family papers from before 1972 arrive in the old spelling, which is read as the modern words while names stay as written. Two neighbours have their own pages: Jawi, for Malay in Arabic script (Brunei, religious texts, old letters), and Indonesian, whose vocabulary diverges enough to matter.

What to watch for in Malay document translation

The Indonesian blend is the trap specific to Malay: the two languages are close enough that generic models mix them, and the false friends are not cosmetic. Kereta, pejabat, budak, percuma, bisa, senang (easy in Malay, happy in Indonesian) and pusing (to go round, versus dizzy) each read the wrong way in a contract or a medical note. Malay marks neither tense nor plural, so sudah, telah and akan and reduplication have to be read for what they signal, and weak systems flatten everything into the English present singular. English 'we' must become kami or kita, and 'you' fans out into anda, awak, tuan, puan, encik or cik; the wrong pick makes a surat rasmi rude or a family letter stiff. Names are not to be translated: bin and binti are not surnames, a/l and a/p are legal particles, Dato' and Tan Sri are titles, and Mohd stays Mohd. Acronyms carry the meaning of most official letters and need expanding (KWSP is the Employees Provident Fund, LHDN the Inland Revenue Board), while pre-1972 spellings must be read as modern words without modernizing the names next to them. Day/month/year dates flip in careless output, and Hijri dates on religious documents are not Gregorian. Advanced treats these as judgment calls; a fluent reader should still check what you will sign or submit.

Malay document translation FAQ

Is it free to translate a Malay document to English?: You can try it free, with no account needed, and signing in gives you a larger daily allowance. Pro and Scholar are there for longer documents and regular use.
Can it read scanned or photographed Malay documents?: Yes. Upload a scanned PDF or a JPG, PNG or HEIC photo and the text is recognized before translation. Stamped certificates, laminated cards photographed flat and old typewritten records in pre-1972 spelling all work; faded stamps, embossed seals and handwritten remarks are what need checking against the original. Photograph each page straight on in even light.
How accurate is it? What is the difference between Fast and Advanced?: Fast is for a quick reading. Advanced runs a frontier model and is the tier for anything you will act on: it infers tense and number from context (Malay marks neither), picks kami or kita and the right form of 'you' (anda, tuan, puan, encik, cik) for the reader, expands acronyms like LHDN and KWSP into words, keeps titles and name particles untouched, and is far less likely to drift into Indonesian vocabulary. For certificates, contracts and academic prose, use Advanced and have a fluent reader check the critical lines.
Will the translation keep my document's original layout?: The translator produces a translated PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel or EPUB file that aims to preserve the original layout, including tables, columns and headers. Text size, fonts and line breaks may change, so review the result against the original. Malay text is usually longer than the same content in English, so the formatted output adjusts type size and line breaks to fit.
Can I use this for a visa application, a court or a government office?: Not directly. Malaysian courts and agencies generally want a translation by the Institut Terjemahan & Buku Malaysia or a translator recognized by the Malaysian Translators Association, and embassies and immigration services abroad require a certified translation with a signed statement of accuracy. Use this to understand your documents, prepare drafts and decide which pages need certifying, then have those done formally.
Is Malay the same as Indonesian, and does it matter whether my document is from Malaysia, Brunei or Singapore?: Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore share one written standard (Bahasa Melayu, called Bahasa Malaysia in some Malaysian contexts), so a translation here works in all three. Indonesian is a different standard with false friends that change meaning: kereta is a car in Malay and a train in Indonesian, pejabat an office versus an official, budak a child versus a slave, percuma free of charge versus useless, bisa poison versus 'can'. Malay borrows from English (bas, teksi, stesen) where Indonesian borrows from Dutch (bis, taksi, stasiun). If the document is Indonesian, use the Indonesian page.
What file types can I upload?: PDF, DOCX (Word), PPTX (PowerPoint), XLSX (Excel) and EPUB, plus photographed or scanned documents as JPG, PNG or HEIC. Word files keep their paragraphs and tables editable, and spreadsheets keep their cell structure. Free and Pro accept up to 20MB and 100,000 extracted characters per file; Scholar accepts up to 50MB and 1,000,000 characters.

See “Keep formatting” in action

Real examples of the “Keep formatting” option: original on the left, translated document on the right. Click either page to enlarge.

1 / 6

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