Part III
The preceding lessons, it is hoped, will have explained and illustrated in some degree the construction of sentences in Malay. It is now proposed to give a series of useful words and phrases applicable for the most part to common domestic incidents, so that the student may at once have at command the phrases most likely to be required in speaking to native servants. Unfortunately for the purity of the dialect spoken at the British settlements in the Straits of Malacca, the majority of the domestic servants there are foreigners (natives of India, Chinese, Javanese, &c.), who seldom speak Malay well, either as regards style or pronunciation. It is assumed that the student aims at something more than clothing foreign idioms with Malay words, and he should be on his guard therefore against the errors of people of this class. Facility of expression and the accurate use of idioms can only be acquired by much practice in speaking with Malays, and by attentive study of Malay authors.