Learn Hardcore Malay: Pada pendapat saya, usaha belajar bahasa dan memahami budaya orang lain sangat berbaloi. - In my opinion, the effort to learn languages and understand other people’s cultures is very worthwhile.

Pada pendapat saya, usaha belajar bahasa dan memahami budaya orang lain sangat berbaloi.

In my opinion, the effort to learn languages and understand other people’s cultures is very worthwhile.

Breakdown of Pada pendapat saya, usaha belajar bahasa dan memahami budaya orang lain sangat berbaloi.

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Questions & Answers about Pada pendapat saya, usaha belajar bahasa dan memahami budaya orang lain sangat berbaloi.

In the phrase pada pendapat saya, what does pada do, and can I just say pendapat saya to mean “in my opinion”?

Pada is a preposition that often translates as at / in / on / for, depending on context.

pendapat = opinion
saya = my
pada pendapat saya = literally “in/according to my opinion” → “in my opinion”.

You can say just pendapat saya and people will understand it as “my opinion”, but as a sentence opener it sounds a bit incomplete, like just saying “My opinion…” in English.

More natural ways to start a sentence are:

Pada pendapat saya, ... – fairly formal, common in writing and speeches.
Pada saya, ... – “In my view…”, neutral.
Bagi saya, ... – “For me… / As for me…”, neutral.
Saya rasa ... – “I feel / I think…”, very common and conversational.

So pada pendapat saya is the idiomatic, slightly formal way to say “in my opinion” here.

Are there other common ways to say “in my opinion” in Malay, and how formal are they compared to pada pendapat saya?

Yes. Here are some common options, roughly from more formal to more casual:

Pada hemat saya, ... – very formal, literary; “in my humble opinion”.
Pada pandangan saya, ... – formal–neutral; “in my view”.
Pada pendapat saya, ... – formal–neutral; “in my opinion”.
Pada saya, ... – neutral, common in speech and writing.
Bagi saya, ... – neutral, very common; “for me / as for me”.
Saya berpendapat bahawa ... – formal; “I am of the opinion that…”.
Saya rasa ... – casual–neutral; “I feel / I think…”.
Saya fikir ... – neutral; “I think…”.

In your sentence, Pada pendapat saya fits well in a polite, thoughtful style (e.g. essay, presentation, polite conversation).

In usaha belajar bahasa, why is there no untuk? Should it be usaha untuk belajar bahasa (“effort to learn a language”)?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

usaha belajar bahasa
Literally: “the effort [to] learn language(s)”.
Here, usaha + [verb] is a very common pattern meaning “effort to [do something]”. It is natural and idiomatic.
usaha untuk belajar bahasa
Literally: “the effort in order to learn language(s)”.
Adding untuk stresses the idea of purpose. It sounds slightly more explicit, but not necessary.

In many contexts, Malay drops untuk after nouns of effort / intention, such as:

usaha belajar – effort to study
niat membantu – intention to help
peluang bekerja – opportunity to work

So usaha belajar bahasa is perfectly correct and natural; usaha untuk belajar bahasa is also correct but just a bit longer.

Why is there no word for “to” before memahami? Why not say dan untuk memahami?

In the sentence, the structure is:

usaha [belajar bahasa] dan [memahami budaya orang lain] sangat berbaloi.

You have one noun (usaha, “effort”) followed by two coordinated verb phrases:

belajar bahasa – learn languages
memahami budaya orang lain – understand other people’s culture

Malay often links multiple actions with dan without repeating untuk or any other marker, especially when they share the same “head” (here, usaha):

usaha belajar dan bekerja – effort to study and work
cara memasak dan menghidang – ways to cook and serve

You can say:

usaha untuk belajar bahasa dan untuk memahami budaya orang lain

This is grammatically fine but heavier and more formal. The original is more natural and fluent.

Does orang lain belong only to budaya (culture) or to both bahasa and budaya? How would I say “languages and cultures of other people” explicitly?

As written:

usaha belajar bahasa – “the effort to learn language(s)” (general)
dan memahami budaya orang lain – “and understand the culture of other people”

Grammatically, orang lain clearly modifies budaya, not bahasa, because it is directly after budaya.

If you want to make it explicit that both languages and cultures belong to “other people”, you could say:

usaha belajar bahasa dan budaya orang lain
→ “the effort to learn the languages and cultures of other people”

or a bit more spelled out:

usaha belajar bahasa orang lain dan memahami budaya mereka
→ “the effort to learn other people’s languages and understand their cultures”

What exactly does orang lain mean, and how is it different from orang lain-lain or orang yang lain?

orang lain
Literally: “other people”.
This is the normal, everyday way to say “other people / other persons”.
lain-lain
The reduplication often means various / miscellaneous / etc.
For people, orang lain-lain is not normally used; you’d more often see lain-lain after a list, meaning “and others / etc.”.
orang yang lain
Literally: “the people who are other / the others”.
This can be used for contrast, like “the other people (as opposed to this group)”, and is more specific in context.

So in your sentence, budaya orang lain is simply “the culture(s) of other people”, the natural choice here.

Why use memahami instead of faham? Are memahami and faham interchangeable?

Both come from the same root faham (“to understand”), but they differ in form and typical use:

faham
- Often used as a stative verb/adjective:
  - Saya faham. – I understand.
  - Awak faham tak? – Do you understand?
- Can be used with an object in casual speech:
  - Saya faham budaya mereka. – I understand their culture.
memahami
- The meN- form is a transitive verb “to understand (something), to comprehend”:
  - memahami budaya orang lain – to understand other people’s culture.
- Sounds more formal and often implies deeper or more thorough understanding.

In your sentence, memahami budaya orang lain fits the thoughtful, slightly formal tone. faham budaya orang lain would sound more casual but is still understandable.

What kind of word is berbaloi? Is it an adjective, and how do I use it in other sentences?

Berbaloi is a ber- verb that functions as a stative verb / adjective meaning roughly “worth it / worthwhile”.

In Malay, many ber- verbs are used like adjectives in the predicate position:

Usaha itu berbaloi. – That effort is worth it.
Perjalanan yang jauh ini sangat berbaloi. – This long trip is very worthwhile.

Common patterns with berbaloi:

sangat berbaloi – very worth it
memang berbaloi – really / definitely worth it
tak / tidak berbaloi – not worth it
berbaloi-baloi – (emphatic, informal) extremely worth it

So in your sentence, sangat berbaloi = “very worthwhile / very much worth it”.

Why is there no word for “is” before sangat berbaloi? Can I put adalah there?

Malay usually doesn’t need a separate word for “is/are” when linking a subject to an adjective-like word.

Structure here:

[usaha belajar bahasa dan memahami budaya orang lain] – subject
[sangat berbaloi] – predicate (stative verb/adjective)

So:

Usaha ... sangat berbaloi.
literally: “The effort … very worthwhile.”
→ understood as “The effort … is very worthwhile.”

About adalah:

adalah is normally used when the predicate is a noun phrase, not an adjective / stative verb:
- Dia adalah guru. – He/She is a teacher.
With adjectives/stative verbs like berbaloi, adalah is normally not used.

So:

Usaha ... adalah sangat berbaloi. – sounds unnatural or like literal translation from English.

Keep it as in the original: Usaha ... sangat berbaloi.

What is the overall grammatical structure of the sentence? Which part is the subject?

The sentence breaks down like this:

Pada pendapat saya, – a fronted prepositional phrase
- Functions as an adverbial: “In my opinion,”
- Not the subject.
usaha belajar bahasa dan memahami budaya orang lain – subject noun phrase
- Head noun: usaha (effort)
- Post-modified by two coordinated actions:
  - belajar bahasa – learning languages
  - memahami budaya orang lain – understanding other people’s culture
sangat berbaloi. – predicate
- berbaloi (worth it) + intensifier sangat (very)

So the core clause is:

[Usaha belajar bahasa dan memahami budaya orang lain] [sangat berbaloi].
→ Subject: “The effort to learn languages and understand other people’s culture”
→ Predicate: “is very worthwhile”

What tense is this sentence in? How would I say “was worth it” or “will be worth it” in Malay?

Malay verbs generally do not change form for tense. Time is shown by context and optional time words or particles.

Your sentence is a general statement, so no explicit tense marking is needed:

... sangat berbaloi. – “... is/was/will be very worthwhile” depending on context.

To be more specific:

Past (was worth it):
- Usaha ... memang berbaloi. – The effort was really worth it.
- Usaha ... telah / sudah berbaloi. – The effort has been worth it. (more formal with telah)
Future (will be worth it):
- Usaha ... akan sangat berbaloi. – The effort will be very worthwhile.
- Usaha ... pasti berbaloi. – The effort will definitely be worth it.

In the given sentence, without extra markers, it naturally reads as a timeless, general truth: “In my opinion, the effort to learn languages and understand other people’s culture is very worthwhile.”