Sanskrit and Arabic are the first and second largest donor languages to the Malay language respectively. From a vocabulary survey of 30 Malay words of Arabic and Sanskrit origins, this study examined the utility of a comparing Malay loanwords and their Nepali equivalent in teaching Malay to Nepali speakers. The participants were 25 Nepali speakers working in Kuala Lumpur. They averaged 23.16 correct answers and learned 11.32 new vocabulary items. At a 5% confidence level, a significant difference was found between the participants' scores before and after the presentation of the equivalent Nepali words (p = 0.000). This study concluded that presenting Arabic and Sanskrit loanwords in Malay and their related Nepali equivalent could assist Nepali speakers in learning Malay.