the word in western letters is an approximation of the local pronunciation, thus the multiple spellings for essentially the same word spoken in different local dialects by the native users. transliteration of words into characters not designed for the original language results in a lot of variations which are essentially the same. english speakers hear 'pedang' while a dutch speaker may hear 'peudeung' and the native speaker may not recognise either, even if he knows english or dutch...
even english has vowel drift from england to australia, india, australia, nz, etc.. with a's drifting to e's or i's over time. we understand aussies but their vowels come out funny. pronunciation in england can vary in two places just a few miles apart. it's a wonder anyone understands anyone else.
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