"málo" is like it "it isn't enough" and "trochu" is more like "a little bit"
Mozno toto ti pomoze, ako to vnimam ja:
malo = menej nez by si inak chcel alebo bolo potrebne
Kolko penazi mas v penazenke? Málo. (...mohlo by ich tam byt viac)
Kolko casu mas na ucenie? Málo. (...mohlo by ho byt viac)
Kolko ludi prislo na stretnutie? Málo. Ocakavali 120 ludi, prislo len 15.
trochu = malo a si s tym OK
Kolko ti nalozim na tanier? Len trochu prosim. Viac sa do mna nezmesti.
Kolko casu este potrebujes? Uz iba trochu a bude to hotove.
Velmi ta boli ta rana? Iba trochu. Je to v pohode.
Toto berte iba ako konštatovanie.
Som si istý, že ak si niekto popletie tieto dve slová v nejakej vete, tak sa nič také strašné nestane a aj tak Vám všetci na Slovensku porozumejú.
The <em>slovnik.azet.sk</em> site is worth bookmarking. Ďakujem Michal! :)
Both <em>trochu</em> and <em>málo</em> are adverbs (<em>príslovky</em>;<em> </em>the adjective form is<em> malý</em>), and as far as I can tell, it's more or less the same as "a few/a little" compared to "few/little" in English: one implies some, the other not much.
There are some examples on <em>slovniky.lingea.sk</em> ...unfortunately, I can't link directly to the entries for <em>trochu</em> and <em>málo</em>, so you'll need to search for them yourself.
Any other impressions from Slovak speakers? :)