Bahasa Indonesia

The Indonesian language

Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. The local term for it is Bahasa Indonesia (Language of Indonesia) and it is sometimes wrongly referred to simply as "Bahasa". It is the first language of many residents of the big cities (especially Jakarta) but outside the cities, in smaller town and villages, it is usually a second language behind the regional language of that area. So, if you have brushed up on your Indonesian and spend some time in East Java or Bali, for example, don't be surprised if you don't understand much. The people are probably speaking Javanese or Balinese. Not to worry however; Indonesia is the lingua franca of the archipelago and just about everyone understands and speaks it.

Bahasa Indonesia became Indonesia's official language after independence in 1945. As such, it is now almost exclusively used for education and in the media. Its use by most of the country's roughly 230 million people makes it one of the most spoken languages on Earth. It is similar to the Malay (Bahasa Melayu) used in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore. Malay became popular as a language of trade in the Strait of Malacca in the 15th century and from there it spread to other parts, including to parts of present-day Indonesia. Many of the differences between the two languages result from the influences of Javanese (the dominant social group) and Dutch (the old colonial power) on Indonesian. Ironically nowadays, Bahasa Indonesia is turning the tables and spreading back into Malaysia in the form of popular music and movies. This is proving a bit of a bone of contention for the Malay purists.

Most foreigners agree that Indonesian is fairly easy to pick up, and many quickly become adept at conversational Indonesian. Even travelers here for a short time often learn enough basics to get by. Its syntax is fairly simple and vocabulary quite small. The Indonesian that most outsiders learn and that which is spoken by the majority of Indonesians themselves, is quite different from correct Indonesian. Proper Indonesian is used in literature and by most media, which is significantly more complex. Spoken or street Indonesian deviates from the correct form of the language in terms of regional dialects (most prominently the Betawi dialect of Jakarta), slang words, as well as Indonesia's fondness for abbreviations, acronyms and portmanteaus. You may hear a primary school (sekolah dasar) referred to as SD (which will sound like ‘ess day') or the scourge of the country: corruption, collusion and nepotism, (korupsi, kolusi, nepotisme) as KKN (ka ka en).  A store with a residence above it becomes a ruko from house (rumah) and store (toko) and, similarly, some of the hard stuff is called  miras from drink (minuman) and hard (keras). It all seems simple enough at first, but can get a bit confusing.

Indonesians also love to adopt words from other languages. Unlike French, which has watchdogs to maintain its purity, Indonesian contains, even in its correct form, words happily snatched from other languages. These are usually the languages of countries that have had a direct influence on the archipelago in recent history. Many Dutch words are to be found, often for more recent innovations like the refrigerator (kulkas) or car tire (ban mobil). There is Portuguese (think Catholic) for church and Sunday (gereja/minggu); culinary-flavored Chinese for knife, noodles and teacup (pisau/mie/cawan); lofty Sanskrit for earth, humankind and religion (bumi/manusia/agama); Arabic for news and welcoming (kabar/selamat) as well as many Islamic terms and Javanese with the widely used term for I/me, aku. These are just a few of countless other examples. Even the French have got in there. A gift (kado) is a phonetic version of cadeau.

English, as in many parts of the globe, is having more and more of an impact on Indonesian today. English words, despite the local equivalents, seem to be in fashion, infiltrating the local media. For installation and implementation, you'll hear instalasi and implementasi where pemasangan and pelaksanaan would do. Despite all these influences, or perhaps because of them, Indonesian remains a fun and vibrant language to use. It's no stickler for the rules - variations in spelling abound - and is often descriptive and charming. Sun is matahari (eye of the day), your loved one is your buah hati (fruit of the heart) and there is the lovely phrase given to a particular part of the female anatomy - buah dada meaning "fruits of the chest".

Pronunciation

To pronounce Indonesian words correctly, you need to listen carefully to teachers and native speakers, but the following guide will give you a rough idea how to sound words out. Unlike English, Indonesian is relatively consistent in matching sounds to spellings, but there are some exceptions to this, and there are several sounds that can sometimes be tricky for English speakers.

• Most letters have only one pronunciation thereby avoiding the problems of English in which we are forced to memorize when an "a" is long (fall), short (fat), or some other manifestation. That's one reason the Indonesian approximations to foreign words often appear strange at first sight--"bureau" becomes biro -- but then you realize the Indonesian spelling is much more logical.
• The only letter that has two distinct pronounciations is "e". Usually it is pronounced as an "uh" sound, like "a" in "sofa". Sometimes it takes on an "eh" sound like "e" in "edit". Common words using the "eh" sound are besok (tomorrow), merah (red) and restoran. Sometimes, the "e" is hardly pronounced (selamat becomes "slamat"). Some words use both 'e' sounds, like merdeka (which sounds like this: "muhrdehka").

• One of the main pitfalls in pronunciation is the use of the letter "c" in bahasa Indonesia. The letter "c" is always pronounced as "ch" in "check". Another hazard is that "ngg" is a very different sound from "ng".
• There is a slightly accented syllable that is either the last or next to last depending upon which book you believe. In my experience, Jakartans try to put the emphasis on the last syllable. For example, asking for em-ping' will likely get you a bowl of crispy chips. Asking, on the other hand, for em'-ping will get you a blank stare. When in doubt, try to pronounce the word monotonically--no emphasis is better than a wrong one.
• A "k" at the end of a word is pronounced as a glottal stop and if you don't know what that is, you're better off ignoring the terminating "k" altogether. The honorific Pak ("Mister" or "Father") sounds altogether unpleasant when pronounced like "pack", "pock", or the Bonanza standard "Pa". In actual fact, it's more like the sound you make when trying to blow a floating feather in someone else's direction.<

• A double "a" as in maaf ("excuse me") is pronounced with a slight glottal stop between the vowels. You can get away with a slight pause (like ma af) but never simply maf.
  In Indonesian, some consonants ("b", "p", "t", "d", "v") have much softer sounds. Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between "b" and "d", "p" and "t", etc.

The Alphabet

Here's a very approximate guide to how an English-speaker might pronounce the Indonesian alphabet:

Oscar Kilo Uniform Sierra India

Need to spell your name to an Indonesian over the phone? Or your pronunciation of the Indonesian alphabet sucks? Try learning the NATO phonetic alphabet, more formally the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet; all Indonesians know it! It's a legacy of Indonesia's militaristic past (and present to some extent).

Numbers and Counting

1 - satu

2 - dua

3 - tiga

4 - empat

5 - lima

6 - enam

7 - tujuh

8 - delapan

9 - sembilan

10 - sepuluh

Greetings

Good morning - selamat pagi

Good evening - selamat malam

Politeness

Please - tolong

Try - coba

wish/hope - harap

Thank you - terima kasih

Useful Phrases

One more Bintang beer, Miss! - Bir Bintang satu lagi, mbak!

Contributor: Nick Aarons

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