Online Indonesian Dictionaries

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If you're new to Indonesia or Bahasa Indonesia, and looking to improve your vocabulary, or even an old hand who's looking for a word or phrase with just the right fit, these days there are many online dictionaries available. There are those that translate from various European languages into Indonesian and vice-versa, and others that cater for the Asian community, especially Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Even dictionaries for converting Javanese, Balinese and other languages indigenous to the archipelago into Bahasa Indonesia itself are available. By far the most numerous, however, are English/Indonesian dictionaries.

A Google search for "Indonesian English dictionaries" will deliver a whole raft of results, but included in these are some sites posing as free online dictionaries only to be something completely unconnected, and sites trying to sell you things. In addition, there are several sites whose database of words is so limited that they'll respond to your request for simple words like house or street with "sorry, word not found." Others are painfully slow, woefully inaccurate (created by well-meaning, but not proficient English enthusiasts, perhaps), or don't work at all.

To spare you the task of sifting through all of them, below is a list of fairly reliable, accurate and smooth-running online dictionary Web sites. They offer not only the word you're looking for but also associated terms and phrases, as well as what part of speech it is. They'll even help you figure out the meaning of the numerous acronyms and portmanteaus that are so popular here. Just bear in mind that not even the best dictionaries are perfect, so it's a good idea to double check everything you are looking up just to be sure. Google Translate is a good starting point but there will be times when you need a good online dictionary

Contributor: Nick Aarons

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