How To Learn Indonesian Language

Basic

2009-04-22T10:28:00.001-07:00

Word Order/Syntax

The basic word order in Indonesian is Subject-Verb-Object.

For example:

Saya	membaca	buku
Subject	Verb	Object

Articles

Definite or indefinite articles (a, the) in Indonesian are not known. If you say ‘Gedung’(building) can mean ‘a building’ or ‘the building’. It’s very important to understand it within the context to know what it really means.

Gender

Indonesian has no gender. ‘Anak’ (child) is used to refer to a girl or a boy. To specify gender, you can say ‘anak laki’ (male child/son) or ‘anak perempuan’ (female child/daughter).

Plural

To indicate a plural noun we can double the noun, use number or put the word ‘banyak’(many/much/ a lot) or ‘sedikit’(few/little/some/several) before the noun.

Singular	Plural	Meaning
rumah	rumah-rumah	houses
	lima rumah	five houses
	banyak rumah	many houses
minyak	sedikit minyak	little oil
orang	beberapa orang	few people
uang	banyak uang	a lot of money

Negative

’Tidak’ and ‘Bukan’ are used to indicate negation such as ‘no’ and ‘not’. ‘Tidak’ is positioned before the adjective, verb or preposition. ‘Bukan’ is used to refer a noun.

Tidak	Saya tidak takut	I am not affraid
Bukan	Dia bukan teman saya	He is not my friend

Reference: http://www.bahasakita.com/grammar/formal/basic/

Meeting people

2009-04-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Indonesians are quite inquisitive. When they meet people they often want to know more about you by asking a lot of personal questions. If you don’t want to answer them please let them know politely. Those questions are part of daily greetings and it is not considered rude.

Examples;

	Meaning	Description
Nama Ibu siapa? Siapa namanya?	What’s your name?	‘Nya’ is a 3rd person singular possessive pronoun. But in a polite situation ‘nya’ is used instead of ‘kamu’
Nama saya John	My name is John/I am John
Bapak dari mana asalnya?	Where are you from, sir?
Saya dari Inggris	I am from England
Saya baru datang dari Amerika	I just came from America
Saya tidak mengerti Bahasa Indonesia	I don’t understand(speak) Indonesian language
Bapak/Ibu sudah menikah?	Are you married?
Berapa putranya?	How many children do you have?	‘Putra’ is usually used to represent children not son.
Yang paling besar umur berapa?	How old is your eldest?
Tinggalnya di mana?	Where do you live?
Kerja di mana?	Where do you work? What do you do?
Sudah berapa lama di Indonesia?	How long have you been in Indonesia?
Berapa lama akan tinggal di Indonesia?	How long will you be staying in Indonesia?

Reference: http://www.bahasakita.com/quickguide/useful_words/meeting_people/

Overview of the Indonesian Language

2009-03-17T03:39:00.000-07:00

Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the official language of the Republic of Indonesia, where it is used in government, schools, and the media. Some 70 million Indonesians use it as their first language. It is the second language of another 100 million people.

Indonesian is a member of the Austronesian family of languages that extends from Madagascar to Polynesia. The term "Bahasa Indonesia" was coined by Indonesian nationalists to denote the dialect of Malay spoken by the majority of people living in Jakarta, the nation’s capital. Since it was not associated with any particular ethnic group, that form of the language came to symbolize national unity during Indonesia’s struggle for independence in the middle of the 20^th century.

Indonesian Vocabulary

English has had a great influence on contemporary Indonesian. The Indonesian media are constantly translating from English and, in the process, contaminating Indonesian with English words and structures. This can make things easier for the casual visitor, who won’t have much difficulty interpreting words like bank, tip, steak, internasional, telefon, tiket and kredit. But watch out! Not every word that looks recognizable has the meaning you would expect. Jam means o’clock, for example, and air means water!

Formal and Informal Address in the Indonesian Language

Since Indonesia is an archipelago of 13,700 islands, the language has many regional dialects. One constant feature, however, is the strict protocol governing the way that people are addressed according to their status and age. In formal situations, the second person pronoun "you" is perceived as being overly familiar. Older people are addressed as bapak (father) or ibu (mother) in order to show respect. Only with friends, street peddlers, taxi drivers, and the like is formality replaced by more familiar (and often slyly humorous) forms of speech.

Education

2009-03-17T03:34:00.000-07:00

Education can be seen as a product or a process and considered in a broad sense or a technical sense. According to philosopher of education George F. Kneller,

In its broad sense, education refers to any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or physical ability of an individual...In its technical sense education is the process by which society, through schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions, deliberately transmits its cultural heritage--its accumulated knowledge, values, and skills--from one generation to another.^[1]

In popular discourse, use of the term education usually connotes the technical sense and is generally limited to the context of teachers instructing students. Teachers may draw on many subjects, including reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. Teachers in specialized professions such as astrophysics, law, or zoology may teach only a certain subject, usually as professors at institutions of higher learning. There is also instruction in fields for those who want specific vocational skills, such as those required to be a pilot. In addition to such formal and technical education there is an array of education, in the technical and broad sense, possible at the informal level, e.g., at museums and libraries, with the Internet, and in life experience.

The right to education has been described as a basic human right: since 1952, Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights obliges all signatory parties to guarantee the right to education. At world level, the United Nations' International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 guarantees this right under its Article 13.