I have yet to encounter a structured, functional approach to learning Bahasa Indonesia [Note from SEASite: The text used in NIU's Indonesian classes, Bahasa Tetanggaku by Ian J. White (Longman: Melbourne, Australia), is "a notional-functional course" in Indonesian; another well-known text is Beginning Indonesian through Self-Instruction by John U. Wolff (SEAP, Cornell University: Ithaca, NY)] . Phrase books confront the linguistic novice with a barrage of special purpose phrases ("Is the play a comedy or a tragedy?"). They are often badly organized into social situations (going to the market, at customs) where you are likely to have neither the time nor the inclination to be fumbling around with a silly little phrase book even if you did bring it with you, which is highly improbable. With these books, you can either memorize several hundred phrases that may or may not have an application. Or you can keep the book in your pocket and hope that your fingers are fast enough to find the phrase for "turn left here" before the taxi takes you completely out of town in a straight line.
Grammar books and dictionaries, although fine for a long-term study of the language, are even more of a hindrance in taxis and at the supermarket checkout. Language tapes also have their place in learning to communicate but this approach requires time and effort to achieve practical results.
What is required for the short-term visitor and even for the newly arrived longer-term expatriates is a list of common, useful and necessary words and phrases grouped into bite-sized quantities so the most important ones can be learned and used first.
The most useful phrase book I have found is Indonesian Words and Phrases by the American Women's Association. It provides some very important basic concepts and I recommend it highly but no one wants to memorize an entire book the first day in a new country. The following lists of words, organized by day, should help you to get through your first week while you are making plans for more extensive language training.
Optional words in the following vocabulary tables are provided in square brackets and correspond between columns (for example, [pagi | siang | sore | malam] = [morning | day | afternoon | evening]; pagi is morning, etc.). Fill-in-the-blank words (...) may be substituted from any handy phrase book.
The appendices include a guide to pronunciation, help with finding words in the dictionary and a short essential word list.
Day 1. Being Polite
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The first priority in Indonesia, believe it or not, is being polite. Not getting the job done, getting to where you are going or getting the correct change. The general wisdom that even a few polite words will return much appreciation is usually true. On the other hand, unkind or loud words in any language will instantly turn you into an invisible being. Any conversation beyond the vocabulary here assumes that you know more about the language than you actually do. This may put you on the receiving end of a long monologue to which you are expected to nod and make the occasional non-committal response.
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Day 2. The Taxi
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By your second day, still fuzzy with jet-lag, your employers expect you to at least show up at the office to meet a few people. If you're not here to work, by now you should be bored enough with the hotel facilities (even if it is the Borobudur) to want to see a little of the town. The most effective way of getting around town is in the back of a shiny Mercedes with an English-speaking, hard-nosed, Jakarta-born driver. If you don't happen to have both of these handy, flag down the nearest taxi after you have memorized the accompanying vocabulary. Street names and addresses are rarely sufficient to get you where you are going in Jakarta unless you are going to a very well known building, hotel or shopping center. Remember to learn the local pronunciation of your hotel or street, you may need it to get back home. Many place and street names are derived from English or other languages, but sometimes they are not pronounced as you would expect. For example, the "Hotel Orchid" is pronounced Ortchid and "Golf" usually has two syllables (Gol-ef). The best way of giving directions in a taxi is to mention the neighborhood (Kebayoran Baru, Blok M, Jalan Thamrin, Kemang, Pondok Indah etc.) and the street. If there are any tricky turns before you get there, you may want to mention that, too. Don't fall asleep on the ride. Lacking specific instructions, drivers often take you in circles. |
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Day 3. More Politeness
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On your third day, you are beginning to get used to the new time-zone, the smells and the food. This is about the time that you realize you're not in Kansas any more and you left Toto back home. Indonesians are very good at helping you get over culture shock. They like to chat and find out about people and to tell you about themselves. You will be stopped on the street and asked your age, name and address. Don't take it too seriously and you don't have to give a straight answer. These are simply polite questions, to answer "Where are you going?", "Over there.", "Ke sana" is good enough.
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Day 4. Numbers
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Numbers are handy to know, but most often prices are written on paper or shown on a cash-register or on a calculator. On your fourth day you are not ready to bargain for antiques on Jalan Surabaya! When spoken, prices are usually in thousands and hundreds (for example Rp. 10,500 is ten thousand, five hundred). Understanding numbers when spoken takes some practice. Another perplexity is that when discussing prices, often the units are omitted. If a figurine is quoted to you as "Enam (six)" and you don't know for certain whether they are talking about six thousand or six million, you probably shouldn't be shopping there. The basic one-to-nine numbers are handy for spelling out addresses and giving shoe sizes. These are usually spelled out as in 147 (satu-empat-tujuh for one-four-seven). Don't worry about the hundreds and thousands, it's only your fourth day. An Australian mate of ours managed to successfully bargain for goods in Bali using only the numbers from one to five. This approach is not recommended. |
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Day 5. Simple Sentences
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For the next three days, you should build a vocabulary that is important to your daily existence. If you spend a lot of time in restaurants, learn the names of food. If you like shopping for local handicrafts, learn their names and substitute into the sentences here. Learn at least five new nouns and five new verbs that are useful to you. These phrases aren't guaranteed get you a better room at the Wisma Delima, for that you need a teacher or more time with a phrase book. These phrases, though will ensure that you won't go hungry on your fifth day. Before heading out for the day, memorize a couple of new words you will need to know for the day's activities. Write them down and give youself a quiz. Bring the paper you wrote them down on. You should have noticed by now that many foreign, especially English, words are commonly used by Indonesians: hotel, taxi, film, bank, photocopy, photo, beer, restaurant, McDonald's and toilet will likely be understood. Be on the lookout for these words in advertisements and other signs. It's an easy way to add to your vocabulary. A more extensive list of these similar words is provided on the next page. |
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Day 6. Asking Questions
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You can learn words much faster if you make use of the 190 million eager and willing bahasa Indonesia teachers at your disposal. Finding out the word for "shoe" is a lot easier than more abstract concepts such as "good" and "evil" but at this stage you are still trying to become functional. Learn five more useful nouns and five more verbs from a reliable phrase book, dictionary, or the word lists in the Appendix. You should be at the stage now where you can teach someone a little English. Try it! |
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The words in the following table are similar in both English and bahasa Indonesia. They may not be the most precise pronunciation and spelling but they will be understood by most people.
Similar Words in Both Languages
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airport |
apple |
athlete |
baby |
baggage |
bank |
bar |
beer |
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bell |
bottle |
bus |
camera |
cashier |
cassette |
cherry |
chocolate |
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Coca-cola |
coffee |
coin |
computer |
consultant |
deoderant |
diskette |
doctor |
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donut |
dry cleaning |
electricity |
film |
football |
glass |
guitar |
hamburger |
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hello |
ice |
ice cream |
kilometer |
kiosk |
mall |
massage |
meter |
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monument |
museum |
music |
number |
office |
OK |
oven |
paper clip |
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pen |
pencil |
pension |
photo |
photocopy |
pizza |
police |
radio |
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restaurant |
roast beef |
salad |
same |
school |
sex |
shopping |
staple |
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steak |
stop |
stop |
strawberry |
supermarket |
taxi |
tea |
telephone |
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tennis |
ticket |
to park |
toilet |
TV |
university |
video |
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Day 7. Leftovers
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On your day of rest, you can learn some more handy words and phrases that don't fit into any of the other categories. If you can keep up with the pace, within one week you will be more functional than the average expat is after two months of slaving over phrase and grammar books. Have fun and don't forget to practice.
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Appendix: Guide to Pronunciation.
It's not very difficult to pronounce bahasa Indonesia in a way that it's understood by even those who never come into contact with foreigners. Remember to keep it simple. Certain sounds we use in English and European languages do not occur in Indonesian at all. Unfortunately, those of us who have grappled with French, Spanish and German are often tempted to pronounce the word as it may sound in another language. For example, selamat datang ("welcome") does not rhyme with the well-known orange-like juice that accompanied astronauts into space. It also is pronounced with only about four discernible syllables, not five.
With this simple guide, the novice speaker of Indonesian should be able to avoid most of the traps of basic communication.
RULES
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 (fate). That's one reason the bahasa Indonesia 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 "ay" sound like "a" in "make". Common words using the "ay" sound are besok (tomorrow), merah (red) and restoran. Sometimes, the "e" is hardly pronounced (selamat becomes slamat).
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". See the Pronunciation Guide below for more details.
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 bahasa Indonesia, 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.
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Vowels
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Spelling |
Example |
Description |
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a |
always a long a as in "father" (never "bad"or "bang") |
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e |
like a in "make" |
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e |
like a in "sofa" |
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i |
like ee in "see" but shorter (never like "hit" or "hike") |
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o |
like aw in "law", but shorter |
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u |
like oo in "food", but shorter |
Diphthongs
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Spelling |
Example |
Description |
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ai |
somewhere between "pay" and "pie" |
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au |
like ow in "now" |
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oi |
like oy in "boy" |
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oe |
old spelling, still used in names, pronounced as oo in "food" |
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ua |
like "wa" in "Walla-walla, Washington" |
Consonants (the easy part)
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Spelling |
Example |
Description |
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b |
same as b in "bungle" but spoken more softly. At the end of a word may be more of a soft p. |
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c |
similar to ch in "church" |
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d |
like d in "bed". At the end of a word may sound more like a soft t |
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dj |
old spelling still used in names, pronounced like j in "jump" |
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f |
like f in "fan" |
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g |
like g in "dog" |
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h |
similar to h in "hope" |
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j |
like j in "jump" |
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j |
old spelling still used in names, like y in "yard"; look for other old spelling clues in the name (like oe, dj) |
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k |
like k in "kite" when not at the end of a word. At the end of a word, pronounced like a soft g or glottal stop. |
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kh |
like clearing your throat or German "ach" |
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l |
similar to l in "like" |
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m |
like m in "main" |
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n |
like n in "noon" |
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ny |
like ny in "canyon" |
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ng |
like ng in "singer" (not "finger", that requires ngg) |
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ngg |
like ng in "finger" (not "singer") |
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p |
similar to p in "pool" but without the puff of air |
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q |
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is not used much in Indonesian words but does come up in Arabic words used in Indonesia (for example, Istiqlal). When it occurs, qu is pronounced as qu in "queen". |
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r |
like a softly trilled Scottish or German r. Never a hard American, Australian or Canadian r. |
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s |
similar to s in "seven" |
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t |
like t in "let" but without the plosive quality (it's sometimes difficult to differentiate between spoken t, p and d) |
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tj |
old spelling still used in names, pronounced like ch in "church" |
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v |
rarely used, like v in "visa" but softer |
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w |
between w in "wane" and v in "vane" |
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x |
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not used. In foreign words, often replaced with ks as in taksi. |
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y |
like y in you |
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z |
like z in "zone", often replaced with, and pronounced like s |
Guide to Pronunciation of Indonesian
You will need to LISTEN (to your teacher, and to the tapes when available) to really pronounce Indonesian correctly, 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 are tricky for English- speakers.
Vowels
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a like a in father |
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elike u in but OR* |
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ebetween the e in let and the a in late |
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i like ee in feet |
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o between the aw in saw and the oe in toe |
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u like oo in boot |
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ai like ie in tie |
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au like ow in how |
*NOTE: There is no rule to know which way to pronounce e in a particular word without hearing it first; your teacher will give you the correct pronunciation as you go along.
**the u in the second syllable of duduk sounds more like the oo in book)
***the ai in sampai is often pronounced ay as in day, especially in Java
****the au in saudara is often pronounced oe as in toe)
In other cases where two vowels are not separated by a consonant, just put the two vowel sounds together: siapa = si apa, etc. When a vowel is repeated, put a glottal stop (= the catch in your throat when you say "uh-oh!") between the vowels: maaf = ma-af.
Consonants:
I. Consonants pronounced very much as in English:
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b as in bed |
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d as in dad |
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f as in feel |
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g as in good |
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l as in lap |
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m as in man |
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n as in nap |
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s as in see |
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w as in well |
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y as in yell |
II. Consonants pronounced somewhat differently than in English:
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j like the dy in Goodyear |
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k like the k in skate |
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p like the p in spot |
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t like the t in stop |
*k, p, and t DO NOT have the puff of air they have in such English words as kill, put, and tap.
**NOTE: When k comes at the END of a word, the sound is cut off sharply (like the glottal stop mentioned above): baik, becak
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ng like the ng in singer |
**NOTE: ng alone does NOT have the "hard" g, as in finger, which is always written as ngg in Indonesian: tinggal, penggaris
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ny like the ny in canyon |
Both ng and ny can be found at the BEGINNINGS of words: ngopi, Nyonya
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sy like the s y in close your book, close to the sh in show. |
III. Consonants presenting special problems:
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c like the t y in get your feet off the table!, close to the c in cello or the ch in chat, NEVER like the c in cat |
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h as in house, but it can also appear at the ENDS of words: |
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r like the tt in butter or gotta. It is usually a tap of the tongue behind the teeth, though it sometimes is more of a trill (like the rr in Spanish arriba, especially at the ends of words |
The letters q, v, x, z are very rare in Indonesian, and are mostly found in words borrowed from English, Dutch or Arabic.
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q similar to English k |
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v similar to English v or f |
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x like English x |
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z like English z or j |
Here is how you pronounce the alphabet in Indonesian:
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a = ah |
b = bay |
c = chay |
d = day |
e = ay |
f = ef |
g = gay |
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h = ha |
i = ee |
j = jay |
k = kah |
l = el |
m = em |
n = en |
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o = oh |
p = pay |
q = key |
r = air |
s = es |
t = tay |
u = oo |
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v = fay |
w = way |
x = eks |
y = yay |
z = zet |
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