Language tips..

You know that moment (we’ve all been there), when you’re trying to tell a bus/taxi driver the name of the place you want to go, and you receive only a blank stare in response..?

As with most journeys, there will come a time in Indonesia when you have to say something, often a place name, in the local dialect.

The good news about Bahasa Indonesia, particularly if you’re an English speaker, is that reading and correct pronunciation is incredibly easy.

This quick guide will get you up to scratch in a few brief moments.

Rule No.1 – Say what you see

Bahasa Indonesia is spelled phonetically (phew!). If in doubt, stop over thinking and just say what you see.

The only time that this differs is where Indonesia borrows vocabulary from other dialects, like Arabic. This shouldn’t pose an issue though, unless you get into an in depth discussion on Islam, and we mean really in depth.

The Exceptions to Rule No.1

C is pronounced ‘ch’
One of the only stumbling blocks for the absolute beginner in Bahasa Indonesia is the letter ‘c’, which is pronounced ‘ch’.

For Example, Danau Kaco is pronounced da-na-u ka-ch-o, and not da-na-u ka-so or ka-ko

R can be L
As with some languages from the far east, such as Japanese, ‘l’ and ‘r’ can be (and are) regularly interchanged; this is most often during spoken dialect, however, it does crop up in writing sometimes. If you hear or read a word and can’t find it’s meaning using a dictionary, try swapping any r’s for l’s and vice versa.

F can be P

The same applies to f’s and p’s, too.

Rule No.2 – Glottal Stops
Don’t panic, this is nowhere near as daunting as it sounds, and again, if you’re an English speaker, you should already be familiar with the sound, if not the name. Examples in English include the words ‘button’ and ‘Kitten’ – while there are two t’s present in the middle of the words, many native speakers won’t pronounce them, but instead will make a voiceless sound before completing the word. The clearest example of this is ‘uh-oh’ – say it out loud, the pause in the middle is the glottal stop. When a word in Bahasa Indonesia is written with two ‘a’s next to each other, such as maaf – ‘sorry’, there is a glottal stop in the middle – ma’af.

Rule No.3 – Roll your ‘r’s… or don’t.
If you can’t roll your ‘r’s, don’t worry, West Sumatra’s local dialect – Bahasa Minang – doesn’t really use the rolled ‘r’ too much, and, much the same as with English, here an ‘r’ at the end of a word is often implied rather than spoken;

Bahasa Indonesia – ‘Belajar(rrr)’ Bahasa Minang – ‘Baraja’

If you can roll your ‘r’s with the best of them, go for it! The rolled ‘r’ is as much a personal choice as it is a regional one.

Rule No.4

Not really a rule as such. Bahasa Indonesia is free of tenses and plurals; therefore the time at which something occurs in the past, present or future is implied by context rather than specific language. Likewise, plurals don’t really exist. The word for ‘he/she’ – ‘dia’, also means ‘they’. If a plural really needs to be noted, a word will simply be repeated twice – that’s what all the ‘2’s are about in roadsigns. ‘Pelan2’ means ‘pelan-pelan’ or ‘go very slowly’. ‘Hati2’ means ‘Hati-hati’ which bizarrely literally means ‘liver-liver’ but translates as ‘be careful’.

Many of the words in Bahasa Minang and Bahasa Indonesia are very similar, apart the endings. Often ‘a’s at the end of words in Bahasa Indonesian become ‘o’s in Bahasa Minang, for example ‘mata’ (eye) becomes ‘mato’. So the previously mentioned Danau Kaco is actually Danau Kaca in Bahasa Indonesia, meaning ‘glass lake’.

So, what do you think? Is there anything more that you would like to know, or are you a Bahasa Indonesian speaker and have some further valuable information? Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts.

Jen

Jen is an English girl who found herself in Sumatra one day and never went back. A wife, mother, traveler and book worm, she has lived in Padang long enough to speak the language and unearth plenty of useful hints and tips for the weary traveler…