Hakimtea

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

^{Click on the word to hear it pronounced.}

Diphthongs

^{Click on the word to hear it pronounced.}

Consonants (the easy part)

^{Click on the word to hear it pronounced.}

Source: www.seasite.niu.edu