Before I begin to the Indonesian Language Lesson we will take a look at some of the common questions that often arise when talking about learning the Indonesian language and more importantly learning it as a second language. So, the first question must be…

“Why do We Need to Learn Indonesian Language??”

Of course one of the reasons why we need to be able to speak Indonesian nowadays is because the world is becoming smaller. Thanks to the Internet and our developing global economy more and more people are travel to Indonesia and communicate with each other while you visit this beautiful country. And many companies and large businesses need employer who can speak Indonesian Language.

So now it has become unavoidable that companies and large businesses will need to employ people who can speak more than their own native language. That is where Indonesian language comes in. it is now officially considered as a travel language beside will become International language (soon).

Of course learning anything is difficult and Indonesian language is no exception. However, there are ways to make the situation easier. I have come up with my own list of general rules for learning Indonesian language.

Learning Indonesian language is easy and fun but also takes time and patience. Try to relax and take it easy. The most important thing you need at the beginning is a good vocabulary. Without words, you have nothing to work with. You must start with a strong foundation or base and slowly build on it, day by day!

You must view Indonesian language as a part of your body just as you would, an arm (tangan) or a leg (kaki). It must become a part o your everyday life. Daily practice is very important. Do not worry about making mistakes in fact the more mistakes you make the more you will learn from them. Just like learning to ride a bike. Sometimes you fall of! So, what do you do? You get back on and try again.

Do not look at Indonesian language as just another subject, your attitude to Indonesian language and the way you view it will decide how well you progress. Just as we say in Indonesian language… “Berakit-rakit kehulu berenang-renang ke tepian – bersakit-sakit dahulu bersenenag-senang kemudian” in English say, “No pain… no gain!”

The two most important words to remember when learning Indonesian language are “Practice and Confidence”

Practice Indonesian language everyday and be confident… you will find the more you use Indonesian language the better your Indonesian language will become. And the more confident you become then the more you will want to use it. Make it a rule to tell yourself… I can do it!

I hope you’ve enjoyed Indonesian language.

Sampai Jumpa di pelajaran berikutnya! (see you at the next lesson)

Almost all of Indonesia’s 240 million inhabitants speak the language and it is one of the most spoken languages in the world.[2] Most Indonesians, aside from speaking the national language, are fluent in another regional language or local dialect (examples include Minangkabau, varieties of Chinese, Sundanese, Javanese and Balinese) that are commonly used at home and within the local community. Most formal education, as well as nearly all national media and other forms of communication, are conducted in Indonesian. In East Timor, which was annexed as an Indonesian province from 1975 to 1999, the Indonesian language is recognised by the constitution as one of two working languages (the other is English, alongside the official languages of Tetum and Portuguese).

The Indonesian name for the language is Bahasa Indonesia (lit. “the language of Indonesia”). This term can sometimes also be found in written or spoken English. In addition, the language is sometimes referred to as “Bahasa” by English speakers, though this simply means “language” and thus is also not an official term for the Indonesian language.

History
Indonesian is a normative form of the Malay language, an Austronesian (or Malayo-Polynesian) language that has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries. It was elevated to the status of official language with the Indonesian declaration of independence in 1945, drawing inspiration from the Sumpah Pemuda (Youth’s Oath) event in 1928.[3]

The earliest known inscription in the Malay language dates back to the 7th century. Known as the Kedukan Bukit Inscription, it was discovered by the Dutchman M. Batenburg on 29 November 1920 at Kedukan Bukit, South Sumatra, on the banks of the River Tatang (a tributary of the River Musi). It is a small stone, 45 cm by 80 cm in size.

Because of its origins, Indonesian (in its most standard form) is mutually intelligible with the official Malaysian Malay. However, it does differ from Malaysian Malay in some aspects, with differences in pronunciation, diction, spelling, accent and vocabulary. The grammar of Indonesian language is slightly more complex than Malaysian Malay’s. These differences are mainly due to the Dutch and Javanese influences on Indonesian, and the English influence on Malaysian Malay.

Whilst Indonesian is spoken as a mother tongue (first language) by only a small proportion of Indonesia’s large population [4] (i.e. mainly those who reside within the vicinity of Jakarta), over 200 million people regularly make use of the national language—some with varying degrees of proficiency. In a nation that boasts more than 300 native languages and a vast array of ethnic groups, the use of standard Indonesian (as opposed to Indonesian slang or regional dialects) is an essential[citation needed] means of communication across the archipelago. Use of the national language is abundant in the media, government bodies, schools, universities, workplaces, amongst members of the Indonesian upper-class or nobility and also in many other formal situations.

The standard, correct version of the Indonesian languagee is rarely used in daily communication. Standard Indonesian may be found in books and newspapers, or on television/radio news broadcasts, but few native Indonesian speakers use completely formally standard language in their daily conversations. While this is a phenomenon common to most languages in the world (for example, spoken English does not always correspond to written or prescriptive standards), the degree of compliance of spoken Indonesian, in grammar and vocabulary, with the written form of standard Indonesian is noticeably low. This is mostly due to the fact that most Indonesians tend to combine certain aspects of their own local languages (e.g. Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, and even Chinese dialects, particularly Hokkien) with Indonesian. The result is the creation of various types of regional Indonesian dialects. This phenomenon is exacerbated by the use of Indonesian slang, particularly in the cities. A classic example of a speaker of accented Indonesian is former president Suharto, whose Javanese accent came through whenever he delivered a speech.

The Dutch colonization left an imprint on the Indonesian language that can be seen in words such as polisi (police), kualitas/kwaliteit (quality), wortel (carrot), kamar (room, chamber), rokok (cigarette), korupsi (corruption), persneling (gear), kantor (office), and resleting (zipper). Alongside Malay, Portuguese was the lingua franca for trade throughout the archipelago from the sixteenth century through to the early nineteenth century. Indonesian words derived from Portuguese include sabun (sabão, soap), meja (mesa, table), boneka (boneca, doll), jendela (janela, window), gereja (igreja, church), bendera (bandeira, flag) and Minggu (from domingo = Sunday).[5] Some of the many words of Chinese origin (with Hokkien/Mandarin pronunciations) include pisau (匕首 bǐshǒu – knife), loteng, (樓/層 = lóu/céng – [upper] floor/ level), mie (麵/miàn – noodles), lumpia (潤餅 (Hokkien = lūn-piáⁿ) – springroll), cawan, (茶碗 cháwǎn – teacup), teko (茶壺, teh-ko [Hokkien] = teapot) and even the widely used slang terms gua and lu (from the Hokkien ‘goa’ 我 and ‘lu’ 汝 – meaning ‘I/ me’ and ‘you’). From Sanskrit came words such as kaca (glass, mirror), raja (king), manusia (mankind) b(h)umi (earth) and agama (religion). Words of Arabic origin include k(h)abar (أَخْبار, news), selamat/ salam (a greeting), dunia (دنيا, world), and kamus (قاموس, dictionary). There are also words derived from Javanese, e.g. aku (meaning I/ me (informal) and its derivative form, mengaku (to admit or confess). Through earlier influence of South Indian Tamil Chola empire that ruled over the region, many Tamil and Sanskrit words may be found in Indonesian such as kapal (ship in Tamil), kolam (lake in Tamil) and kedai (shop in Tamil).

Classification
The Malaysia language is part of the Western Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages. According to the Ethnologue, Indonesian is modelled after Riau Malay, a form of Old Malay originally spoken in Northeast Sumatra.[6]

Geographic distribution
The language is spoken throughout Indonesia (and East Timor), although it is used most extensively as a first language in urban areas and usually as a second or third language in more rural parts of Indonesia. It is spoken by an additional 1.5+ million people worldwide, particularly in the Netherlands, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Finally, it is used daily in some parts of Australia (mostly on Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands ), Brunei, Singapore, some parts of Thailand ( Southern Thailand ), East Timor, Saudi Arabia, Suriname, New Caledonia, and the United States.[7]

References:
[1] ^ “The Indonesian language: Its history and role in modern society,” James Sneddon, UNSW PRESSSneddon (2004:8)
[2] ^ Sneddon (2004:14)
[3] ^ “Bahasa Indonesia: The Indonesian Language,” George Quinn, Australian National University
[4] ^ James N. Sneddon, The Indonesian language : its history and role in modern society, UNSW Press, 2003
[5] ^ Ricklefs (1991:26)
[6] ^ “Ethologue report for language code:ind”. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ind. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
[7] ^ Ethnologue report for language code:ind

Source: Wikipedia with phrase “Indonesian Language”

Number 5#
The spelling is pretty easy.
Example: Saya sedang bermain
Means: I’m playing

Number 4#
Some of the Indonesian words is come from Malay language.
Which make people who speak Malay language can also speak Indonesia.
Ecample: Olahraga
means: Sports

Numer 3#
Some English words come from Indonesian language.
So you can speak Indonesia little bit easier.
Example: Durian, Ketchup (from kecap)

Number 2#
Indonesian language is more widely used in some countries than Malay.
Some countries, like Australia, use Indonesian language widely than Malay, so it’s really easy to reach Indonesian language.

It’s also easy to find Indonesian dictionary and books.

Number 1#
Indonesian language NEVER EVER use another character.
Indonesian language USE Latin alphabet, not even like Russian or Chinese language. Wich make them very easy to learn it.

So, learn Indonesian language from now.

Good luck! in Indonesian you can say, “Semoga beruntung!”

In this blog I will discuss about learning Indonesian language according to the improved spelling.  And also I’ll write about travel to Indonesia, especially to Bali. Why did I choose this topic? Because today many foreign tourists visiting Indonesia, especially to Bali and they do not fully understand the use of Indonesian as the national language of Indonesia.

My English is not so good, but is not mean that necessarily have to give up. Besides this blog as a means for me to train and improve my English. Hopefully there is among readers of this blog who want to correct if there is something wrong in English that I use.

First, I’ll focus in advance to discuss the Indonesian lessons for beginners following examples can spell it. If possible I’ll upload some videos to YouTube so that you or anyone who is learning Indonesia Language knows perfectly well how the spoken words or phrases in Bahasa Indonesia.

I shall see in subsequent writings.

Sampai Jumpa *

*) Sampai Jumpa is Bahasa Indonesia, in English means See You!