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. Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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