Bali Guide - Learn the Indonesian Language

Learning Bahasa Indonesia

Face it -- whether you are in Indonesia for one week or for 10 years, it is not only polite and useful to know a little of the language, in many cases, it is outright necessary. If you don't want to be trapped at the Hotel or restricted to traveling with a translator, you need to be able to communicate with that cheerful, friendly, curious populace out there. This booklet provides one approach to learning a very basic level of the Indonesian language, Bahasa Indonesia, with no strain.

I have yet to encounter a structured, functional approach to learning Bahasa Indonesia. 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 following lists of words, should help you to get through your first week.

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.).

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.

Lesson 1
Selamat pagi - Good morning
Selamat siang - Good Day
Selamat sore - Good afternoon
Selamat malam - Good| evening
Terima kasih - Thank-you.
Ya - Yes.
Tidak - No.
Apa kabar? - How are you? What's new?
Baik, dan [Bapak | Ibu]? - Fine, and you? (to man | woman)
Saya tidak bisa bahasa Indonesia. I don't speak Indonesian. (This will be painfully obvious to any Indonesian, but it's a polite way to fill in those awkward moments.)
Selamat jalan Good-bye. (to person leaving
Selamat| tinggal. Goodbye to person staying
Kembali. You're welcome.
Silakan duduk - Please sit down
Silikan masuk - Please come in

By your second day, still fuzzy with jet-lag, but by now bored enough with the hotel facilities 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 driver. If you don't happen to have both of these handy, flag down the nearest taxi after you have memorized the lesson 2 vocabulary.

Street names and addresses are rarely sufficient to get you where you are going unless you are going to a very well known building, hotel, shopping center or tourist facility. Remember to learn the local pronunciation of your hotel or street, as 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 area first (Kuta, Sanur, Jimbaran, Uluwatu etc) and then the street, hotel, villa etc. 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.

Lesson 2
Ke kiri - To the left Ke kanan - To the right
terus - straight ahead.
Rumah / Gedung /Jalan ini / itu - This / That house / building / street
Ke mana? - Where are you going? (Also a common polite greeting.)
Saya mau ke Amerika - I am going to the United States
Saya tidak tahu - I don't know. (This will likely be obvious to the driver but may encourage him to find directions elsewhere.)
Di sini / sana = Here / There (Not really useful, but it's something to say while you're pointing at the house.)
Kiri, kanan? Left or right? (Drivers often ask this when approaching a street that they previously assured you they grew up on.)
Berhenti! | Stop! - Stop! (Often necessary)
Salah - Wrong.
Saya mau pulang - I want to go home.

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.

Lesson 3
Dari mana? - Where are you from?
Saya dari Amerika - I am from the United States.
Sudah lama di [Indonesia / sini]? - Have you been [in Indonesia / here] very long? (Again, a polite question, but you are really being asked how long you have been here.)
Saya sudah dua [hari | minggu] di [Indonesia | sini] - I have already been [in Indonesia / here] for two [days | weeks]
Sudah kawin? - Are you already married? (Another polite question)
Sudah punya anak? - Do you have any children? (a popular topic)
[Sudah | Belum] - [Already | Not yet].
Di mana dompetku? - Where is my wallet ?
Berapa umurnya? - How old are you? (Another common, polite question.)
Tinggal dimana? - Where do you live?

Numbers are handy to know, but most often prices are written on paper or shown on a cash-register or on a calculator. By your fourth day you are not yet ready to bargain for antiques! 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 as yet.

Lesson 4
nol or kosong - zero
satu - one
dua - two
tiga - three
empat - four
lima - five
enam - six
tujuh - seven
delapan - eight
sembilan - nine
sepuluh - ten
sebelas, duabelas, tigabelas, ... - eleven, twelve, thirteen, ... etc
dua puluh, tiga puluh, empat puluh... twenty, thirty, forty... etc
dua puluh lima - twenty five
seratus, dua ratus, tiga ratus ... one hundred, two hundred, three hundred... etc
seribu, dua ribu, tiga ribu ... one thousand, two thousand, three thousand... etc
sejuta, dua juta, tiga juta ... one million, two million, three million... etc
setengah ... half

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 to get you a better room at the Hotel, for that you will need a teacher or a lot more time with a phrase book. These phrases, though will ensure that you won't go hungry.

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 yourself a quiz. Take the paper you wrote them on with you.

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.

Lesson 5
Saya mau ...(insert noun or verb, for example: Saya mau kue. Saya mau minum.) I want ... (noun | "to" verb) for example, I want cookies. I want to drink.
Saya minta (kopi) - I would like some |coffee| (noun | "to" verb)
Ada (rokok) ? - Do you have any cigarettes (noun)?
Di mana saya bisa beli (baju) ? (insert noun) - Where can I buy a shirt (noun)?
Saya suka (buku ini).(insert noun or verb) - I like (this book) (noun or verb).
Saya mau beli (sepatu) - (insert noun) I want to buy shoes (noun)
Berapa [ini | itu]? - How much is [this | that]?
Berapa? - How [much | many]?

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 or dictionary.

You should be at the stage now where you can teach someone a little English. Try it!

Lesson 6
Apa [ini | itu]? - What is [this | that]?
Apa (horse) dalam bahasa Indonesia?(substitute English word, which is handy only if the person to whom you are speaking knows more English than you know Indonesian.) - What is (horse) in Indonesian?
Inggeris - [English | England]

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:

airport	apple	athlete	baby	baggage	bank	bar	beer
bell	bottle	bus	camera	cashier	cassette	cherry	chocolate
coca cola	coffee	coin	computer	consultant	deodorant	diskette	doctor
donut	dry cleaning	electricity	film	football	glass	guitar	hamburger
hello	ice	ice cream	kilometer	kiosk	mall	massage	meter
monument	museum	music	number	office	OK	oven	paperclip
pen	pencil	pension	photo	pizza	police	photocopy	radio
restaurant	roast beef	salad	same	school	sex	shopping	staple
Steak	stop	strawberry	supermarket	taxi	tea	telephone	television
tennis	ticket	parking	toilet	TV	university	video	DVD

Now that you have mastered the basics 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 tourist/expat is after two months of slaving over phrase and grammar books. Have fun and don't forget to practice.

Lesson 7
Tidak apa-apa - It doesn't matter. (Literally means "nothing". Handy when someone is apologizing profusely.)
Maaf - I am sorry. (If you want to apologize profusely.)
Permisi - Excuse me. (To get someone to move out of the way or to get someone's attention.)
Hati-hati! - Careful
Awas! - Watch out!
[Jam | pukul] berapa? - [What time is it? | At what time?]
[Jam | Pukul] dua - [At (two) o'clock. | It is (two) o'clock] (insert number)
Tolong, bawa (teh) - Please bring me the (tea) (insert noun).
Satu lagi - One more. (works well for beers.)
Tambah lagi? - Do you want more?
Habis - Finished
Minta bon - Bill, please

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