Let's Learn Bahasa Indonesia on 7 days!

Day 1. Being Polite

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.

Vocabulary Day 1.
Selamat [pagi | siang | sore | malam].	Good [morning | day | afternoon | evening].
Terima kasih.	Thank-you.
Ya.	Yes. (often means no)
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 | tinggal].	Good-bye. (to person leaving | to person staying)
Kembali.	You're welcome.
Silakan[ duduk | masuk].	Please [sit down | come in].

Day 2. The Taxi

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 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 neighborhood (Kebayoran Baru, Blok M, Jalan Thamrin, Kemang, Pondok Indah etc.) and the street. 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.

Vocabulary Day 2.
Ke [kiri | kanan].	To the [left | right].
[terus | lurus]	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 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 they assured you they grew up on.)
[Berhenti! | Stop!]	Stop! (Often necessary)
Salah.	Wrong.
Saya mau pulang.	I want to go home.

Day 3. More Politeness

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.

Vocabulary Day 3.
Dari mana?	Where are you from? (For some reason, Indonesians are very good at spotting foreigners.)
Saya dari Amerika.	I am from 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 been [in Indonesia | here] for two [days | weeks] already.
Sudah kawin?	Are you already married? (Another polite question, not often a pick-up line.)
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?

Day 4. Numbers

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 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, it's only your fourth day.

An Australian mate of ours managed to successfully bargain for goods in Bali using only the numbers from one to five. This approach is not recommended.

Vocabulary Day 4.
[nol | 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, ...
dua puluh, tiga puluh, ...	twenty, thirty, ...
dua puluh lima	twenty five
seratus, dua ratus, ...	one hundred, two hundred, ...
seribu, dua ribu, ...	one thousand, two thousand...
sejuta, dua juta, ...	one million, two million, ...
... setengah	... and a half

Day 5. Simple Sentences

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 get you a better room at the Wisma Delima, for that you need a teacher or more time with a phrase book. These phrases, though will ensure that you won't go hungry on your fifth day.

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 youself a quiz. Bring the paper you wrote them down on.

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. A more extensive list of these similar words is provided on the next page.

Vocabulary Day 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]

Day 6. Asking Questions

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, dictionary, or the word lists in the Appendix.

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

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	deoderant	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	paper clip
pen	pencil	pension	photo	photocopy	pizza	police	radio
restaurant	roast beef	salad	same	school	sex	shopping	staple
steak	stop	stop	strawberry	supermarket	taxi	tea	telephone
tennis	ticket	to park	toilet	TV	university	video

Day 7. Leftovers

On your day of rest, 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 expat is after two months of slaving over phrase and grammar books. Have fun and don't forget to practice.

Vocabulary Day 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.

Appendix 1. Guide to Pronunciation

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

Spelling	Example	Description
a	apa	always a long a as in "father" (never "bad"or "bang")
e	bécak	like a in "make"
e	ke,empat	like a in "sofa"
i	pagi,itu	like ee in "see" but shorter (never like "hit" or "hike")
o	kopi	like aw in "law", but shorter
u	susu	like oo in "food", but shorter

Diphthongs

Spelling	Example	Description
ai	pandai	somewhere between "pay" and "pie"
au	tembakau	like ow in "now"
oi	amboi	like oy in "boy"
oe	Soeharto	old spelling, still used in names, pronounced as oo in "food"
ua	uang	like "wa" in "Walla-walla, Washington"

Consonants (the easy part)

Spelling	Example	Description
b	bawah	same as b in "bungle" but spoken more softly. At the end of a word may be more of a soft p.
c	bicara	similar to ch in "church"
d	duduk	like d in "bed". At the end of a word may sound more like a soft t
dj	djarum	old spelling still used in names, pronounced like j in "jump"
f	foto	like f in "fan"
g	garpu	like g in "dog"
h	hari	similar to h in "hope"
j	jalan	like j in "jump"
j	djaja	old spelling still used in names, like y in "yard"; look for other old spelling clues in the name (like oe, dj)
k	kabar	like k in "kite" when not at the end of a word. At the end of a word, pronounced like a soft g or glottal stop.
kh	akhir	like clearing your throat or German "ach"
l	lima	similar to l in "like"
m	minta	like m in "main"
n	nama	like n in "noon"
ny	nyamuk	like ny in "canyon"
ng	dengan	like ng in "singer" (not "finger", that requires ngg)
ngg	tunggu	like ng in "finger" (not "singer")
p	pukul	similar to p in "pool" but without the puff of air
q		is not used much in Indonesian words but does come up in Arabic words used in Indonesia (for example, Istiqlal). When it occurs, qu is pronounced as qu in "queen".
r	kiri	like a softly trilled Scottish or German r. Never a hard American, Australian or Canadian r.
s	selamat	similar to s in "seven"
t	tujuh	like t in "let" but without the plosive quality (it's sometimes difficult to differentiate between spoken t, p and d)
tj	Tjoakroaminoto	old spelling still used in names, pronounced like ch in "church"
v	visa	rarely used, like v in "visa" but softer
w	awas	between w in "wane" and v in "vane"
x		not used. In foreign words, often replaced with ks as in taksi.
y	yang	like y in you
z	zat	like z in "zone", often replaced with, and pronounced like s

Guide to Pronunciation of Indonesian

You will need to LISTEN (to your teacher and to the audio for Keren!) to really pronounce Indonesian correctly, but the following guide will give you a rough idea how to sound words out. Unlike English, Indonesian is relatively consistent in matching sounds to spellings, but there are some exceptions to this, and there are several sounds that are tricky for English- speakers.

***CLICK ON THE WORD TO HEAR IT PRONOUNCED***

Vowels

a like a in father	datang, nama
e like u in but OR*	selamat, senang
e between the e in let and the a in late	es, sore
i like ee in feet	pagi, siang
o between the aw in saw and the oe in toe	kopi, orang
u like oo in boot	buku, duduk**
ai like ie in tie	baik, sampai***
au like ow in how	mau, saudara****

*NOTE: There is no rule to know which way to pronounce e in a particular word without hearing it first; your teacher will give you the correct pronunciation as you go along.

**the u in the second syllable of duduk sounds more like the oo in book)

***the ai in sampai is often pronounced ay as in day, especially in Java

****the au in saudara is often pronounced oe as in toe)

In other cases where two vowels are not separated by a consonant, just put the two vowel sounds together: siapa = si apa, etc. When a vowel is repeated, put a glottal stop (= the catch in your throat when you say "uh-oh!") between the vowels: maaf = ma-af.

Consonants:

I. Consonants pronounced very much as in English:

b as in bed	bahasa, mobil
d as in dad	duduk, saudara
f as in feel	foto, maaf
g as in good	guru, pagi NEVER as in giant
l as in lap	lagi, selamat
m as in man	malam, selamat
n as in nap	Natal, tahun ALSO SEE ng, ny, below
s as in see	siang, kelas NEVER as in boys
w as in well	wayang, kawan NEVER as in where
y as in yell	yang, Yogyakarta

II. Consonants pronounced somewhat differently than in English:

j like the dy in Goodyear	jumpa, saja
k like the k in skate	kopi, es krim*
p like the p in spot	pagi, apa*
t like the t in stop	tas, itu*

*k, p, and t DO NOT have the puff of air they have in such English words as kill, put, and tap.

**NOTE: When k comes at the END of a word, the sound is cut off sharply (like the glottal stop mentioned above): baik, becak

ng like the ng in singer

mengerti, senang

**NOTE: ng alone does NOT have the "hard" g, as in finger, which is always written as ngg in Indonesian: tinggal, penggaris

ny like the ny in canyon

banyak, artinya

Both ng and ny can be found at the BEGINNINGS of words: ngopi, Nyonya

sy like the s y in pass your plate, close to the sh in show.

syukur, asyik

III. Consonants presenting special problems:

c like the t y in get your feet off the table!, close to the c in cello or the ch in chat, NEVER like the c in cat	cinta, becak
h as in house, but it can also appear at the ENDS of words:	hari, bahasa, sekolah
r like the tt in butter or gotta. It is usually a tap of the tongue behind the teeth, though it sometimes is more of a trill (like the rr in Spanish arriba, especially at the ends of words	rumah, saudara, kabar

The letters q, v, x, z are very rare in Indonesian, and are mostly found in words borrowed from English, Dutch or Arabic.

q similar to English k	Qur'an
v similar to English v or f	veto, Vitri
x like English x	xerox
z like English z or j	zebra, zaman

Here is how you pronounce the alphabet in Indonesian:

(Hear -->)	a = ah	b = bay	c = chay	d = day	e = ay	f = ef	g = gay
(Hear -->)	h = ha	i = ee	j = jay	k = kah	l = el	m = em	n = en
(Hear -->)	o = oh	p = pay	q = key	r = air	s = es	t = tay	u = oo
(Hear -->)	v = fay	w = way	x = eks	y = yay	z = zet

For more info click : http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Indonesian/