- Before you do anything, make sure that you are truly interested in learning this language. Since there aren't many Indonesian abroad, the language isn't going to be all that useful if you never plans on visiting the country. But it'll come in handy if you plans to visit neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor. If you understand that and remain positive about your decision, than there's no reason why you shouldn't go ahead and start learning.
- Commit yourself to your goal. Every language takes awhile to learn, whether it's a common or an obscure one. It's a lot like bodybuilding; you need to do it on a regular basis and stick with it. Just because you might not take a class does not mean that you can skip a day or two. Remember that it's a long-term goal instead of a spontaneous decision. A lot of people tend to stop learning a language after a few months or weeks, so try to stay motivated throughout the tough or confusing parts.
- Spellings. Indonesian language is spelled the way they are written. Just like Latin, or Spanish, or International Phonetic Alphabet (you know, the words in the brackets in the dictionaries). Every syllable mostly consist of no more than a vowel and one or two consonant(s). The exception to the one vowel rule is dipthong.
- A-E-I-O-U This is the part that confuse most English speaker. "A" in Indonesian is spoken like "Ah" in English. "E" in Indonesian is spoken like "A" in English, "I" in Indonesian is spoken like "E" or "ee" in English, "O" in Indonesian is spoken like "Oh" in English. "U" in Indonesian is spoken like "oo" in English. Again, this is like Latin. Blame English for the inconsistencies. :) The only difference between English and Indonesian pronunciations is "C" which is pronounced as "ch" in Indonesian.
- Learn the simplest things first. This is the easiest and most fun part, because after you learn the "tourist basics", you'll feel much more confident in your knowledge and understanding.
Here's a few basic words and phrases in Indonesian:- Terima kasih (teh-ree-muh kuh-see)- Thank you
- Maaf (mah-ahf)- Sorry
- Apa kabar? (ah-pah kah-bahr)- How are you?
- Permisi (pehr-mee-see)- Excuse me
- Saya/aku (sah-yuh/ah-koo)- I (formal/informal)
- Anda/Kamu/elu ( 'ahn-da/ka-moo/eh-loo )- You (formal/informal/colloquial)
- Saya mau makan ('sai-yah ma-oo ma-kahn') I want to eat
- Terima kasih (teh-ree-muh kuh-see)- Thank you
- Surround yourself with the language. This is going to help you a lot later on, especially on the days when you aren't motivated. There's a lot of things that you can do to make sure that you have the language around you in a fun and convenient way. Sign up for an RSS feed or newsletter of "Indonesian Word of the Day", start watching an Indonesian show/movie with subtitles, discover Indonesian music, listen to Indonesian podcasts, etc.
- Sign up for a class if you can. If you don't live in Oceania or Eastern/Southeastern Asia, it probably won't be very easy to find classes. However, you can usually get a tutor or join a language club. You'll find it much easier to stick to your goal once you get yourself into a regular schedule and interact with others who are trying to do the same as you.
- Get yourself a dictionary. Most chances are that your library or book store has an English-Indonesian dictionary, but don't be afraid to ask if there are any other books. The dictionary will be very useful to learn and to flip through when you encounter an unfamiliar word. Online translators are infamous for their incorrect translations, but you can use those once in awhile as well.
- Create flash cards. This is usually the part that most people hate, but it doesn't have to be. Copy down useful words that you want to remember. Use highlighters, markers, and even stickers to make them fun and interesting. Since it uses 26 Latin alphabet with no variations, you'd find no difficulty in writing or typing Indonesian language.
- Listen to the language. Like all languages, Indonesian has a unique sound and rhythm that you will need to become familiar with. Spoken Indonesian can be quite fast and quite different from formal Indonesian that you might learn from a textbook, so it is best to try to begin training your ear to understand it early on in the process.
Indonesian Alphabet
Letter | Pronunciation | Examples |
---|---|---|
a | a | a as in "apple" never as in "able" |
b | be | same as in English |
c | ce | c as in the word "Indonesian" |
d | de | as in the word "danish" |
e | e | as in the word "learn" sometimes as in "bet" |
f | ef | like the English standalone f |
g | ge | always as in the word "gold" never as in the word "german" |
h | ha | just like English, but never silent like in the word "honor" |
i | i | ee like in "sweet" |
j | je | as in "Job" |
k | ka | regular "k" but not aspirated |
l | el | same as in English |
m | em | same as in English |
n | en | same as in English |
o | o | as in "over" or "drop" |
p | pe | same as in English but not aspirated |
q | ki | same as in English |
r | er | same as in the rolled Spanish "r" |
s | es | same as in English |
t | te | as in English but not aspirated |
u | u | as in "oo" |
v | fe | more like "f" than "v" |
w | we | same as in English |
x | eks | same as in English |
y | ye | same as in English |
z | zet | same as in English |
In addition to the letters above Indonesian has some more compound letters | ||
ng | eng | Like in “hanging” softly. Another compound similar to the “ng”, is the “ngg” with allows us to pronounce it the hard way as “bingo” |
ny | nye | Similar to the “n” in the Spanish “mañana”, |
kh | kha | From Arabic, sounds like the Scottish “loch” or the Spanish jota. |
sy | sya | From Arabic like “shield” |
ゾーロ。。Koko omoshiroine~~~
BalasHapus