Indonesian Lesson 3: Simple Greetings & Farewells

http://thejavajive.com/blog/?p=303

In English we have an all purpose greeting word - "Hi". In Indonesian, greetings are more specific to the time of day, among other things.

Selamat

Selamat - is commonly used as a part of greetings. Its literal meaning is: "welfare, happiness, or congratulations". (Remember that emphasis falls on the next-to-last syllable.) Selamat can be combined with many other words to form greetings such as "Good morning", "Have a good stay", and "Enjoy your meal".

Pagi

Pagi - means "morning"

Selamat pagi! = "Good morning!"

Siang

Siang - refers to the time of day between around 11:00 am & 2:00 pm.

Selamat siang! = "Good day!"

Sore

Sore (*pronounced "SOH-ray") - refers to the mid-to-late afternoon (2pm until dark)

Selamat sore = "Good afternoon!"

Malam

Malam - means "night"

Selamat malam! = "Good night!" ("Good night" can be used as a greeting as well as a farewell in Indonesian.)


Remember: all of the greetings above can also be used to say farewell!

Selamat belajar!

Bahasa Indonesia Lesson 2

In the first lesson, we went through Indonesian pronunciation and learned how to say "I" and "you". In this lesson we will learn some words and phrases that will be helpful for building basic sentences.

Apa

Apa - means "what, which"

"Apa" is also used as a question marker. You would use "Apa" to form sentences such as: "What is that?" "Are those...?"

* Note that "Apa" can also mean "Are...?, Is...?"


Apa kabar? - is the Indonesian equivalent of "What's up?".

Kabar means "news", so "Apa kabar?" literally means "What (is your) news?".

Notice that the pronoun identifying who this question is directed to is implied, not stated. This is a very common pattern that you'll encounter again and again. Indonesians tend to be quite minimalist when it comes to speaking.

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Siapa

Siapa - means "who?"

When you want to ask something about a living being, use "Siapa" instead of "Apa". "Apa" is used for nonliving things. So if wanted to ask somebody's name, you would say:

"Siapa nama anda?" - means "What is your name?"

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Nama

Nama - means "name"

"Nama saya Peter." - means "My name is Peter."

This simple sentence demonstrates a common rule for modifiers in Indonesian. A modifier is a word that describes another word. Modifiers can tell us who something belongs to, what it looks like, etc. In Indonesian, modifiers are almost always placed after the word they describe, instead of before it. In English we might say "fast car", but in Indonesia they would say "car fast" to express the same idea.

"Nama saya Peter" literally translates as "Name I Peter".

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Dari

Dari - means "from"

"Saya dari Java." - means "I'm from Java."

"Anda dari Bandung?" - means "Are you from Bandung?"

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Ini

Ini - means "this"

"Apa ini?" - means "What is this?"

"Ini apa?" - means the same as above. You can use either word order when asking about something.

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Itu

Itu - means "that"

How would you say: "What is that?"?

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Mana

Mana - is combined with various other words to ask about: origin - "Where from?", location - "Where at?", and destination - "Where to?"

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Dari mana? - means "Where from?" This is a common way to ask somebody where they're from.

"Dari mana ini?" - means "Where is this from?"

Respond to this question in Indonesian: "Dari mana anda?"

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Di mana? - means "Where at?"

* Di - means "At, in, on" (specifying location)

How would you say: "Where is that?"

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Ke mana? - means "Where to?" (or sometimes "where [are you] going to?")

* Ke - means "to", or somtimes "going to (somewhere)"

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Dialogue

Reza - Nama saya "Reza". Siapa nama anda?

Ken - Nama saya "Ken".

Reza - "Dari mana?"

Ken - "Saya dari Denver."

Reza - "'Denver?" Di mana itu?"

Ken - "Di Amerika." (Amerika = America)

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In the next lesson we'll cover some basic Indonesian greetings and farewells. Until then... Selamat belajar!

Your First Indonesian Lesson!

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Pronunciation

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Indonesian pronunciation is pretty simple. In some ways it's similar to German pronunciation, but then it also has rolled R's like Spanish - which is cool. Here is a link to a pronunciation guide:
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http://www.hello-indonesia.com/HelloIndonesia/Pronunciation.pdf
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Read this guide and then read the notes I added below
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Some things you should remember about Indonesian pronunciation:
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* In general, stress is put on the next-to-last syllable of a word. There are a few exceptions, as we'll see below, but this is a good rule to follow.

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C - always pronounced like the ch- in "China". This is really simple to understand, but it can be easy to forget at first.

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D - The D sound is similar to the T sound (see T below). It's made by placing the tip of your tongue on the spot where the back of your front teeth meet the roof of your mouth, and then pushing the air out of your mouth. It's sort of like the sound in between the words "and the" (spoken at full speed).

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E - somewhat tricky. If an E falls between two consonants, it is pronounced very faintly and sounds like a soft "-uh" sound. The word for "friend" - teman (pronounced "tuh-MAHN") - is a good example of this rule.
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**Also, when the first syllable of a word contains an E that falls between two consonants, stress does not fall on that syllable. So for teman, stress falls on the second syllable. It's almost voiced as if it's silent when in this position.

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If an E falls at the end of a word, it is pronounced more like the E in "bet".

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G - always a hard G sound (as in "game")...
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NG- the G is unvoiced like the G at the end of "something". This is basically the same as in English, except that the rule still applies even if -ng falls in the middle of a word.
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For example, the word which means "to type" - mengetik - is pronounced "muhng-uh-TIK", with the -ng voiced like the -ng in "singer", and the K voiced like the C in "macbook".
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As you can see, these pronunciation rules can accumulate within single words. With practice you can get used to them and speak without an English accent.

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NGG - pronounced like the -ng in "fungus"

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J - pronounced almost exactly like it is in English, but with one subtle difference; it is pronounced with a slight y- sound after it, giving it a -jy sound (with Y making its consonant sound). The word for "road" - jalan - is pronounced more like "JYAH-lahn". This is very subtle, but if you pick it up you'll sound much more like a native speaker.

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K - If K falls at the beginning or in the middle of a word, it is pronounced like in English.
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When K falls at the end of a word, it is voiced like the C in "Macbook".

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Q - always pronounced like "Q" in "quesadilla".

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R - rolled like in Spanish. Jakarta sounds almost like "Juh-KAH-duh-tuh".

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* If you have trouble making the rolled "R" sound, practice saying "I got it" really fast; the way you say the -t at the end of "got" is the way you should pronounce the letter R in Indonesian.

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T - pronounced almost like in English, but with a subtle difference. In English, the "T" sound is made by placing the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, and then exhaling. In Indonesian, the "T" sound is sort of a cross between the "T" and "TH-" sound in English. It (the T sound) is made by placing the tip of your tongue on the spot where the back of your front teeth meet the roof of your mouth, and then exhaling. It sort of sounds like the sound in between the words "got the" (spoken at full speed).
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If you say your T the English way when speaking Indonesian, your foreign-ness and non-fluency will be quite obvious.

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Y - check the guide I provided a link to above. I know it's pronounced like the Y in "yard". I don't know if it's pronounced like vowel in any cases.

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Z - I suspect that this letter has a wierd pronunciation. Check the link above.

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Basic Words

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Saya

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Saya (pronounced "SAH-ya") -"I". This word is a standard way to address yourself, and is acceptable in any situation.
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As you will see, there are various ways of saying "I" and "you" in Indonesian; some titles are more formal than others. The less formal titles are usually used among friends or children, or when addressing someone younger than yourself.
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When introducing yourself, you might say:
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"Saya Mark", or "Saya Erin" (literally "I Mark" and "I Erin").
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You might have noticed that there is no word for "am" between "I" and the name. Indonesian doesn't use any equivalents of "is", "are", or "am" to imply being. At first an English speaker might think that such phrasing is a little awkward, because using such wording in English makes you sound like a caveman - "Me Tarzan. You Jane." Indonesian syntax is extremely simple, and you'll be relieved by this simplicity as you progress in your study.
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Anda

Anda (pronounced "AHN-duh") - "you". This is a more formal word for "you", and could be used with somebody you just met or are working professionally with. The more friendly, informal word for "you" is kamu.

Anda Sarah. ("You are Sarah")

Anda Sarah? ("Are you Sarah?")

In Indonesian, as in English, statements of fact can be turned into questions without changing any words, but by simply raising your tone of voice at the end of the sentence.

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In the next post I'll go through some more vocabulary and common sentence patterns. Until then, selamat belajar (happy studying)!

Some good Indonesian language books

If you spend a little bit of time each day studying, you'll be surprised how quickly you can begin to pick up the language.

Right now I'm using a book/audio pack called "Teach Yourself Indonesian", by Christopher Byrnes. You can find it on Amazon for about $20, and on Barnes & Noble's site for about $25. I got it from B&N because they offer free shipping for it that takes 3 (or less) business days to arrive.

This book has been very helpful. The dialogues are natural and relevant, and the audio quality of the (2) CDs is excellent. The lessons can progress rather quickly sometimes, but I think that that is more a plus than a minus; if you study consistently, you can quickly advance past the ultra-basic stuff, and feel like you're really learning how to use the language.

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When you first use the CDs it will seem like the speakers are talking pretty fast, but this is just because you're not used to hearing the language. After a few lessons you'll be able to understand without too much trouble. It's really rewarding to study the new vocabulary for one of the dialogues (without reading the dialogue in the book), and then listen to the CD and figure out exactly what the speakers are saying. The book also has little informational tidbits here and there about Indonesian culture, which is pretty cool.

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The only drawback I've found so far with this book is that there aren't very many excersises that make you use what you've learned to compose original sentences in Indonesian.

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Overall, I'd give this book 4.3 out of 5 stars, and I'd recommend it heavily to anyone learning Bahasa Indonesia. I'd also strongly suggest that you make flashcards for all the vocabulary you learn in each lesson, and use the vocabulary you've learned to write about yourself or make up a stories, and practice imaginary conversations.

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I just bought a pocket-sized book called "Instant Indonesian" by Stuart Robson.

I've only glanced over this book a few times, but it looks really good. It has some helpful words and phrases in it, and also explains how the words fit into sentences. This book is good for helping you learn some basic sentence patterns and helpful phrases, but it shouldn't stand alone. I'd recommend getting this book to supplement a comprehensive Bahasa Indonesia course like the book/CD pack above. You can get "Instant Indonesian" for about $7 on Amazon and at B&N.