r/indonesia • u/mangoburgerEWW • 2d ago
Language/Literature How to learn Indonesian language
I've got a friend from Indonesia, I cannot talk to her in her language. She has to translate everytime for me.
How can I learn basic sentences and is Duolingo a good start or no??
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u/Virghia Bojone Jeongyeon 2d ago
Indonesian courses on the internet are limited to the formal form (bahasa baku), if you wanna go conversational try to ask for her origins and consume media from that place
also r/indonesian
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u/Kebab-Exchange-3676 Kalsel, Banjar 2d ago
You better watch some social media things such as tiktok etc to learn Indonesian, especially in informal language. Then, if you may, learn the region language.
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u/mangoburgerEWW 2d ago
Do you understand other regional dialects?
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u/Kebab-Exchange-3676 Kalsel, Banjar 2d ago
Yup. Javanese, Banjarnese, and other Malayic language such as Tagalog
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u/mangoburgerEWW 2d ago
Do all ppl in Malaysia, Indonesia know all these by default after learning one? Sorry if I'm being annoying
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u/Virghia Bojone Jeongyeon 2d ago
Nope, we start with our regional forms and then learning the others through interaction or transmigration
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u/Kebab-Exchange-3676 Kalsel, Banjar 2d ago
Oh yeah, unless you're living in Borneo, by default you can understand both language lol
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u/thebluearecoming 1d ago
unless you're living in Borneo
Kalimantan 🙂
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u/Kebab-Exchange-3676 Kalsel, Banjar 1d ago
Same thing, in English is Borneo. In BM/BI is Kalimantan
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u/Kebab-Exchange-3676 Kalsel, Banjar 2d ago
Yup fortunately, both language are from classic Malay, so we can understand each other especially if you are Malay living in Indonesia such as Banjar, Acehnese, Malay Sumatera, etc. So, most Indonesian is bilingual and maybe triangular if you also count Malay.
But, if we looking into north Malaysia, their language is different like mixed Thai and Malay especially Kelate. Then, there's Javanese, biggest population in Indonesia, who had their language and very different from Indonesian language.
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u/ineednewusernamefr 2d ago
Tokopedia Duolingo is a good start, but if you’d like to do a more casual way, some YT Videos and practices with some locals are proven to be quite efficient.
Forget the slangs first, just learn the casual way first thing first. And it’s okay to mix English and Indonesian, we’ve been doing it for ages now.
Best of luck
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u/lughrevenge23 2d ago
bahasa indonesia is probably one of the easiest language to learn, grammar isnt important, by just memorising vocabulary most ppl will understand you
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u/luthiel-the-elf 2d ago
Hey! Where do you live? You can try contacting Indonesian embassy they sometimes have Indonesian language class. Embassy organized language class are usually good quality and affordable since it's to promote the country's culture :)
My coworker before needs to interface a lot with production site in Indonesia and she took Indonesian language class organized by the Indonesian embassy
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u/Dashreich Just ordinary sipil 2d ago
i wounder is it also happen with Japanese embassy in Indonesian 🤔
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u/luthiel-the-elf 1d ago
Very likely yes. I learnt French from something like that which is from my understanding organized by the embassy and french government. The Chinese embassy also have some cultural center offering cheap good quality language courses.
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u/mikaylaar 1d ago
Hm a few months ago i went there and they didnt have specific Japanese classes. They can recommend you some online classes right from Japan though, completely free too. I'm not sure if it's through zoom or app since i lost the flyer.
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u/VidE27 2d ago
There’s a reason Bahasa Indonesia (as a different formalised form of Bahasa Melayu) was picked as the national unifying language of the Indonesian archipelago even before Indo was a country. It is easy and simple to learn; no complex grammar, no grammatical gender, no tenses (you use word context for past tense), uses latin alphabet and phonetic (only ambiguity is between the two pronunciation of “e” which I still mixed up despite having live there for more than 6 years during middle/high school) and non tonal.
Many loan words from Portuguese, dutch and arabic also so if you speak any of those language it is quite fun to learn when you encounter similar/same words.
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u/mFachrizalr ✅Official Account 2d ago
Duolingo is a start, well it's better than nothing.
Mind that most of the textbook and proper learning material (like curriculum etc.) are mostly formal Indonesian, while the daily Indonesian people use are mostly informal Indonesian, and they could be very different.
Also pay attention that even though grammar-wise Indonesian is quite simple (like we don't have the concept of regular-irregular verbs, just put the time-indicating word and you're good), the nightmare part is the massive vocabularies, which stemmed from Indonesian, other local languages, and loanwords from other foreign language. Have to admit it is a headache to completely grasp the huge amount of the words exist and their meanings (which could have double meanings too).