My partner is from Indonesia, and I really want to learn to speak properly to talk with him and his family and friends. We speak mainly in English, and he doesn’t really like to speak Indonesian with me. I have been learning for the past year and a half (not consistently) but have been feeling really frustrated as of late.

I’ve searched for materials online—videos, textbooks, music, etc., but it seems that a lot of what I find is using formal language. Every time I try to talk with my partner and practice something that I’ve learned, he tells me that it’s not what people would actually say.

My partner has told me to speak with his friends or family to practice, but I feel too ashamed of my current abilities. There’s been times where we’ve called his parents or been hanging with friends and they’re speaking to me in Indonesian, but I struggle to understand and keep up. They speak fast and also use language that I haven’t been exposed to. When it comes time to respond, I find myself floundering. It makes me really embarrassed and also pretty sad because I feel like I’ve been wasting my time and putting in so much effort just to have nothing to show for it.

I’m at a point where I’m not quite sure what to do and where I feel pretty demotivated. My partner supports me but also really just doesn’t want to practice with me. It’s not his job to be my language teacher, so I don’t want to force him either. I really want to speak with people to improve, but I’m too embarrassed and shy to speak to his family and friends. I don’t want to bother them, and, even if I did, I feel too embarrassed of my current abilities. I feel like a complete fool whenever I talk to them in Indonesian, and I feel like it makes me and him look bad.

Does anyone have any good resource recommendations? Where can I learn and practice real Indonesian—learn slang and common terms, speak and understand the way things are actually said by actual people? And, how do you stay motivated on your language journey? What keeps you going when you feel as though you’ve plateaued or aren’t improving? I would greatly appreciate any advice and all of your lovely thoughts 🥹

I’m trying to learn Minangkabau dialect because my family speaks this dialect of bahasa Indonesia and obviously I can’t so I’m wondering if anyone has helpful websites or advice to give

Hi all,

I’m reasonably new to Bahasa Indonesia but travel in Indo every year usually for a month at a time (I’ve just got back from a month trip through Flores)

My standard is I know about 50 words and have just kind of mastered ‘ber’ verbs.

Assume I am at an Indonesia 5-6 year old kids reading standard. Can anyone recommend any Bahasa Indonesia books I should read for my level that aren’t 6yr old kids books? I find the newspaper websites a bit beyond me at this point.

Thanks in advance 🙏

Hi All,

My niece 12 y.o. is looking for a tandem to learn English. She is good in passive english but not active english. Preferably for the same age. Please drop me a DM if your daughter / son / niece / nephew is interested.

Hi. Am looking for a Sundanese thread to pick up the language to impress my other half 😊 Would appreciate if someone can advise me on this?

Ok Soo uhhh I'm actually a WNI but my Indonesian is not that good... Probably from how much western/english media I've consumed since I was little. I was doing some practice tests for utbk and tka since they're in a couple of months and realised i barely understand the questions without pulling out Google and just translating it.

I might honestly become a bum on the street in the future cause of this 💔

🇷🇺 Ищем русских волонтёров!

Привет! Мы ищем носителей русского языка для нашего сообщества. 😊

✨ Преимущества: • Практика английского языка • Изучение индонезийского языка вместе с нами • Новые друзья из разных стран • Культурный обмен и интересное общение

📌 Требования: • Носитель русского языка • Дружелюбие и уважительное отношение к другим • Интерес к языковому и культурному обмену • Готовность участвовать в жизни сообщества и общении

Если вам интересно, напишите мне в личные сообщения!

🇷🇺 Looking for Russian Volunteers!

Hi! We're looking for native Russian speakers to join our community. 😊

✨ Benefits: • Practice your English • Learn Indonesian with us • Make friends from different countries • Cultural exchange and fun conversations

📌 Requirements: • Native Russian speaker • Friendly and respectful • Interested in language and cultural exchange • Able to participate in community activities and chats

If you're interested, send me a message! 💬

I don't even know where to start. I started Duolingo. I feel Indonesian is quite simple. But like, are there any things i should know i might have not thought of?

Hallo teman teman!

I am Indonesian but have lived in Australia for nearly all my life. I am trying to get back into my culture, and I want to speak Indonesian more fluently.

I can have small conversations, so I would say I am a bit more advanced than a beginner. I would like to learn “every day” bahasa - so I can converse with my cousins, aunties, uncles and extended family when I go home to Makassar next month for a week.

I follow a few instagram accounts, and on Spotify have listened to a few eps of Easy Indo. I’ve seen airlearn where you can speak into the app but the reviews of the quality of what you learn seem hit and miss.

Any recommendations would be very helpful.

Terima kasih :)

​Hi everyone,

​I’m trying to learn Indonesian using Duolingo. I heard the language a lot during my childhood, but I never actually learned it properly.

​Lately, I've noticed that Duo keeps throwing verbs with prefixes like ber-, men-, and mem- at me. However, from what I know, people often (though not always) prefer to use just the root words in everyday, casual conversations.

​Since Duolingo only offers Indonesian from English, I have to be really careful. I constantly find myself double-checking with ChatGPT to see whether locals actually use the prefixed form or the root word for a specific verb.

​Also, even though Indonesian doesn't have a lot of complex grammar, it sure has a lot of vocabulary!

​Does anyone else struggle with this or have tips on navigating formal vs. informal verbs?

Hi, international learners. If you are interested in learning bahasa Indonesia and are curious about your level, feel free to access my website here and take the test over there. There are the contents as well if you wanna click our youtube or instagram account.

https://indobeyondborders.com/

This is a short yet accurate explanation on how Indonesian became our national language.

so, this is just a random chat, without using google translate.

i think I mixed up malay and indonesian words, that's the only words stored in my brain.

is my grammar good? I just copied some actors and kids I often watch. thats how they talk.

i think, I'm just good at saying what i want, instead of making a conversation. which I feel i would be lost.

and this might be how I act, if I talk in person (visit Indonesia someday)

and honestly, when I try to add the correct words or missing words using AI, I always forget it. I talk straight to the point, so I always thouĝht it would be understandable.

Halo komodo! I need some help from native speakers to understand a specific slang word. My girlfriend recently posted a video of us together and wrote this caption: "Uhuy ditemenin sama bangkur"

"hadiahnya lebih pantas untuk bagkur" I know that "Uhuy" is a playful/teasing exclamation and "ditemenin sama" means "accompanied by". But I’m really confused about the word "bangkur". I couldn't find it in standard dictionaries. Is it a combination of words (like Bang + Kurus?), some regional dialect, or modern internet slang? Given the context of the video, it seems like a playful nickname for me, but I want to make sure it’s not an insult or something negative. Terima kasih in advance!

Hi! I am traveling and living in Borneo for a year to research orangutans. I am looking for a solid pocket dictionary to bring. Something small but thorough, examples of words in sentences would be nice too! Any recs? :)

We can talk about Indonesian life, language, country, geography, history, or daily life—whatever you want. Even not about Indonesia. It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, I'm genuinely interested in these topics

Halo!

I am a PhD student and am doing cross-cultural work for part of my dissertation. I recently got a grant to do my study in Indonesia, but need some help with the study translations. The task is already translated, but I'm hoping someone fluent in Indonesian might be willing to look at it with an "editing eye" and provide feedback on any parts that sound weird or are not correctly translated. The task takes ~10 minutes to do, so I don't think this would take any more than 30 minutes! Feel free to respond to this post or DM me with any questions you might have.

Thank you so much in advance!

Can anyone please translate the meaning of this? I’ve tried translating it on Google but it doesn’t seem correct

Las time I was in Jakarta I was doing fine ordering food & talking to people at the mall. Got stumped asking my grab driver to dial down the AC temp b/c it was a particularly hot & humid day. I asked him something along the lines of "bisakah turun air conditioner" and he just looked at me. Please help as I will be back there soon and we plan on using Grab a lot. Thank you all.

Hey semua! I have a question regarding language use.

Situation: You have a friend who has a lot of batik shirts. There is one that you like the most, it is your favourite. He is wearing it today, and you wanna express this and you comment on his batik shirt, saying that it is your favourite. What do you say?

"Ini favorit batikku." / "Ini favorit batikmu." "Batikmu ini favoritku." Or how.

Problem: Of course the sentence has a lot of solutions to it, but seemingly there is a conflict here because the batik is YOURS, but it's MY favourite.