PART ONE
The Basics
Pronouncing Indonesian Correctly
To learn to pronounce the language correctly, listen carefully to the CD accompanying this book, or to native speakers of Indonesian. Try to imitate their pronunciation as accurately as you can. Be aware, however, that there are many dialectical variations in Indonesian, some producing very strong accents. As a rule, stress is generally placed on the penultimate syllable.
Unlike English, the spelling of Indonesian is consistently phonetic. The pronunciation is similar to Spanish or Italian.
1.01
Consonants
Most are pronounced roughly as in English. The main exceptions are as follows:
c is pronounced ch (formerly spelled “tj”)
| cari to look for, to seek | cinta to love |
g is always hard, as in “girl”:
| guna to use | gila crazy |
h is very soft, and often not pronounced at all at the beginning and end of words or two different vowels:
| habis | hidup |
| sudah | mudah |
| lihat | tahu |
kh is found in words of Arabic derivation, and sounds like the ch in the Scottish word “loch”:
| khusus special | akhir end |
ng is always soft, as in “hanger”:
| dengar to hear | hilang lost |
ngg is always hard, as in “hunger”:
| ganggu to bother | mangga mango |
r is trilled or rolled, as in Spanish:
| ratus hundred | baru new |
Vowels
There are six vowels (a, e, é, i, o, u) and two diphthongs (ai, au):
a is short, like the a in “father”:
| satu one | bayar to pay |
e is usually unaccented (shwa), like the u in “but”:
| empat four | beli to buy |
But occasionally, é sounds like the é in “passé”:
| désa village | cabé chili pepper |
This book denotes this sound with an accent (´); however, this is not used in standard written Indonesian.
i is like the ea in “bean”:
| tiga three | lima five |
o is as in “so”:
| bodoh stupid | boléh may |
u is like the u in “humor”:
| tujuh seven | untuk for |
ai is pronounced like the word “eye”:
| pantai beach | sampai to reach |
au is like the ow in “how”:
| atau or | pulau island |
Notes:
Under the influence of Javanese, final ai is often pronounced like é in “passé”:
sampai
Similarly, final au often becomes o:
hijau
Under the influence of the Jakarta dialect, final syllable a between consonants often becomes a short e (shwa):
pintar
benar
malas
1.02
Greetings
When greeting and taking leave of one another, Indonesians shake hands lightly (not firmly, the way Americans do). Muslims touch the right hand to their heart afterwards as a gesture of goodwill. (Never use the left hand to greet or touch someone.) Kissing, hugging or other physical greetings are rarely practiced in public.
Selamat is a word used in most Indonesian greetings. It comes from the Arabic salam, meaning “peace, safety or salvation”. By itself, the exclamation Selamat! means “Congratulations!” Like English “good,” it is followed by the time of day and other words to form most common greetings:
| Selamat datang | Welcome (datang = to come) |
| Selamat pagi | Good morning (pagi = morning, until 11 am) |
| Selamat siang | Good
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