Those who have tried know: Learning a foreign language may not be easy, but it’s an amazing and fulfilling process. By learning to understand, speak, and think in a foreign language, we add a new skill to our repertoire—but that’s not all! We can also change the very way we see the world. But in today’s civilization, time is money and many of us feel too trapped by responsibilities to try mastering a language ourselves. So if you’re planning to study Indonesian, an important question to ask yourself is: How long does it take to learn Indonesian? And perhaps more importantly: Is it worth the investment?  Did you know that Indonesian has a lot of words that can’t be translated into English? One of my favorites is faedah, which... Show more

Many aspiring learners wonder whether the Indonesian language is easy to learn, and if so, why more people don’t speak it. You see, Indonesian is not a very commonly learned language for most of the world.  Sure, there are people in Southeast Asia that pick some of it up, it’s a growing subject in Chinese and Japanese universities, and it’s long been one of the most popular foreign languages for Australians—but you hardly see it on lists of languages people want to learn.  That’s a shame, really, because learning the language opens you up to so many wonderful things. Visiting the country when you can speak the language is much, much more freeing than being limited to an interpreter or dealing with whoever can speak some English. ... Show more

There’s a certain face that people make when they can’t understand what you’re saying. For many people, it’s a screwed-up grimace of concentration. For Indonesians, it’s more of a quiet smile and a slow drift of attention. Indonesians are polite folks, to be sure. They’re not going to tell you very much about your mistakes in Indonesian when you’re speaking with them. That’s up to you. If you want to hold up your end of the Indonesian conversation, you’ve got to make sure you’re speaking Indonesian that’s beyond just "comprehensible." It must be pleasant to listen to, and with as few mistakes as possible. But what types of mistakes tend to be the worst for Indonesian-learners, and how can you get around them? Table of... Show more

You asked, so we provided—easy-to-follow instructions on how to set up your electronic devices to write in Indonesian! We’ll also give you a few excellent tips on how to use this keyboard, as well as some online and app alternatives if you prefer not to set up a Indonesian keyboard. Table of Contents Why it’s Important to Learn to Type in Indonesian Setting up Your Computer and Mobile Devices for Indonesian How to Activate an Onscreen Keyboard on Your Computer How to Change the Language Settings to Indonesian on Your Computer Activating the Indonesian Keyboard on Your Mobile Phone and Tablet Indonesian Keyboard Typing Tips How to Practice Typing Indonesian 1. Why it’s Important to Learn to Type in Indonesian Learning a... Show more

Any language student is going to recognize this assignment: Write a paragraph about your family. Say how old each person is and give their names. Perhaps it’s a ho-hum writing prompt, but it serves a really important purpose. As it turns out, people talk about their families all the time—and they definitely ask others about theirs. In Asian cultures, the family usually plays a much more important role than it does in Western cultures. This makes it practical to know how to talk about the family tree in Indonesian, fluently. Are you aware of all the vocabulary and usage that you’ll need in order to truly understand how Indonesians talk about their Indonesian family tree? Below you’ll find all the information you need about Indonesian... Show more