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

Would you describe yourself as a curious person? If you’re learning Indonesian, we imagine that you probably do!  You can make that curiosity work for your Indonesian skills, too! When you talk to people, they’ll be interested in who you are and what’s driven you to learn their language. And the bread and butter of that is questions. Statistically, questions make up a big part of conversation in any language. By preparing yourself with the most common Indonesian questions and answers, you’ll become familiar and comfortable with these conversational keystones and come off as a skilled conversationalist. Table of Contents Your Name Your Origin Story Language Matters Traveling Around A Personal Question A Taste of... Show more

You may be surprised at how fast you can start speaking Indonesian. Once you get a good stock of vocabulary, all you need to memorize is a handful of customizable Indonesian sentences. Then, you can easily make people think you’re good at the language. In Indonesian, there are some fascinating grammatical aspects concerning verbs, but for communication purposes, you can leave them out entirely—plenty of Indonesians do this, too!  So picking up Indonesian through patterns is pretty easy. In this article, we’ll outline ten different sentence patterns ready for your plug-and-play use. By the time you get to the end, you’ll probably start noticing these patterns (and more) all over the place in your studies! Table of Contents ... Show more

Indonesian verbs are both very different from English verbs and very easy to learn. How can that be? Well, it turns out that Indonesian syntax is pretty close to English syntax, and the verb complications simply add extra shades of meaning—we're not dealing with huge differences here. Since verbs are indisputably important to everything you want to say in Indonesian, here's a list of the most common Indonesian verbs, divided into categories based on both grammatical function and meaning. We're not even going to explain very much here about the grammar. By the time you get to the end, you'll be amazed at how much you’ve picked up! Ready to learn Indonesian verbs? Let’s get to it. Table of Contents Warmup: Common... Show more

Is Indonesian easy or hard? Both. It’s hard because the structure and organization of the language is quite different from that of English or other European languages. But it’s easy because you don’t have to remember a lot of complicated rules—you can pick up most of the differences just by looking at examples. Take Indonesian pronouns for example. You can actually get further in Indonesian without pronouns than you might imagine. When people talk to you, though, this is something you’ve really got to know. And Indonsian language pronouns are different from those in English, by a wide margin.  Is that going to be hard? Only one way to find out. Table of Contents The Standard Indonesian Personal Pronouns Using... Show more

There's a sort of balance between the different languages of the world. Some have extremely complex systems of verb changes and noun changes, requiring you to think about every last little detail of who does what in the sentence so that you can get all the endings right. Others say to themselves, "You know, all those extra grammatical endings aren't for me." So they simply put their words in a line and never change them. The tradeoff is that these "simpler" languages have very inflexible word order. So what does this look like in Indonesian word order?  Well, if you switch the position of a few words in a sentence in, say, Russian, the grammatical endings will keep you informed about what you need to know. If you do the same in... Show more

*ring ring* That’s your alarm clock. It’s time to learn Indonesian! Hey, do you know how to say that phrase—or, really, any phrases about time in Indonesian? You should! If you’re learning Indonesian for travel, you’re definitely going to want to know how to ask about time. Good luck getting on buses or trains at the right time if you don’t know how to ask when they leave! And if you’re planning on a longer stay there, well, that’s even more of a reason to learn how to tell time in Indonesian. Imagine making a restaurant reservation or calling to ask when a store closes if you don’t know how to talk about time. Pretty tricky, right? This article is definitely for you. Table of Contents Asking for the Time Talking... Show more

Did you get lost again? In the sweltering heat of an Indonesian dry season, it’s no fun to not know where you’re going. (The rainy season is arguably worse!) Going to Indonesia and learning some of the language to help you prepare is an excellent step you can take for a great trip. But did you remember to learn about directions in Indonesian too? Suppose your motorcycle taxi driver has heard of your guesthouse, but never actually been. Or suppose your class is starting in ten minutes and you’re still wandering around the same university streets. Table of Contents Basic Cultural Notes and Phrases Pull Out Your Map and Learn the Compass Points City Vocabulary and Reference Points Phrases for Directions in... Show more

Indonesia is a beautiful place filled with wonderful people. If you’ve ever been, you’ve probably felt the same way. But have you told them so? Foreigners aren’t expected to make any effort to learn Indonesian, particularly not in international hotspots like Jakarta and Bali. However, learning just enough of the language to complete everyday interactions and compliment your hosts is a very doable goal that will make your time in Indonesia much more special. Further than that, though, you also need to learn about the culture of Indonesian compliments. How do things work? What might be considered going too far, and what might be expected of you in various interactions? Learning this information and using it well will not only grease the... Show more

Everyone has certain values, ideologies, or principles which guide them and help them be the best person they can be. Whether this is a certain religious code, a philosophy, or just a general mindset, these values are an important part of being human. Well, countries are founded on values and principles, too! In Indonesia, this is the Five Principles of Pancasila, which we’ll discuss in this article. You’ll also learn about Pancasila Day in Indonesia, how Indonesians observe this holiday, and some useful vocabulary. Let’s get started. 1. What is Pancasila Day? Pancasila Day, though not a public holiday, is a day of peringatan ("commemoration" ) for the Lima Asas Pancasila ("Five Principles of Pancasila" ). These... Show more