Good Friday in Indonesia, called Jumat Agung, is a major holiday for the country’s Christian population—it’s an even bigger holiday here than Easter! In this article, you’ll learn about the origins of certain Good Friday celebrations in Indonesia, what those celebrations look like today, and much more. Let’s get started! 1. What is Good Friday? Good Friday is a Christian holiday celebrated in many countries around the world, by both Protestants and Catholics. This holiday commemorates the death of Jesus on the cross, as well as his suffering beforehand, before finally celebrating his Resurrection on Easter. Catholics know this holiday as Trihari Suci, or "Easter Triduum." In Indonesia, Good Friday is a time of mati raga,... Show more

Right now, in just five minutes, you can give your Indonesian vocabulary a super-size boost. In just one regular-sized article, we’ve prepared for you a fantastic overview of popular Indonesian adjectives, plus the top 100 Indonesian adjectives you need for any situation. Looking for an example of Indonesian adjectives at work? We have plenty of those, too. With the isolating grammar of the Indonesian language, simply reading a lot of example sentences with these popular Indonesian adjectives is a great way to naturally assimilate syntax and vocabulary. Table of Contents A Quick Overview of Indonesian Adjectives List of the Top 100 Indonesian Adjectives Modifying Adjectives Conclusion 1. A Quick Overview of Indonesian... Show more

Read a couple of pop culture articles in English, and you’ll notice right away that Netflix is a pretty indelible part of Western entertainment these days. It’s almost like if you take a break from catching up on shows and movies, everybody will be speaking a totally different language when you come back. When you study a language, you’re going to be hard-pressed to avoid the pop culture that goes along with it. And on Netflix, Indonesia has tons of movies and TV series for you to enjoy already. But one of the biggest obstacles to people teaching themselves languages is convenience. Try to sign up for an Indonesian streaming service using an American bank card (and with shaky knowledge of Indonesian, at that) and you might want to... Show more

Many Indonesian learners who study Indonesian on their own forget—or rather, never learn—a certain conjunction despite its importance. Conjunctions in Indonesian (or any language, really) aren’t usually a topic of interest to many learners. Usually, they become accustomed to using alternate phrasings without having to take advantage of a conjunction. In fact, I’ve personally noticed that I tend to use one particular structure in all the foreign languages I study. But when writing a formal letter or trying to contact a local university in Indonesia, you’ll always have to go as fluff-free in your writing as possible—which is something you can’t fully accomplish without the use of conjunctions. It just goes to show that if you skip out... Show more

One of the most important holidays in Indonesia for those of Chinese ethnicity, the Lunar New Year in Indonesia consists of many unique, traditional celebrations. In this article, you’ll learn about Chinese New Year festivities in Indonesia, read about common beliefs and symbolism, and gain a new set of handy Indonesian vocabulary for this holiday. At IndonesianPod101.com, it’s our aim to make every aspect of your language-learning journey both fun and informative—starting with this article! Let’s get started. 1. What is the Chinese New Year in Indonesia? Every year around the beginning of February, ethnic Chinese in Indonesia celebrate Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year celebrations are full of traditions, especially that of... Show more

As many guidebooks will tell you, Indonesia is a happy country. The locals look on visitors with warmth and welcoming. But what happens when you get on their wrong side? To be honest, not much. It takes something really severe to bring Indonesians to confrontation. The worst thing that happens is that you get passed up for opportunities and friendships because people think you’re not that pleasant to be around. But that’s still awful! So to avoid a scenario like that, it’s important that you become familiar with etiquette in Indonesia. To help you out, we’ve put this article together for you, outlining everything you need to know about table manners in Indonesia and more. You may be surprised to know how far knowing just a little... Show more

It’s 9 AM. You drive your motor scooter up to your favorite noodle soup place for breakfast, but with a cry of despair you find that it’s tutup—"closed." Scrawled on the sign is a phrase that you manage to make out as being "closed for national holiday." A national holiday? How were you supposed to know? This kind of situation is pretty common in Indonesia for foreigners. And one major cause can be traced to simple ignorance—not knowing how to talk about dates in Indonesian. It’s an easy skill to overlook when you’re juggling a bunch of Indonesian resources to get a handle on the different vocabulary words that seem to fill the air wherever you go. But it’s no less important for day-to-day life, and as it turns out, just a little... 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

Everybody knows about the beautiful beaches and temples of Bali. Millions of people flock there every year, and the island is developing at an incredible speed. Did you know, though, that there’s a whole lot more to Indonesia—frequently referred to as the country of 1,000 islands—than just Bali? And the beautiful thing for the tourist who wants to see it all is that the effort to promote the national Indonesian language has been enormously successful. The vast majority of Indonesians are perfectly bilingual in at least one local language as well as standard Indonesian. So the visitor with Indonesian phrases for travelers under their belt gets to avoid the hassle of learning multiple local languages, and instead gets to experience the... Show more

I remember that one of the hardest things for me when I was actually living in Indonesia was using numbers automatically. Anybody can count through the numbers to ten in Indonesian—you can pick that up on the plane ride over. When you actually have to use these Indonesian numbers, though, things are probably a bit more tight. It’s probably hot, and there’s probably somebody behind you in line who doesn’t care at all that it’s your first time in an Indonesian restaurant. Can’t you just feel their gaze on the back of your head? Well, probably not, because Indonesians are famously polite and patient. Nevertheless, it’s not a situation you want to be in. You want to have those numbers down pat. And the best way to learn numbers in... Show more