Indonesian Accents

People learning English as a second language often find grammar and pronunciation difficult. Indonesian grammar and pronunciation are much easier to learn. Most Indonesian words

that you will come across are pronounced phonetically. Listen to people speaking with Indonesian accents. This will aid in proper Indonesian pronunciation.

If you are reading Indonesian words from a book, you will discover that it is very easy to sound them out, and you will probably find that you are pronouncing Indonesian words very well. On the other hand, it is a bit more difficult to learn phonology, which is the way you actually speak the words of a language. When learning the Indonesian language, the hardest part of phonology comes in stressing the right syllable.

Letters in Indonesian words are the same as letters in English words. There are five vowels in the Indonesian alphabet

a, e, i, o and u.

When you hear people speaking in Indonesian accents, you will notice some “stops” in the words, like you hear in the English word, Uh-Oh. The most common use of this is in words that contain a double a, like in kebangsaan, which is pronounced kebangsa-an.

Another thing you’ll notice about Indonesian accents is that there are some similarities to the Arabic and Indian languages. For example, bh and kh letter combinations are often seen, as is the gh letter combination.

Spelling Indonesian words is easy, as words were standardized during the 1930’s. As you are learning how to speak Indonesian you will find correct Indonesian pronunciation is also simple as Indonesian words sound just the same way as they look.

For native English speakers, mastering the correct sound of some words in Indonesian can be difficult. Once you have mastered the basic sounds though, you will find that your Indonesian accent is much easier to understand as well as more authentic.

Your pronunciation and phonology when learning Indonesian can be aided much by listening to native speakers. Watching Indonesian movies or listening to radio shows is a great way to expose yourself to the language as spoken in Indonesia. A great way to ensure you have fantastic Indonesian pronunciation is to learn Indonesian by subscribing to podcasts. Indonesianpod101 subscribers benefit from many tools, including a number of podcasts where you can listen to native speakers and learn to speak Indonesian the same way Indonesians do.