Some help with Bahasa Indonesiaan

[Ipanema]

Hi all

I am currently learning Indonesian from an Australian teacher. She has taught Indonesian for 25 years and even taught teachers to teach it. She has traveled extensively through Indonesia including Bali.

I would like the opinion of expats and Indonesians. Last weekend I asked her what does "bule" mean. I have seen the word written on this forum and there was a company in Australia with the word in their name. I was told it was another name for a foreigner.

When I asked my teacher for the correct pronunciation she told me she would be insulted if anybody called her that. She interpreted the word as “whitie ( no offence)”.

I am asking if people interpret this word the same way. I am thinking it might be slang.

Regards

Tina

[Roy]

The words bule, which in fact means white, and tamu, which means guest, are often used in Bali and all other parts of Indonesia. Both words are Indonesian and derived directly from Bahasa Malay.

The term “bule” is not at all derogatory as used here, unless it is used in context or phrases meant to be so, such as “bule bodoh” which would mean stupid white, or orang bule bodoh, meaning stupid white person. The term bodoh can be easily replaced by gila, which replaces stupid with crazy.

In Bahasa Bali, bule, is still bule, but gila, “crazy” is buduh, oddly close to bodoh but pronounced quite differently.

I hope your Australian teacher is savvy enough to realize that the word “bule” can be used in both a polite and impolite terms, no different than the English word, “white” itself.

[drbruce]

Right Roy. Blue is the common word used in Sumbawa and Papua. No one ever calls you a turis, or a tamu. I don't take offense to it, although I know plenty of expats who are highly offended by it.

[dug]

Bule,Bulai= Albino,probably used when westerners first arrived in The Malays.

[Ipanema]

thanks for your input. I will pass it onto my teacher at my next lesson.

[Sanurian]

Throughout Java, one will hear the term "londoh", which means the same as "bule" in Bali.
:!:

[mimpimanis]

I use the word bule & I dont take offence when it is used about me.

[FreoGirl]

So did she give you the right pronounciation? Seems while your teacher is experienced in Indonesian she may not be experienced in the culture?

That being said, the only Indonesian teacher I trust is an Indonesian.

For example, take Prof. Malcolm W Mintz, who has a PHd in Linguistics at University of Hawaii, and is a Fellow at the University of Western Australia (Social & Cultural Studies, Disipline of Asian Studies), please. This guy wrote a book entitled 'A Course In Conversational Indonesian'. In the Introduction he states:
"Indonesian and Malay are one language with two different names".

I disagree, yes Indonesian has a lot of Malay in the language, but there is plenty of Dutch, Javanese, and other languages too.

My point being, even someone as well studied as a professor in SE Asian languages may have it wrong!

[FreoGirl]

Oh, and I don't take offence at Bule either. Although an well-educated Indonesian friend of ours was embarrased when his children referred to me as bule and apologised. So maybe it is a little impolite in certain circles.
In Lombok most of the time I heard 'touris', even from those who knew I lived there.

[drbruce]

I get called a tourist here in Bali all the time even by kids who live in the neighborhood where I've been for sixteen years - of course, I'm not around much anymore so the littler ones get confused. Neighbor kids in Sumbawa call me Daddy which kind of takes some foreigners by surprise. Since my kids call Su and I, Daddy and Mommy, that;s what everyone else calls us including some of the adults. It does make me feel somewhat like the Eisenhowers however.