Learning Indonesian

[pollyanna]

Pollyanna, I think Hermit's referring to this article:

Mixed Bag

Thank you Hermit and Masaleh,
I always enjoy the Greenspeak articles and the Mixed Bag article gave me just the info I was looking for. I have contacted Cinta Bahasa and hope to start their beginner's course soon.
For anyone who is interested they are getting ready to start an evening course but I want to go during the day so I'll wait until there are enough people for a daytime course.

 

[hermit]

Pollyanna, I think Hermit's referring to this article:

Mixed Bag

Yes,thank you Matsaleh,i did not remember the name of the article,but it being one of the last i supposed it would not be so hard to find.

 

[hermit]

Cinta Bahasa

Thank you Hermit and Masaleh,
I always enjoy the Greenspeak articles and the Mixed Bag article gave me just the info I was looking for. I have contacted Cinta Bahasa and hope to start their beginner's course soon.
For anyone who is interested they are getting ready to start an evening course but I want to go during the day so I'll wait until there are enough people for a daytime course.

That's good!I looked at the pics and it looks like a nice place.Fans,no aircon.When i studied at IALF i came out of class freezing cold every time.The Pondok Pekak course was nicer,but less intensive,only three times a week if I remember well.

 

[steelersman]

Is the evening course at Cinta Bahasa 2 hours, five days a week?

 

[pollyanna]

Is the evening course at Cinta Bahasa 2 hours, five days a week?

Looking here should give you all the info you need. I haven't done their evening classes and don;t know the details.

 

[justinbali]

I agree with DorisDazed. Engaging in conversations dealing with complex topics, (such as philosophy, for example), requires a much more advanced grasp of Indonesian than the mere basics. Sophisticated Bahasa Indonesia requires considerably more time and effort than being able to ask how much is that coconut? in a market.

Spoken Indonesian also differs from written Indonesian (as in newspapers and books)

Whenever I hear tourists or expats bragging about how easy Bahasa Indonesia is, I shove an Indonesian newspaper under their nose and ask them to translate. They usually fail this exam.

Newcomers as well as expats also have this annoying habit of saying that they can speak "Bahasa", as if Bahasa were the national language of Indonesia. "Bahasa" means "a language", so whoever says that he can spreak Bahasa, really says that he can speak "a language"

Bahasa Inggris : English
Bahasa Perancis : French
Bahasa Belanda : Dutch

Indonesians also speak different forms of the Indonesian language. Young people will speak "Bahasa bergaul", using words like "gue" for "I" instead of "aku" or "saya" and many will use Bahasa Prokem, using words like "ogut" for "I" and "ente" for "you"

There is even a difference between "saya" and "aku" The word "aku" for "I" indicates a degree of intimacy with the person one is talking to, whereas "saya" is the formal and very polite word. If one is not sure which word to use, one uses the third person, i.e. using one's own name : justin thinks that it is hot today.

Anyway, these were some examples of the complexity of the Indonesian language.

 

[justinbali]

No I think Indonesian is an extremely easy language to learn.

I came to Bali 2 months ago to live never having even visited before, and I spent the first few weeks just goofing off on a vacation of sorts, so I didn't even make an attempt to start learning the language until about 1 month in. Now 1 month later, I am far from fluent but can already communicate effectively with people. There is even a girl here that I'm sort of seeing that I spend a few hours with everyday, and she speaks no english whatsoever. I don't have any problems communicating with her, although we do speak slowly and use simpler phrases.

It's very easy to pick up on the basics and if you want to learn just interact with the locals as much as you can. Just walk up to someone and start talking, Indonesians are extremely friendly, and even if you "hit your wall" and can't speak any more Indonesian to them, it's ok they will think it's cool just that you know a little bit and are trying.

No, Indonesian is NOT that easy to learn. I speak Indonesian fluently. If you think that Indonesian is so easy, please translate this text



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Mangku Pastika Usir Ketua Komisi B DPRD Kota Denpasar
16 February 2013 by Gusti Putra in Featured Kejadian dan Fenomena di Bali - 5 Comments
Mangku Pastika Usir DPRD Kota Denpasar

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Sabtu siang ini (16/2/2013) Gubernur Bali Made Mangku Pastika mengusir Ketua Komisi B DPRD Kota Denpasar Eko Supriadi dalam acara “simakrama” bulanan Gubernur dengan masyarakat Bali yang berlangsung di Wantilan (gedung terbuka) DPRD Bali.

Alasan pengusiran karena dianggap telah mengganggu jalannya acara simakrama. Eko Supriadi, dalam acara tersebut sempat meneriakkan kata “PAS” berulang kali saat Pastika menjawab pertanyaan dari Ketut Wenten Aryawan warga Denpasar.

Ketut Wenten yang dikabarkan berprofesi sebagai akademisi, kala itu, menanyakan perihal keberlanjutan pengusahaan izin pariwisata alam Taman Hutan Raya Ngurah Rai dan tindak lanjut putusan pengadilan terkait sengketa pemberitaan gubernur dan harian Bali Post.Wenten juga sempat menyoroti kinerja Wakil Gubernur Bali AA Ngurah Puspayoga dan persoalan pemasangan baliho pasangan calon kepala daerah.

Ketika Gubernur Mangku Pastika sedang menjawab pertanyaan itulah, Eko yang juga kader PDI Perjuangan tersebut meneriakkan kata “PAS”. Seperti diketahui pekikan “PAS” ini merupakan singkatan dari Paket Puspayoga-Sukrawan, salah satu paket cagub dan cawagub yang diusung oleh PDIP.

Mangku Pastika beberapa kali meminta Eko untuk meninggalkan tempat simakrama, bahkan Mantan Kapolda Bali ini mengatakan tidak akan melanjutkan acara jika Eko tidak pergi.

“Jangan main-main, ini saya sungguh-sungguh kerja demi rakyat, jangan coba yang aneh-aneh. Saya tidak terima yang begitu-begitu, saya ini tidak main-main.”

 

[justinbali]

Dear Markit
Easy to learn when you live there,when you have to function. Book/on line learning does not work.

I am Indonesian Born In Bandoeng Java,spoke fluent Bahasa
moved to the netherlands spoke fluent Dutch
moved to the USA spoke fluent english
Now I trip over all 3 languages,in one sentence sometimes I use all 3.No one can understand me unless they also speak all 3 tongues.

These languages stay with you forever,for some reason the brain has a big closet where it stores words in other languages.Sometimes words come flying out of my mouth that I have not said for 40-49yrs! (I am 51)

I speak Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian and Greek fluently. I don't understand how one can mix languages and "trip over it"

 

[justinbali]

Balinese people don't speak good Indonesian. They are the worst teachers of Indonesian. It is complicated, because many Balinese words have another meaning in Indonesian. An example : the word "kenyang" means "full" in Indonesian, so after a meal you can say to the waitress : saya sudah kenyang, but "kenyang" in Balinese means "having an erection"

 

[justinbali]

Indonesian seems to be an easy language when one only uses the root words, (like most people who claim to speak Indonesian after a 2 month stay) but only using root words makes you sound like the babble of a small child.

The beauty of the Indonesian language consists in the way prefixes and suffixes are attached to root words in order to change the meaning of the root words :


root word ajar

ajaran = teachings
belajar = to learn
mengajar = to teach
diajar = being taught (intransitive)
diajarkan = being taught (transitive)
mempelajari = to study
dipelajari = being studied
pelajar = student
pengajar = teacher
pelajaran = subject
pengajaran = lesson, moral of story
pembelajaran = learning
terajar = taught (accidentally)
terpelajar = well-educated
berpelajaran = is educated

Sometimes a p or a b makes all the difference : "jemput" = meet someone, pick up someone, "jembut" = pubic hair.

"malu" = shame or shy
"kemaluan" = sexual organs

 

[Markit]

Justinbali have you been locked up in solitary confinement for the last 10 years or under a vow of silence in some Monastery?

 

[justinbali]

I don't understand your question. What do you mean ?

 

[Markit]

Only joking but of the last 12 answers on this topic 6 were from you. Tally ho!!!

 

[joji gulapetis]

your fault market...... you started the thread...... now see what you have unleashed on us........ :boxing:

 

[mat]

Balinese people don't speak good Indonesian. They are the worst teachers of Indonesian. It is complicated, because many Balinese words have another meaning in Indonesian. An example : the word "kenyang" means "full" in Indonesian, so after a meal you can say to the waitress : saya sudah kenyang, but "kenyang" in Balinese means "having an erection"

I'm having lots of fun with this word. I've always been a fan of Mrs Malaprop.

 

[gilbert de jong]

"We will not anticipate the past, our retrospection will now be all to the future."

and especially for justinbali "Kami tidak akan mengantisipasi masa lalu, retrospeksi kami sekarang akan semua untuk masa depan."

 

[Markit]

Gil with the best of intentions that don't make any sense. I could go all Kahil Gibran on you and look for deeper meaning but tonight I've had too many Bintang.

How do you "anticipate the past"?

It's fucking impossible to be retrospective about the future isn't it?

Maybe I have to study Bahasa Indonesia for the next 20 year to get it or maybe I should just appreciate the context?

Of maybe go to the fridge and get another cold one?

 

[gilbert de jong]

that's ecaxactly the point of Mrs Malaprop :icon_smile:

and it makes as much sense as engaging someones knowledge of the Indonesian language like justinbali did, asking to translate some newspaperclippings :boxing:

I'll spell it out since you've had a few more by now (beers, as did I) It doesn't make sense :icon_e_wink:

 

[Markit]

Wheeew! Glad I got thru that with my sobriety intact.

 

[justinbali]

that's ecaxactly the point of Mrs Malaprop :icon_smile:

and it makes as much sense as engaging someones knowledge of the Indonesian language like justinbali did, asking to translate some newspaperclippings :boxing:

I'll spell it out since you've had a few more by now (beers, as did I) It doesn't make sense :icon_e_wink:

GILBERT, I suppose that you've attended school in your country of origin. Language exams usually consist in translating a text, be it from a book or from a newspaper, so that the language teacher gets a grasp on your knowledge of the foreign language.

When I was a 15 year old boy in Belgium, the teacher ordered us to translate a text from French to Dutch, another one from Latin to Dutch, and yet another one from English to Dutch.

I think I'm not wrong in testing the grasp one has of a language by asking them to prove their understanding, and the only way to do this is by asking them to translate an Indonesian newspaper article into their mother tongue.