Vowels

A critical building block to speaking proper and effective Indonesian is to master the vowels.
a is very short, and pronounced like the “a” in “father.”

Example: satu (SAH‑too) one

e is usually hard like “Ed”
Example: empat (EM‑paht) four

However, when placed at the end of a word, the “e” usually sounds like “ay” in “today.”
Example: sate (SAH-tay) sate (grilled meat on a skewer)

i is long like the “i” in “spaghetti”
Example: tiga (TEE‑gah) three

o is long as in “no”
Example: bodoh (BOH‑doh) stupid

u is long like the “u” in “June”
Example: Juni (JOO‑nee) June

au is pronounced with two syllables, such the final two syllables of the Hawaiian island “Oahu”
Example: mau (MAH-oo) want

ai is smooth and long like the word “play”
Example: pantai (PAHN‑tay) beach

There are several regional variations to pronunciation and spelling. In addition to regional variations, some words are officially spelled differently today than they were prior to 1972 (when Indonesia eliminated some of the Dutch influence from the language). For instance, Jakarta and many other words that start with the letter “J” were once spelled with “Dj” at the beginning. Therefore, be prepared to see some variations when reading words that are printed or posted.

Selamat jalan!

Indonesian Kids

There are more than three hundred distinct and diverse cultures in Indonesia. Most Indonesians are of Malay or Polynesian descent, although the country’s history brought minority populations from India, China, Arabia, Persia, Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, and England. There are still numerous indigenous tribes in the remote reaches of Indonesia, from Kalimantan to Papua. The most famous tribes include the Asmat and Dani people of Papua, the Dayak people of Kalimantan, and the Batak people of Sumatra. The Javanese are one of the most dominant cultures. They are known for having very long names, such as President Susilo Bambang Yodhoyono. The Balinese typically use only four first names regardless of sex – Made, Wayan, Nyoman, and Ketut, which indicate the birth order in their family. Balinese girls are distinguished from boys with the prefix “ni,” while boys use the prefix “i” if there is a need to distinguish between a boy and a girl of the same name.

Many people throughout the country are given just one name at birth, which does not include the family name. Balinese people rarely have more than four children, but when they do, they will go back to the first of the four names for children and use it again to name one of their children. As you can imagine, there are several people on the island named Made or Imade (first child and fifth child for both boys and girls).

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