Tips for studying Bahasa Indonesia

[baliexpat]

Bahasa Indonesia is considered an easy language to learn, which I can agree with, but you still need to learn vocab, grammar etc.

I thought I would start a thread to share some tips for studying the language.

I just bought a pocket dictionary and have been trying to look up lots of words while watching television. I also try to listen to learningindonesian.com podcasts.

[Davey]

I think this would be very helpful inmedan. Bahasa may be "easy" but it is also very confusing at times here to try and learn oneself, my wife speaks Betawi with her family and the locals speak Sunda, meanwhile I am trying pick Bahasa up?
It seems to me the only time Bahasa is used locally is when they can't speak each others dialect.

[Mas Fred]

I think this would be very helpful inmedan. Bahasa may be "easy" but it is also very confusing at times here to try and learn oneself, my wife speaks Betawi with her family and the locals speak Sunda, meanwhile I am trying pick Bahasa up?
It seems to me the only time Bahasa is used locally is when they can't speak each others dialect.

In my corner of the world it's usually Javanese but BI is commonly used when I'm about as they know my Javanese is limited to yes, no and not much more.
A few of the older people here can't speak Indonesian at all.

I'm still pretty poor at Indonesian and could really use getting stuck in to learning. Shouting loudly and slowly "Do you understand?" in English just seems to get me no where.

[atlantis]

Davey's comment is really true, IMHO. Bahasa Indonesia is often spoken when people doesn't understand each others dialect. It is also spoken by the upper class of the population when they communicate, and obviously in medias such as TV and newspapers.
Where I live, we speak manadonese, and if you make an attempt at Bahasa Indonesia, people would look at you weird and many won't really understand what you are trying to say. I learnt manadonese easily just by hanging around with locals, but had to learn bahasa indonesia through medias and by reading law books.

[indo4kids]

I'm not sure that I agree with this, especially in Jakarta. Local languages such as Javanese are typically limited to close friends and relatives. But most conversations take place in Indonesian. You would never find, say, a Javanese waiter speaking Javanese to a Javanese customer at a restraunt. It just doesn't happen.

What I find more difficult is the accent more than the local language. A Javanese person will speak Indonesian with a heavy Javanese accept, which sounds rather different to say a Sundanese accent, even if they are both speaking Bahasa Indonesia.
__________
Things to do in Indonesia for Kids

[El Sid]

Like Inmedan I have a pocket dictionary and just splashed out on an Electronic translator, quite useful tools to learn, but I have noticed at times watching films that the Indonesian translation isnt what was said in English and also translating directly from written Indonesian to English doesnt always make sense, Ive learnt quite a bit really, but and this is the big but, my English accent when speaking Bahasa just caues people to curl up in fits of laughter, even having tears running down, but I will continue and hopefully master it, one day.

[baliexpat]

It is good to hear other people's experiences. My girlfriend is bataknese but her family speak Indonesian at home (at least thats what it seems to me). I lived in an area in Medan that was mostly Chinese and they all spoke Hokkien.

Learning from your partner is not easy though, which is why I got a private teacher for a while. My gf is encouraging which is good, but I think she gets frustrated when I ask the same question 50 times I found that I need to keep hearing the same phrases/words to remember them.

[El Sid]

I tried an Indonesian teacher at home, but she seemed more interested in holding my hand when my wife had gone to work, so I had to give her the "Big E" shame really as she was quite pretty, but I dont think my wife would have been to pleased

[newgabe]

OK so learning a language depends a lot on whether you're, broadly, a visual or aural learner (there's also a 'movement' type learner which means you're not a 'study' type at all but may need to move around, pace or whatever, to be able to focus- not so common). Learning from podcasts, tapes, just hearing conversations is not so easy for visual types. Writing word lists, flash cards, using dictionaries etc works be better.

Get a good dictionary that gives you all the variations under a 'stem' word and get familiar early on with the way prefixes and suffixes (men... ber... ke,.. an etc) word in Indo cos often the 'stem' word is hidden , the first consonant can change too) .
My favorite is Atmosunarto, S. (2004). A Learner’s Comprehensive Dictionary of Indonesian. Atma Stanton: London.
What I like about this dictionary is that it contains a sentence for every word, so you soak up sentence constructions. It;s only Indonesian- English but so good that i's worth getting anyway. I sort of browse it, find a word I think will be useful and practice saying the sentences just to get my tongue around them.

Listening to the radio, particularly Indonesian songs can help. They tend to have pretty clear pronunciation, though you may learn to say 'love' an awful lot. I gave myself a project of choosing some songs I liked (reggae as it happens) and listening to them lots, trying to write down what I thought the words were, having a native speaker then correct them.. then going to the dictionary and trying to translate them.. then getting the native speaker to help with the translation. Granted, songs are a bit more poetic than daily speak, but it gave me more of an 'ear' which I am lacking sometimes, being visual and all.
Locally subtitled films are pretty dodgy unless you want a good laugh at the awful English translations! Try watching them with the English subtitles to see how bad they are!

[beebop]

My gf is encouraging which is good, but I think she gets frustrated when I ask the same question 50 times I found that I need to keep hearing the same phrases/words to remember them.

Hehe, this is the same method i use.