How to speak Indonesian

Speak Indonesian: beginners advanced and travellers

Since Indonesian is a language which is spoken by such a large number of people, people who learn Indonesian will soon realize that it can be a welcome asset on their CV. People residing in Indonesia, individuals conducting business with Indonesian companies, and various others will discover numerous advantages in acquiring proficiency in the Indonesian language. Not sure where to get started? Indonesian courses are available both online and through traditional language schools, so you have plenty of options. 

Differences between English and Indonesian

Indonesian is a very different language from English. It's highly influenced by hierarchical Javanese and uses different tones in different situations for different audiences. For example, the usage of the second person "you" is replaced with more indirect terms or references unless the speaker and the listener know each other well.

Indonesian has no tenses at all and relies on time indicators in sentences, such as "next week" or "yesterday," to denote the time period being spoken about. Plus, Indonesian does not have grammar cases attached to nouns or gender usage either. Plurals are fortunately easy to learn, as you only need to repeat the noun or add a quantitative indicator — such as "few" or "many" — before the noun.

Phonetic in nature, it is written just the way it is spoken, barring a few exceptions. The Indonesian sentence structure is similar to English, as it also follows the same pattern: Subject, then Verb, then Object. So while English and Indonesian certainly have clear differences, it's not as difficult a language to tackle as you might first think.

Best Way to Learning Indonesian - Babbel

Try your first Indonesian lesson with Babbel for free. One of the advantages of the Babbel system is that you are immersed in Indonesian from the beginning. The process is easy and intuitive (with lots of helpful hints when you need them), and you can learn at your own pace and set your own lesson plans. Babbel’s Indonesian course is affordable, accessible online and via mobile devices, and proven to strengthen your reading, listening, speaking and comprehension skills. Whether you are too busy for a language class, a complete beginner, needing to brush up before a vacation or business trip, or wanting to re-learn everything you forgot in high school, Babbel can be customized to your needs. Best of all, you don’t have to tackle Indonesian by yourself. Use Babbel’s community features to connect with other learners, find tandem partners and share expertise. Feeling inspired yet? Test your level with Babbel and see what you can achieve.