Indonesian Vocabulary

Learn the Indonesian Vocabulary with Babbel

Among the world languages, Indonesian ranks as the sixth or seventh most prevalently spoken. More than 200 million people in the modern states of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei speak with dialect variations. The language extends to the southern provinces of Thailand, East Timor and the Malay people of Cocos Keeling Islands, a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. Indonesian is further understood by certain parts of the southern Philippines, as well as Sri Lanka and South Africa. We recognize the significance of learning such a ubiquitous language. Whether for business or vacation, our comprehensive multimedia website provides all the tools you need to speak and write Indonesian fluently.

Origins of Indonesian Vocabulary

The Indonesian vocabulary is derived from the Austronesian language family, whose ancestry stretches across the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The Indonesian language is closely related to Malagasy (Madagascar), Balinese (Hindu island of Bali), Filipino (Philippines) and Maori (indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand). Though Indonesian does not remotely resemble English, some Indonesian words have been adopted into the English language. For example, the Indonesian verb amuk (to run around, indiscriminately killing people without control) was borrowed into the phrase “to run amuck.” Our Indonesian vocabulary lessons are set up in optimal intervals at both basic and advanced levels. We provide a Review Manager to ensure you grasp the meaning, definition and concept of the words you found difficult to understand. Our system is further able to detect your skill level and suggest which courses will be best suited for your interests, knowledge and needs.

Indonesian Pronunciation

It is not necessarily easy to get the hang of pronouncing Indonesian words. English speakers may find pronunciation to be somewhat straightforward, since Indonesian is not a tonal language like Chinese. The Indonesian vocabulary is a complex series of prefixes and suffixes attached to base words. The core of Indonesian words is Austronesian, but many commonly used words are heavily derived from Sanskrit, Arabic, Dutch, English and local languages such as Javanese and Jakartan Malay. We developed an integrated speech recognition tool that works directly in the browser so you can practice and test your pronunciation correctly and effectively. All you need is a microphone and the latest Flash-Player. You get immediate feedback on your progression.

Writing in Indonesian

The Indonesian script has made several transformations throughout its history. It started out as a syllable-based script, similar to that of the indigenous scripts of India. Indonesian words were then written out with an adoption of Arabic script with the rise of Islam, which is still used by a minority population in Malaysia and Brunei. Eventually, the Latin script displaced the Arabic form as the widely accepted style of writing by the early 20th Century. A comprehensive spelling standard was established in 1972, stabilizing the written form of the language and following Dutch spelling conventions. We use state-of-the-art technology and effective education methods to guide you through the rules of Indonesian grammar and sentence structure. Our methods foster fast progression, so you will be able to construct e-mails and written correspondence in no time at all.