Thoughts on Bahasa Indonesia

Bahasa Indonesia is the official language of Indonesia. The language is adapted from Malay and was established as the country's official language with the declaration of Indonesian independence in 1945. There are more than 700 languages living languages spoken throughout Indonesia, most of them variations of Bahasa Indonesia. All Indonesian people speak Bahasa Indonesia and use it in formal social settings, but most Indonesians speak their local dialect as their 'first language'. Of these dialects, Javanese is the most widely spoken. As of 2000, 84.3 million Indonesians spoke Javanese throughout Northern Banten, West Java, Yogyakarta, Central Java, and East Java.

3.9 million people speak Bahasa Palembang, the dialect which is spoken in my city of Palembang. I have been learning some Bahasa Palembang throughout my stay. It's distinction from Bahasa Indonesia is simple in many ways. While there are many words unique to Bahasa Palembang, oftentimes a word ending with 'a' is replaced by an 'o' to create the Palembang word. For example, 'lupa' meaning to forget is spoken as 'lupo' in Bahasa Palembang.

Bahasa Indonesia, like much of Indonesian culture, is greatly influenced by Islam. There are many commonly used words in Bahasa Indonesia that are directly adapted from Arabic. Here are a few examples:

'Selamat pagi' (good/safe morning): Selamat is adapted from the Arabic word 'salam', an Arabic greeting which denotes safety/well-being

'Apa kabar?' (literally 'what's the news', like 'how are you?'): Kabar is the Arabic word for 'news'.

As a whole, Bahasa Indonesia is a very simple language. Grammar is straightforward and there are no verb conjugations. Ideas or thoughts which are expressed in many ways in English are oftentimes expressed with one redundant phrase or word in Bahasa Indonesia. While the pompous Frenchmen of L'Academie Francaise would condescend the language for it's lack of intricacy, I believe that the language's simplicity is interesting and reflective of Indonesian culture.

Sporting some traditional clothes at my basketball
coach's wedding. The bride and groom are on my sides.

As a result of the language's simplicity, communication in Indonesia relies heavily on body language and context. I have found that the Indonesian people have an uncanny ability to read facial expressions and physical cues in a way that I am unable to comprehend. If I don't sleep enough and look tired at school, my state of being will inevitably be noticed and mentioned by my coworkers and students. The slightest, often subconscious expression of sadness or boredom is always picked up by my Indonesian friends. I will never forget how my students commented on my elated state of being after we went shopping and I finally found a pair of soccer shoes that fit my long feet. While I did not say or do anything to purposefully express my happiness, my students exclaimed "Mr. Matthew is happy now" as they read my subtle body language that I myself did not even notice I was exhibiting. 

The simplicity of the language has, surprisingly, made it rather hard for me to understand conversations between second and third parties. While I am able to understand many words that are said in the exchange, the actual tone or meaning of the conversation is very hard to discern. The reason, I believe, is that the context of the conversation is far more important than the vocabulary words which I can understand. The significance of the words that I do understand lies in the context, which is more based on the tone and other clues beyond the mere vocabulary.

Here are some fun things that I've learned about Bahasa Indonesia:

• The is no word for 'him' or 'her', only the word 'dia', which is unisex. Often, people are referred to as 'ini', which means 'this'. This fact may give some insight into how Indonesians perceive the importance of gender. Or maybe not. This also makes it hard for Indonesians to learn the difference between the words 'him' and 'her', and 'mister' and 'miss'.
• There is only one response to the question 'Apa kabar?' or 'how are you?'. The response is always 'beik', which means 'good' or 'fine'. This shows that this question, much like 'how are you?' is a merely a greeting and not an inquiry into one's current state of being.
• The expression for 'no problem' is 'tidak apa apa' which literally translates to 'not what what'.
• A common question to ask how one is doing is 'sudah makan nasi?' which means 'have you eaten rice?'.
• The word for 'water' in Bahasa Indonesia is 'air'. Isn't that ironic?
• To express that you do not want something, you are supposed to say "Terima kasih" which means 'thank you'. This has made denying or accepting peoples' offers rather confusing and awkward at times. When I do want something, I try to nod my head and say 'terima kasih', but sometimes the point doesn't get across, so I say, "Saya mau, terima kasih" which means, 'I want, thank you!".

Here's a short sample of some Bahasa Indonesia from Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti6SZXgRXQ