New Learner

[thought]

Hi all,
I just started to study Indonesian. I hope I will be able to find some help as I progress in my studies.

Currently, I am using the Pimsleur audio tapes. Has anyone used it before?

Any advice for a beginner to the language.


Thanks.

[Danial]

Hi! Selamat Datang ke Unilang!

Well, personally, since this is such an easy language, my only recommendation is that you pick up on vocabulary. That way grammar will just be passively learnt.

I'm not exactly an Indonesian native but my mother tongue is Malay, so I understand Indonesian pretty well to help you in Indonesian if you'd like.

I've used Pimsleur before for several languages, and loved it, but if won't get your far if you don't practise what you've learned.

And if you need any help just post your questions or thoughts here.

Good luck,
D.

[quevagibe]

Hi all,
I just started to study Indonesian. I hope I will be able to find some help as I progress in my studies.

Currently, I am using the Pimsleur audio tapes. Has anyone used it before?

Any advice for a beginner to the language.


Thanks.

i have also used pimsleur...although i think there is only 10 lessons.
I found them very useful as i like the system of actively participating during the whole 30 mins.

However, once pimsleur is finished, there is obviously a lot more to study. I bought TEACH YOURSELF INDONESIAN which is good.

there is a significant lack of texts for indonesian, but this has been the best of a few i have seen so far.

There were a few issues where it isnt very clear (esp. with the prefixes and sufixes), but provides good strucutres to learn and an exhaustive vocab.

[0stsee]

Selamat Datang, Thought!
Kalau kau ada pertanyaan, bilang aja, OK!


Greg, kau kenapa mau belajar Bhs Indonesia?
Ada motif tertentu?
Kau ngelanjutin belajar BI di Barcelona?


Keterangan:
ngelanjutin = melanjutkan
BI = Bhs Indonesia


Salam,


MarK

[thought]

Selamat orang-orang (everyone)

Danial you are right the grammar is very easy. I need to focus on the vocabulary.

Is the Indonesian language very different from Malay? What makes Bahasa Indonesia unique from Malay?

Greg, thanks for your advice. The Pimsleur tapes are very good. Although, it is only 10 lessons.
I would have to rely on the internet and you guys here to help me through my studies as
I do not think it would be easy for me to find an Indonesian language book where I reside.

Mark,
Although, saya tidak mengreti setiap sudah tulsi (all you have written).
But I think (Kalau kau ada pertanyaan, bilang aja, OK! )
it means "if you have any questions just ask".

Does kau = you?
I learnt you = anda or kamu.

Is aja the same as saja?
I learnt sedikit-sedikit saja .

Terima kasih

[0stsee]

Hej Thought!

If you want to say "hi everybody", in Indonesian it'd be:

Halo semuanya!

The word selamat, when it's used alone, means "congratulations!"

Added with another word, it could be anything like "Good ...", "Happy ...", "Merry ...", etc.

Selamat pagi!
Selamat siang!
Selamat sorè!
Selamat maläm!
Selamat tidur!
Selamat makan!
Selamat Hari Jadi!
Selamat (Hari) Ulang Tahun!
Selamat Natal!
Selamat Idul Fitri!
Selamat (Ber)buka Puasa!
Selamat Tahun Baru!
Selamat Hari Minggu!
etc.


Indonesian and Malaysian have some differences in vocabulary and pronunciation, but the two languages are part of a dialect continuum, which is why an accent in Sumatra is much closer to Malaysian than it is to, say Bahasa Manado, which is also a variation of Malay.


Tebakanmu benär, Thought!
Yang aku tulis itu artinya "If you have questions, just ask!"

aja = saja
aku = saya (more or less. There are explanations about the pronouns in other threads)
kau = kamu = Anda (again, there are explanations in other threads)

I personally never use Anda when speaking directly to a person. You do encounter it a lot in the written or formal language, though.

Selamat melanjutkan belajar Bahasa Indonesia!! (<=== another example of the use of "Selamat ...")

Salam,


MarK

[thought]

Halo Mark,

Thanks a lot for correcting my mistakes. Your corrections are very beneficial.

Terima kasih banyank.


I am also very impressed with your quick response as well.
Thanks.

Sampai Katamu.

Salam.

[0stsee]

Sama-sama, Thought!

Btw, it's
terima kasih banyak
and
sampai ketemu

Sampai nanti!!


MarK

[thought]

Cool

Terima kasih lagi (thanks again)


Sampai ketemu

[krix]

There were a few issues where it isnt very clear (esp. with the prefixes and sufixes), but provides good strucutres to learn and an exhaustive vocab.

Hi, for the affixes (there are also some circumfixes, and a couple of albeit no longer productive infixes) I would highly recommend reading "Indonesian - a comprehensive grammar" by James N. Sneddon. He has a whole chapter devoted to morphology, sorted by part of speech and then affix by affix. Sure, there are some idiosyncracies in the lexicon, but he shows the general tendencies very clearly....

[Edelweis]

Halo semuanya!
Saya ingin berjalan Bahasa Indonesia.

Thank you for such a nice web site and i really hope to learn more about Indonesia, its language and its culture. I have been to Indonesia several times and i love this country very much. Please help me to be able to talk to lockal people and to understand them.
I am using Lonely planet planet guide book and Gabriealle Fontain lessons from the web site and also trying to read news in Bahasa Indonesia which is yet problematic.
Can also help anyone with Russian if you are interested.

[0stsee]

Halo Edelweis (nice name, btw)!

Selamat datang!

Semoga suksés dalam belajar (bukan "berjalan" ) Bahasa Indonésia!

Terima kasih untuk tawarannya balajar Bahasa Rusia. Saya sudah pernah mencoba, tapi sayangnya terlalu sulit buat saya.

[Edelweis]

Halo Edelweis (nice name, btw)!

Selamat datang!

Terima kasih!

Semoga suksés dalam belajar (bukan "berjalan" ) Bahasa Indonésia!

Ya! Saya sudah mengerti kesalahan saya. Thank you for correcting and please also be so kind to correct my future mistakes also. I am sure i will have plenty of them.

Terima kasih untuk tawarannya balajar Bahasa Rusia. Saya sudah pernah mencoba, tapi sayangnya terlalu sulit buat saya.

Sayangnya bahasa Russia adalah terlalu sulit buat orang Russia juga. Ala bisa karena biasa.

[0stsee]

Ala bisa karena biasa.

Wow! Salut!!

Saya saja jarang menggunakan istilah itu!!

[Edelweis]

Saya saja jarang menggunakan istilah itu!!

Saya cinta Amsal dan tutur-kata yang umur tinggi dari Russia dan lain negara - negara. Mereka (?) adalah sangat kara sekali.
Apa amsal ke Indonesia anda suka?

[0stsee]

Saya cinta Amsal dan tutur-kata yang umur tinggi dari Russia dan lain negara - negara. Mereka (?) adalah sangat kara sekali.
Apa amsal ke Indonesia anda suka?

I'd say:

"Saya cinta amsal/peribahasa dan tutur kata kuno dari Rusia dan lain negeri.."

What do you mean with "Mereka adalah sangat kara sekali".


Saya suka Amsal 3 dalam Alkitab.

[Edelweis]

Saya cinta Amsal dan tutur-kata yang umur tinggi dari Russia dan lain negara - negara. Mereka (?) adalah sangat kara sekali.
Apa amsal ke Indonesia anda suka?

I'd say:

"Saya cinta amsal/peribahasa dan tutur kata kuno dari Rusia dan lain negeri.."

What do you mean with "Mereka adalah sangat kara sekali".


Saya suka Amsal 3 dalam Alkitab.

Oh!
I think i wanted to say that the old proverbs and sayings are wise but looks like the phrase was too bewildering and wrongly stated.
But thank for understanding the idea anyway

[michiokk8]

Nice answer Danial..hehe..yup Indonesian and Malaysian are different.
The most things in accent and some meaning of vocabulary are different, such as in Malaysian language the word SERONOK. the meaning of SERONOK is spectacular. but in Indonesian language, the word SERONOK is TABOO.
Edel you can find Indonesian cartoon and Malaysian cartoon UPIN IPIN on youtube if you want to know the differences clearly.
INDONESIAN CARTOON
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT6h9gwl ... re=related

MALAYSIAN CARTOON
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4o7r7gVeIo

Oh ya, if you are beginner who learn bahasa, you can buy the book,it's suitable for beginner, I don't know if this book is sold there..I just wanna recommend it to you and I have the book, if I lived in Russia I could lend it to you.
THE TITLE OF THIS BOOK
LET'S STUDY BAHASA INDONESIA WITH A NEW METHOD BY DRS. GUSRIZAL
the book uses Indonesian and English.
hope you can learn Indonesian more..

[0stsee]

Yes, Malaysian and Indonesian are different, but it still doesn't keep us from understanding each other. In fact the differences are quite minimal. I watched the Malaysian cartoon and had no problem at all understanding it. I admit that in the first few seconds I needed to get used to the accent, but then I carried on without a problem. Thanks a lot for the clip btw. I really enjoyed it.

[michiokk8]

Yes, Malaysian and Indonesian are different, but it still doesn't keep us from understanding each other. In fact the differences are quite minimal. I watched the Malaysian cartoon and had no problem at all understanding it. I admit that in the first few seconds I needed to get used to the accent, but then I carried on without a problem. Thanks a lot for the clip btw. I really enjoyed it.

yeah, you're welcome otsee.. anyway are you student? do you learn Indonesian language? or just Malaysian language? why you learn it?