Overview of the Indonesian Language

Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the official language of the Republic of Indonesia, where it is used in government, schools, and the media. In addition to the millions of Indonesians who use it as their first language, there are also millions of people, in Indonesia and elsewhere, who speak Indonesian as a second language.

Indonesian is a member of the Austronesian family of languages that extends from Madagascar to Polynesia. The term "Bahasa Indonesia" was coined by Indonesian nationalists to denote the dialect of Malay spoken by the majority of people living in Jakarta, the nation's capital. Since it was not associated with any particular ethnic group, that form of the language came to symbolize national unity during Indonesia's struggle for independence in the middle of the 20^th century.

Indonesian Vocabulary

English has had a great influence on contemporary Indonesian. The Indonesian media are constantly translating from English and, in the process, contaminating Indonesian with English words and structures. This can make things easier for the casual visitor, who won't have much difficulty interpreting words like bank, tip, steak, internasional, telefon, tiket and kredit. But watch out! Not every word that looks recognizable has the meaning you would expect. Jam means o'clock, for example, and air means water!

Formal and Informal Address in the Indonesian Language

Since Indonesia is an archipelago of 13,700 islands, the language has many regional dialects. One constant feature, however, is the strict protocol governing the way that people are addressed according to their status and age. In formal situations, the second person pronoun "you" is perceived as being overly familiar. Older people are addressed as bapak (father) or ibu (mother) in order to show respect. Only with friends, street peddlers, taxi drivers, and the like is formality replaced by more familiar (and often slyly humorous) forms of speech.

Indonesia is one of the most populous nations on the planet. Very few countries have more people. So take a step toward world citizenship by learning Indonesian the multimedia way. It can be fun to learn Indonesian with good Indonesian software programs!