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Indonesian Expressions

Indonesian Phrases and Expressions

Indonesian phrases below are the most common expressions for travelers. Plan to explore Indonesia in the near future? It’s time to equip yourself with basic Bahasa Indonesia expressions.   Make sure you learn how to pronounce the phrases by watching this video: For more video lessons, please check our YouTube channel here. Greetings and Introduction

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Indonesian Grammar

First in Indonesian

Like in English, first in Indonesia has many meanings. You often don’t realize the different meanings in English because the word is the same. The problem occurs when you translate the word into Indonesian. That’s why it’s very important to know the context. Here is some meanings of “first” in English based on Cambridge dictionary:

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Indonesian Grammar

Berdua, Kedua, and Keduanya

Are you unsure about the differences between berdua, kedua, and keduanya? We got you covered! These three words can be translated into “both” in English, but we use each word differently in a sentence. In addition, berdua and kedua have other meanings as well. Let’s learn them one by one. The meaning of Berdua According

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General

How long to learn Indonesian?

Indonesian is considered by many people one of the easiest languages to learn. It has simple grammar and it’s phonetic, meaning that one letter represents one sound like in Spanish. Knowing that, how long does it take to learn Indonesian? It takes about 900 hours or 36 weeks of full-time study to be fluent in

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General

Why do people say Bahasa Language for Indonesian Language?

Bahasa language or simply Bahasa is a common misconception term for Indonesian language. I often get a surprise look when my students find out that “bahasa” means “language”. Then they start to realize the term doesn’t really make sense. There are two ways to refer to the official language of republic Indonesia. Internationally, it’s known

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General

Indonesia Etc Book Review

In Indonesia Etc, the author Elizabeth Pisani begins by comparing her relationship with Indonesia to that with her ‘Bad Boyfriends’: ‘It prompts laughter, produces that warm fuzzy feeling that goes with familiarity and slightly embarrassing shared intimacies. Then it forgets important anniversaries, insults friends, and tells endless low-grade lies. Just when you think you are really

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Culture General

Indonesian Swear Words

Indonesian curse words are the last topic that I want to talk about. The main reason is that it can easily cause misunderstanding when used by non-native speakers. However, one day, one of students said, “How do we know if we are being cursed?”. That was a good point I said. With that, please use

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Indonesian Grammar

Is in Indonesian

As we implicitly mentioned in this post, is in Indonesian is optional. In fact, most of the time it is not used by Indonesian speakers. In today’s blog post, we will give you two definitions of “is” so your Indonesian sounds natural. Is in Bahasa Indonesia can be translated into adalah. Adalah is normally used

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Indonesian Grammar

The Meaning of Saja in Indonesian

Saja in Indonesian means only or just, with a quick Google search will give you this result. However, Saja has other definitions depending on the contexts. In this blog post, we will explain the definitions of saja beyond its most common meaning. Saja means only This meaning is the same the word hanya. The difference

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General

What languages are spoken in Indonesia?

As an Indonesian language teacher, I am often asked by my international students about languages spoken in Indonesia. This question normally occurs after my students find out people in Bali have different accents and they hear different languages on the street. So, in this blog post, I want to answer the question. There are 719