Indonesians are extremely proud of their National Language, which they refer to as BAHASA INDONESIA. Its one of the most important factors inifying them as a nation. Although English is widely understood in the places that most jakarta visitors are likely to go, you'll always win some extra points from local people if you make an attempt to speak at least a few words of indonesian. You'll be happy to learn that its grammatical rules are far simpler than those for english. For example, there are no articles (a, an, the) to worry about. The verb "to be" is rarely used. There are no word-endings to indicate plurals. (sometimes a noun is doubled -- but more often the number is understood because of context.) Moreover, verbs in Bahasa Indonesia are not conjugated. Instead, tense is communicated through context or with specific words indicating time. Simple, right? So why not make it a point to work a few of these basic words and phrases into your conversations around Jakarta?.

URL: https://members.tripod.com/~jakarta23
Webmaster:  Jona Reyes
Copyright © 1998, Jaguar1923