Drink

Some people -- like my husband -- are the kind of person who believe that knowing how to order coffee with milk is the most important part of learning a new language. I can understand where he's coming from. There is nothing worse than going to a foreign country, feeling thirsty, and not knowing what to say to order a glass of water. 

In Indonesia, you could find Starbucks. You should be fine there as I believe Starbucks speak their own language. However, if you are lost in a local coffee shop, or restaurant, there are some words you might want to learn to speak.

Bisa [saya]* pesan sekarang? -- Can I order now?

It would be extremely helpful if you were given a menu with a proper description in it, all you need to do is to point. But what if there is no menu you could use to choose from, and all you want to have is a cup of tea or coffee, or a glass of water?

Waiter: "Mau pesan apa, Pak?" -- What do you want to order, Sir?

Water, coffee, and tea are the top three most ordered beverage. Here is how you could order them:

Saya mau-... -- I want-... 

- Air** putih -- literally means white water, but it is translated as plain water
- Air mineral -- mineral water. If you order this, you will get one in a bottle
- Air hangat -- warm water
- Air es -- iced water.
- Teh tawar -- plain tea (black).
- Teh manis -- sweet tea (tea with sugar)
- Es teh -- iced tea
- Teh panas -- hot tea
You could combine the words together to adjust to your liking. For example you would like a hot sweet tea, then you say: Teh manis panas.
- Kopi hitam -- black coffee or plain coffee (but in Indonesia they usually sweetened unless you ask otherwise)
- Kopi susu -- milk coffee (latte / white)
- Es kopi -- iced coffee

Yes, I believe it is somewhat confusing that "plain" in Bahasa Indonesia translated differently for different kind of beverages. But to make it easier: "putih" means white, and water is supposed to be "white" when it is plain, and "hitam" means black, and coffee is supposed to be black when it is plain.

You might want to make adjustment for your drink.

Bisa [saya] minta - ... ? -- Can I request (for) ... ? 

- gulanya dipisah -- the sugar to be separated (if you want to put the sugar to yourself)
- gulanya sedikit saja -- just little sugar
- susunya dikurangi -- less milk
- esnya ditambah -- more sugar
- esnya banyak -- a lot of ice
- jangan terlalu kental -- not too thick (means not too strong)
- jangan terlalu panas -- not to hot

So, if you want to order a glass of sweet ice milk tea, but you don't want it to be too sweet, you could say to the waiter: "Saya mau es teh susu [manis]***. Bisa minta jangan terlalu manis?"

You might wonder why we don't say please in Bahasa Indonesia? Well... we do although it is not often used in regular conversation, I would talk about it a bit later. This is for now... enjoy your cuppa :)

* It is usual to drop pronouns in Bahasa Indonesia.
** Remember that the pronunciation of "air" in Indonesia is not the same with "air" in English. It is "a-eer".
*** In Indonesia unless it is asked otherwise, milk that we use for coffee or tea is usually condensed milk, so it will be sweet. Thus you could drop "manis" when you are requesting.

Vocabulary:
Bisa = can
Pesan = order
Sekarang = now
Mau = want
Apa = what
Air = water
Es = Ice
Susu = Milk
Coffee = kopi
Teh = tea
Panas = hot
Hangat = warm
Manis = sweet
Hitam = black
Putih = white
Tawar = bland
Tambah = Add
Kurang = substract
Banyak = many/ a lot of / plenty of
Sedikit = few / a little
Kental = thick
Minta = request 

Vowels and Diphthongs

Vowels

"A" in Bahasa Indonesia sounds like the 'a' when you say "par" or "far".

examples: kata, mata, taman, cara

"I" in Bahasa Indonesia sounds like the 'ee' when you say "bee" or "see".

examples: kiri, pipi, dinding, pinggir

"U" in Bahasa Indonesia sounds like the "oo" when you say "look" or "boost".

examples: untuk, cukup, lucu, mutu

"E" in Bahasa Indonesia has two sounds

(1) it sounds like the "e" in "ten" or "self"

examples: cek, encer

(2) it sounds like the "e" in "her" or "merge". 

examples: eneg, lemper

"O" in Bahasa Indonesia also has two sounds

(1) it sounds like the "o" in "low" or "go"

examples: toko, Solo

(2) it sounds like the "o" in "hot" or "rod"

examples: dorong, rokok

Diphthongs

In my opinion, in Bahasa Indonesia, diphthongs are not really diphthongs. Officially we have "ai" and "au", which are supposed to sound like "y" in "my" or "by", and "ow" in "how" and "cow". However, most of the time, the combination of two vowels in Bahasa Indonesia would be pronounced separately. 

For example: 

"cair" is "ca - ir" instead of "cayr" but "kedai" is "ke-day" instead of "ke-da-i"

"bau" is "ba-u" instead of "bow" but "kerbau" is "ker- baw" instead of "ker-ba-u"

It needs practice to be able to resist the natural way we say things. When we see: "lanjut", English speakers tend to say "layn-jot" while it is supposed to sound like "larn-joot". Here are the Indonesian vocabulary we learned today to help you practice.

Vocabulary: 

kata = word
mata = eye
taman = garden / park
cara = method / how to
kiri = left
pipi = cheek
dinding = wall
pinggir = edge (of something)
untuk = for
lucu = funny
cukup = enough
mutu = quality
cek = check or cheque
encer = liquid
eneg = nauseous
lemper =  a kind of indonesian food made of rice
toko = shop
Solo = a name of a city in Indonesia
dorong = push
rokok = cigarette
cair = liquid
kedai = eatery
bau = smell
kerbau = water buffalo
lanjut = continue

Greetings

From my very own humble experience the top two things people would want to learn first when they get acquainted with a new language is: 1. swear words, 2. how to greet other people. With the exception for my dearest husband, his first words were: kopi (coffee) and milk (susu) -- just in case he's stranded somewhere in Indonesia, he'd like to know how he could get a cup of coffee with some milk in it.

However, I found it utterly ridiculous for someone to swear at someone else without knowing that other person first. So, it would be as ridiculous to learn how to swear before knowing how to greet other people, and introduce yourself. Here's our very first lesson: Greetings (Salam, in Indonesia).

I have been often asked by curious people how we say "hello" in Indonesia. It might sound preposterous for you but we really don't have the Indonesian equivalent of "hello" -- we borrow it from Dutch and say "halo" instead. We also borrow "hi", and rewrite it in Indonesian way of spelling, and write it "hai". We are going to talk about how our vowels work later, don't worry about it.

To be sound a little bit more formal, we could use:

- Selamat Pagi --> Good Morning
- Selamat Siang --> Good Afternoon
- Selamat Sore --> Good Afternoon or Good Evening.
- Selamat Malam --> Good Evening or Good Night. 

That's the easy part, isn't it? Now for a more complicated part is how to ask someone how they are doing.
 "Apa kabar?" is the most common greetings. It literally means "what news?" but in English it is interpreted as "How are you?" or even "How do you do?"

There are several answers that you could choose to answer that question:

- Kabar saya [baik/buruk] --> my news is [good/bad] or
- Saya [baik/tidak baik] --> i am [well/unwell]
- Lumayan --> not too bad/ so so

Right. So let's imagine the situation: you're arrived in Indonesia, your friend Andy picked you up in the airport. After you passed the immigration, and got your baggage sorted you went outside and Andy was there waving his hand excitedly.

Andy: "Halo!"
YOU: "Hi Andy! Apa kabar? Sudah lama tidak bertemu."
Andy: "Kabar saya baik. Kamu bagaimana?"
YOU: "Lumayan. Terima kasih.."

See? Bahasa Indonesia is not difficult. I think it is better to end the lesson here. Here's today's vocabulary

Greetings = Salam
Halo! = Hello!
Hai! = Hi!
Selamat Pagi/Siang/Sore/Malam = good morning/afternoon/evening/night
Selamat + ... = Good +...
Selamat (n) = congratulation
Selamat (adj) = safe
Pagi = morning
Siang = afternoon
Sore = late afternoon/ early evening
Malam = evening
Apa kabar? = How are you? / How do you do?
Kabar = News
Saya = I/ me/ my/ mine
Baik = Good/ well
Buruk = bad
Lumayan = so so
tidak + ... = not + ...
tidak = no
Sudah lama tidak bertemu = Long time no see
Terima kasih = thank you

About Bahasa Indonesia

Last Christmas my husband and I went to Wales to visit our father in law and his wife. While in there we stayed in a beautiful B&B, owned by a lovely couple who invited us for tea and a bit of a natter. During our conversation I learned that, surprisingly, their children live and work in Indonesia. Knowing that I am too, from Indonesia, the lady of the house started to tell me about her experience when she was visiting Indonesia, and also... about her struggle learning Indonesian language -- which in Indonesia we call Bahasa Indonesia.

She said that it is difficult to make sense of Bahasa Indonesia and its vocabulary. 

"How can 'one' is 'satu' and 'two' is 'dua'?" she asked me -- flabbergasted. 

I can totally understand where she's coming from. For an English speaking individual, Bahasa Indonesia would sound so foreign. Of course, French and German would sound foreign too, but as French and German shared the same Germanic root, it would be easier to make sense of their language. But Bahasa Indonesia? It is just completely alien.

My husband is an Englishman -- born and bred in England. His second language -- if you asked him -- is sarcasm, and he's very fluent at it. He is also struggling with Bahasa Indonesia, although according to him it is all because of his lacking of memorising skill. I am not going to admit it in front of him, but I guess a part of it is because I don't have the teaching skill (nor patience) to teach him Bahasa Indonesia properly. 

Right... Bahasa Indonesia should not be difficult, and I am not saying it because I was born and also grew up in Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia is probably one of the simplest languages. Here's why it shouldn't be as difficult as you think it is:

source: http://satu-1-satu.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/kehebatan-bahasa-indonesia-di-mata-dunia.html

1. It is written in the usual Latin alphabet -- the 26 of them. You wouldn't find unrecognisable characters, nor accents, umlauts, etc. Just like your usual English writing. But...
2. It is easier to pronounce. While in English the letter "a" in 'apple', and 'apricot' will be pronounced differently, in Bahasa Indonesia all vowels would be pronounced all the same -- except for 'e' and 'o' -- each have two different sounds.
3. It doesn't have tenses. The way you know if a deed is done is by adding adverbs or time pointers. As a result of that, the verb form never changes. And...
4. Nouns don't have genders, and the plural form is just the same. 
5. You can drop words without changing the meaning. 

See? Simple! Theoretically... 

So, I thought it would be nice if I could help people (English speaking for now) who want to learn Bahasa Indonesia. Who knows that Bali would be your next holiday destination? You would want to go shopping without keep looking at your dictionary don't you?

Talk to you soon. Sampai jumpa.