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