Learn Bahasa Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the biggest countries in the world. It is located in Southeast Asia with 17,508 islands surround it. It is also the world’s fourth populous country. There are more than 300 local languages are used but Bahasa Indonesia is the national language and is used by more than 230 million people throughout the country. The language is also similar to Malaysian language with, of course, different vocabulary, spelling as well as pronunciation. It is taught in many other countries such as ASEAN countries, Australia, Netherland, Suriname, etc. So check out this web site for free Indonesian learning.

Consonants and Vowels in Bahasa Indonesia


VOWELS
a is always pronounced like the English /a/ in ‘bar’; ‘far’; ‘car’. examples:  saya (I), kita (we), mereka (they)
i  is always pronounced like the English /ee/ in ‘see’; ‘meet’. examples: ini (this), kini (now), mini (mini)
u is always pronounced like the English /oo/ in ‘booth’; ‘hook’. examples: buku (book), pintu (door)
There are two ways of pronouncing the letter /e/ :
A weak one like the English /e/ in ‘payment’; ‘her.  examples: mentah (raw), pening (dizzy), emas (gold)
the other one is pronounced like the English /e/ in ‘pen’; ‘bet’ examples: merah(red), enak(delicious)
o is like the English /o/ in ‘mold’; ‘cold’ examples: toko(store), rokok (cigarette), obat (medicine)

CONSONANTS
c is pronounced like the English /ch/ in ‘cheer’ examples: cemas (worry), cerdas (smart) 
g is pronounced like the English /g/ in ‘golden’; ‘gulf’ examples: guru (teacher), gagal (fail)
j is pronounced like the English /j/ in ‘Jill’; ‘Jake’ examples: jelek (ugly), jawab (answer)
r is the rolled or trilled /r/ like the Italian or Spanish in ‘signora’; ‘senorita’ examples: ramah (polite), raih (reach), kabar (news)
h in initial position is pronounced clearly. In daily conversation is optionally audible like the English /h/ in hurricane examples: hutan (forest), hantu (ghost) 
h in medial position flanked by the same vowels is pronounced clearly examples: paham (understand), mahal (expensive) 
‘H’ in final position must be pronounced clearly otherwise the meaning changes. examples: marah (angry), pindah (move)
ng is pronounced like the English /ng/ in ‘bring’; ‘thing’ examples:. kuping (ear), terbang (fly)
ng +g is pronounced like the English /ng/ in ‘tango’; ‘finger’ examples:.bangga (proud), tunggu (wait)
ny is pronounced like the English ‘ny’ in ‘canyon’ examples:.banyak (many), penyakit (disease)
sy is pronounced like the English ‘sh’ in ‘show’; ‘sheperd’ examples:. syukur (grateful),
kh is pronounced like the Scottish ‘ch’ in ‘loch’. The words are mostly of Arabic origin examples: akhirat (afterlife), akhir (end), khusus (special)