LEARNING BAHASA INDONESIA

I'm an Indonesian, so you can trust this article... i think.

The Indonesian Bahasa is pretty simple since it uses the same verb for any kind of sentence, unlike English that has verb1, verb2, and things. The challenge here is about pronunciation since you western folks speak the letters a bit differently.

In bahasa, all letters are spoken the same as how they sound.
for example the world 'jam' which means clock. Yeah, clock, not that jam you're thinking about.
The 'a' there is spoken like the 'u' in any word started with 'un-'... like in undeniable, not like the 'a' you all know and love.


So let me explain how to read the letters if they are accompanied with another letter in Indonesia:

A.
Red like the 'U' in 'Un-'

B.
If it's at the front, speak it like you usually does.
If it's at the back, speak it like the P when it's at the back of a word, like in 'crap'.

C.
Front : speak it like in 'Cease'.
Back : I don't think there's any Indonesian word with C in the back.

D.
Front : speak it like in 'Dare'.
Back : speak it like T when it's at the back of a word, like in 'cat'.

E.
Sometimes spoken like the 'u' in 'fur', sometimes spoken like the 'e' in 'fell'.

F.
The same as yours.

G.
The same as yours, but no function to sound like 'J'.

H.
The same as yours.

I.
Spoken like 'ie' in 'selfie'

J.
The same as yours.

K.
The same as yours.

L.
The same as yours.

M.
The same as yours.

N.
The same as yours.

O.
The same as yours, but no function for 'u' like in 'oo'. Just read that with double Os.

P.
The same as yours.

Q.
The same with K.

R.
This one is tricky. It is spoken like in English, but more.... raw. It's kinda hard to explain with words, so maybe youtube can help? Try to vibrate your tongue like those Indian fellas. Scaredy Bat from Ruby Gloom is a good example to saying R in Indonesian, tho his R is too raw.

S.
The same as yours.

T.
The same as yours, but no function to be red as 'D' even with 'H' after it.

U.
Spoken like you 'u', but without the 'y' factor. Doesn't have function to be spoken like 'u' in 'un-'.

V.
Spoken the same as F, but if it's alone, speak it like V followed by the E in FELL.

W.
The same as yours.

X.
The same as yours.

Y.
The same as yours.

Z.
The same as yours.

As how to read them as single letters, for non-vocals just add the 'E' in 'Fell' behind them. It doesn't apply to some letters tho.


H is spoken with 'u' in 'un-'
K has the 'u' in 'un-' instead of 'e' in 'fell'
R has the 'e' before it instead of after it.
L, M, N, S, X spoken like in english.

The way to speak the vocals already explained above.

Indonesian words contains a few syllables with each syllables may content up to 4 letters. Most just have 3, tho. The ones having 4 letters usually the ones with 'ng' behind.

Each syllables usually contain at least one vocal. Mostly don't have two or more non-vocals in a row, except for absorbed words.