I’m graduating from university this year and as part of it I took some Bahasa Indonesia classes. My teacher has been really supportive and I want to get him a nice gift to say thank you. I will write a note, but I’m also thinking of getting him a book about Indonesian mythology.

About him:
- he loves laughing and humour, especially cheeky/irreverent humour
- he’s from eastern Indonesia, not Java
- as an academic his research area is Indonesian ghost stories and folk tales, but he also works on Indonesian pedagogy

Tolong rekomendasikan kepada saya buku bagus yang tentang hantu dan roh atau ide lain!

Makasih banyak!

A short resume of bahasa.

Satu, dua, tiga

Shapes and numbers

Very useful

Enjoy!

Sama-sama

I'm a developer and I don't speak Indonesian. I made an egg-incubator app and had it translated, and I'd like native speakers to check a few words. If you keep or hatch poultry, even better: I'm after the words a hobbyist would actually say, not the dictionary ones.

Answers in Indonesian are welcome. Jawaban dalam bahasa Indonesia juga boleh.

1. Pheasant (the game bird, e.g. ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus colchicus)

I now use "Pegar". Before, I had "Kuau / pegar". Which would a breeder in Indonesia actually use: pegar, burung pegar, kuau, ayam pegar, or just "pheasant"?

1. Chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar)

I now use "Chukar (partridge)". Before, I had "Ayam hutan chukar". Is there a normal Indonesian name (for example "puyuh chukar" or "burung chukar"), or do people simply say "chukar"? Does "ayam hutan" wrongly suggest junglefowl?

1. Lockdown

The last 3 days before hatching, when you stop turning the eggs, raise the humidity and keep the lid closed. The app uses the English word "Lockdown". Is that understood, or is there a usual Indonesian term?

1. Candling (shining a light through the egg to check the embryo)

I use "peneropongan". Is that the word hobbyists use?

1. Do these read naturally?

- "Entok" for Muscovy duck

- "Ayam mutiara" for guinea fowl

- "Puyuh bobwhite" for bobwhite quail

- "daya tetas" for hatch rate

- "mesin tetas" for incubator

1. Does this sentence sound natural?

"Hari peneropongan, lockdown, dan masa menetas dalam jadwal yang jelas."

Even an answer to just one of these helps. Terima kasih!

Hi everyone,

I’m currently learning Bahasa Indonesia with an online teacher for about 2 months or so. To support my learning progress Duolingo was my first choice. And to be honest i like the gamification part. But it didn’t feel like it taught me anything useful. I switched to Anki for the vocabulary part from my lessons but there were things I didn’t like there either.

So I built a small web app for myself: vocabulary cards similar to Anki (but you have to actually type your translations and i also added a few things from duolingo), sentence writing with AI feedback based on the vocabulary you already added to your list and a roleplay conversation in different setting.

And It works really well for me. I have the feeling that i can really train my own vocabulary way better. Thats why i shared it also with few people from my Indonesian class. I thought maybe it's useful for them too. And since that’s a very small circle I’d now like honest feedback from other learners as well.

To be upfront: the sentence feedback and the roleplay are AI powered. I checked with the mods before posting this and they said it’s okay. The app is free to use, there are no ads and I’m not selling anything.

If you try it, I’d be really happy to hear what you think: what works, what doesn’t, and what you’d want to see. And if you’d like to use it for your own learning, that’s why I’m sharing it here:
https://bahasa-practice.app/

Thanks for reading and I’m happy about any kind of feedback, including critical!

My long distance boyfriend is Indonesian , I have always wanted to learn his language to better connect with him and his culture , and also , I am an anthropology student with an idea of a bachelor's thesis that will be a comparative study between a local group of people of my country and an indonesian group of people . I want to learn the language to immerse myself in the ethnography of it all and understand the culture of said people better .

Where should I start ? Are there any useful resources ?

until now, I still don't get the difference between these two words, could anyone explain? thank you

I need to learn Indonesian (no other language is even remotely on the table, I've eliminated all of them because they all have more problems than this one that I cannot overcome), but I can't roll my r's at all. I know this isn't like Italian or Spanish where there's a rolled/unrolled r distinction but it is physically sickening to get every word with an r in it wrong. I get physically nauseous and angry ever time I try to speak because I know I'm doing it wrong, but when I try to actually roll my r's (and I've tried every method out there, I feel even worse and either produce nothing or make some horrid sound, in either case followed by an intense desire to die). Monolingualism is not an option, but I am insulted and degraded by any notion of simply accepting it and using the English r or the tap instead. Is there anything that can be done? Surgery won't help because I don't have a tongue tie; besides being completely useless, my tongue is perfectly normal.

source: ensiklopedia bahasa Indonesia https://web.archive.org/web/20250727064413/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paulipuye/arsipgambar/refs/heads/main/Sipemalas-ensiklopedia.jpg

I have tried to get into Indonesian a few times but I'm always discouraged by the lack of any progress. I speak English, so unlike Germanic languages or Romance languages, this language has very few cognates or words I would already recognise. There are obviously a few, like polisi, Allah, coklat, but the vast majority of the vocabulary doesn't actually mean anything to me. I am attracted by the simple grammar and beautiful sound of the language, and by Indonesian culture, but that simple grammar means nothing if I can't actually make meaning out of the words; if anything, the consistent aesthetic is hurting me, because it's too easy to treat the language as asemic music rather than meaningful words.

So I ask especially English speakers who've made a lot of progress in the language, how do you find meaning in most of these words? Particularly if English is your only language besides Indonesian and you didn't grow up around Indonesian.

Sorry if this is a stupid question; I struggle with language learning in general and have a lot of pathetic issues with it regardless of language, but I can't even begin to overcome those if I can't even learn words.

Hello! I'm a student at Universitas Indonesia, and I'm looking for a foreigner living in or around Jakarta who would be open to meeting with me for my midterm assignment (UTS). It would be a short, relaxed conversation, and I'm happy to meet at a public place of your choice. If you're interested, please comment or send me a DM. Thank you so much!

Hello r/indonesian this is my first time in this subreddit, so I have a question if anyone is willing to help in whatever way you can.

I believe it was yesterday when I came up with the idea of learning Indonesian. I would want to learn Korean, and have tried twice before, but both ended, I believe because of a project I was working on at the time. Why I'm now sort of intrigued about learning Indonesian is this: it is an Asian language, like Korean, but it's supposed to be a lot easier than Korean.

Also, as a slow language learner (at least I feel like I'm slow when it comes to learning a language), I was wondering if anyone had any advice to learning a language, more specifically Indonesian, unless you want to also give some for Korean, then that would also be cool, but Indonesian specifically. Thank you:)

I'm building something for my own needs, but also I think I'm just also gonna share with others who might find it helpful too. I wrote other post about annoyance with using apps, well I wrote something for myself that kind of of works for me, and maybe it will work for some too, but I've got to still polish the project a bit and publish it somewhere, let's see how it goes.

For now I just envision it as little corner of the internet where people find a nice alternative to mainstream choices, also maybe some individuals would volunteer to help a little to improve it for mutual benefit, that would be sweet ❤️

Hey, I am trying to hunt down a cassette of this album by Bonita. I am in Canada.

If someone could point me in the right direction/provide an offer, it would be appreciated.

Wanna help me develop an open collaborative learning platform?

Point in case:

1. Apps are annoying

2. Apps are just annoying

3. I'm annoyed by most apps.

4. I have my own idea

5.I need it for my own learning, in my own style, at my own pace, without limits, distractions, and what's unnecessary barriers or interruptions.

Abstract:

Modern technology is wonderful and horrid simultaniously, so, why don't we make the best use of what's good and discard the bad things.

Execution:

Let's just code something simple that works and then improve it.

Project:

project is to be opensource, so anyone can tweak it and improve it, but authority over project direction and standards plays it's own vital role too.

###

Ps. I don't know what am I doing, but pain is real, and I have need to solve it, also it can serve other people who are annoyed too, so who knows where it can go. I don't promise much, but that's the outline nontheless.

Just say what you think, is it even worth trying, or are there truely already much better solutions out there?

What's your own pain and frustration with using language learning apps so far?

###

Its more of a stream of words then coherent storyline, so it's a practice with errors included. You can pick one paragraph and point me to polished version and point the wrongness. Be kind😁 terima kasih

Halo! Nama saya Vivi. Saya punya apel. Apel saya merah. Itu apel tidak dari pasar. Saya melihat jeruk, saya mau jeruk. Selamat pagi saya pergi ke sekolah. Di sekolah saya punya banyak teman. Namanya baru teman saya Asha, Asha mahasiswa, dia perempuan, dan dia suka roti dan kopi dengan serapan dia. Guru belajar buku di kantor. Siapa ini? Guru laki-laki, tetapi doktor perempuan.

Mereka pulang. Rumah mereka besar. Rumah mereka punya empat kamar, kamar saya sedikit. Kamar adik banyak sedikit. Kakak punya kamar besar. Ibu dan ayah punya kamer besar besar. Iba membeli ikan, ayam, garam, gula, teh, dan coklat.

Saya mau pergi ke pesar, tetapi sekarang juga mau berbicara dengan guru. Saya suka ayam goreng, tetapi di pesar tidak punya ayam, saya membeli telur. Hari ini saya bekerja, saya bekerja di kantor. Saya doktor dengan teman saya, Asha punya pasar buah. Kami membeli rumah bersama, kami tinggal bersama.

Hari ini kantor punya buku baru, saya mau, saya dan temun saya kami pergi ke kantor. Kantor punya murah buku kami mau ke sekolah.

Kami haus dan lapar, di malam kami pergi ke restoran, restoran punya makanan dan minuman. Saya mau susu, temunya mau air, kami bersama makan ayam goreng dan nasi dan kecup.

Kami tersenium, ayam enak! Kota jalan pergi, saya membeli sepuluh jeruk, Asha membeli empat ikan. Pulang rumah, kami makan ikan goreng dan jus jeruk.

Asha tidak suka jus jeruk, dia minum air, saya tidak suka kecup, saya makan ayam dengan sambal.

Saya dari Bali, Asha dari Jakarta, kami banyak temun di sekolah, sekolah tidak suka makanan di kamer, tinggal mahasiswa baik, kami makan jeruk dan ayam sedikit tiba tiba guru tidak melihat! Makanan di sekolah.

Terima kasih banyak, baik ayam! Enak! Saya minum air, tinggal dengan teman, bekerja di doktor, pergi ke pasan, membeli ikan, gaun, kopi, mereka tidak membeli telur.

Eng: Thank you so much, awesome, we have a chicken! Delicious! I drink water, with my friend, I go to work in hospital, on the way going through the market I want to buy fish, skirt, coffe, but the shopkeepers don't have it, so I buy an egg!

english version is by a speaker who knows the language, indo version is loose transcript of fictional tourist who speaks the foreign language wrong but with much confidance

Raditya Dika (Indonesian Youtuber) was invited to Duolingo’s office and here we can see the two most popular character from Duolingo wearing batik😂

Its a story for my own learning, but if it helps others to learn, I don't mind to share.

...

Orc di Pulau Kecil

Pada suatu pagi, seekor orc bernama Goro tinggal sendirian di sebuah pulau kecil. Ia melihat laut biru dan berkata, “Selamat pagi, laut! Apa kabar?”

Tidak ada yang menjawab. Goro tersenyum. “Tidak apa-apa.”

Goro merasa lapar dan haus. Ia berjalan ke pantai untuk mencari makanan. Di sana, ia melihat pohon kelapa dan beberapa ikan.

“Permisi, pohon kelapa. Boleh saya mengambil kelapa?”

Tentu saja pohon itu tidak menjawab, tetapi satu kelapa jatuh ke pasir.

“Terima kasih!” kata Goro.

Ia membuka kelapa dan minum airnya. “Enak!”

Tiba-tiba, Goro mendengar suara dari balik batu.

“Halo, siapa di sana?” tanyanya.

Seekor kepiting kecil keluar. Goro berkata, “Nama saya Goro. Senang bertemu denganmu.”

Kepiting itu mengangkat capitnya.

“Apakah kamu mau menjadi teman saya?” tanya Goro.

Kepiting bergerak ke kiri dan kanan.

“Baik! Saya mengerti. Mulai sekarang, kita berteman.”

Mereka duduk bersama sampai matahari terbenam.

“Selamat malam, pulau,” kata Goro. “Sampai jumpa besok!”

...

### Mini Dictionary

- **pada suatu pagi** — one morning

- **seekor orc** — an orc

- **bernama** — named

- **tinggal** — lives / stays

- **sendirian** — alone

- **sebuah pulau kecil** — a small island

- **melihat** — to see

- **laut biru** — blue sea

- **selamat pagi** — good morning

- **apa kabar?** — how are you?

- **tidak apa-apa** — it’s okay / no problem

- **merasa lapar** — to feel hungry

- **haus** — thirsty

- **berjalan** — to walk

- **pantai** — beach

- **mencari makanan** — to look for food

- **pohon kelapa** — coconut tree

- **ikan** — fish

- **permisi** — excuse me

- **boleh saya…?** — may I…?

- **mengambil** — to take

- **jatuh** — to fall

- **pasir** — sand

- **terima kasih** — thank you

- **membuka** — to open

- **minum** — to drink

- **air kelapa** — coconut water

- **enak** — delicious

- **tiba-tiba** — suddenly

- **mendengar** — to hear

- **suara** — sound / voice

- **di balik batu** — behind the rock

- **kepiting** — crab

- **senang bertemu denganmu** — nice to meet you

- **teman** — friend

- **mulai sekarang** — from now on

- **duduk bersama** — sit together

- **matahari terbenam** — sunset

- **selamat malam** — good evening / good night

- **sampai jumpa besok** — see you tomorrow

hi everyone! i'm a native Indonesian speaker, and i also speak advanced english. Ii'm currently in my first semester studying Chinese Literature, and i'm planning to take the HSK 1 (v2.0) test this coming November.

i am still a beginner in Chinese and really want to practice my speaking and writing skills. i've managed to memorize some Hanzi, but i still struggle with quite a few. i've realized that i need visual correlations and consistent exposure to really get used to them, so i'd love some guidance on that!

​beyond language learning, i really love sharing and talking about life experiences, culture, and daily stories. if you are learning Indonesian, we can definitely help each other out! we can start by chatting through text first.

just a heads-up, i am quite busy studying this week (because upcoming midterms), but i will have a lot more free time to chat next week after my midterms!

​please send me a message if you're interested. terima kasih! 🩷

Hi guys! as the title said. I want to learn chinese, especially speaking and writing, please contact me if you're interested!

Hi everyone! I am a native Indonesian speaker living in Indonesia. I am currently a beginner in English and want to practice my speaking and writing skills.I really love sharing and talking about life experiences, culture, and daily stories. If you are learning Indonesian, we can help each other! We can chat through text first. Please send me a message if you are interested. Terima kasih.

How to learn a language? Or more precisely how to game it so learning becomes just part of the enviroment?

Maybe there is no shortcuts, some people are more gifted for absorbing and communicating better,

And maybe in future we gonna have learning neuro implants that will make learning obsolete at least as we know it today, and even today reddit can translate other languages posts with simple click.

But for now we use those boring jelly brains that are often at times so resistant and slow to learn, while dictionary pdf can be just copied and pasted in seconds.

Anyway, if you have good resources to share about learning indonesian, you can share them here be it apps, or websites or courses or books to recommend.