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Lalu lintas is the Indonesian word for ‘traffic’. It consists of lalu ‘pass by, pass through’ and lintas ‘move by quickly’. The combination of these two verbs characterises Indonesian traffic quite well: vehicles, mostly small motorbikes and generally small cars, plus the occasional bus and truck are passing by, sometimes slow and sometimes fast. What... Read More >...

We plan to upgrade The Indonesian Way with a new feature: Dictation. Dictation?! Isn’t the word ‘dictation’ synonymous with ‘old-fashioned’, ‘boring’, and ‘teacher-centred’? Is it still useful in the age of communicative language learning? Dictation has been used in the field of language learning for hundreds of years. However, many language teachers and methodologists regard... Read More >...

Studying new vocabulary items is very important if you learn a new language such as Indonesian. Indonesian Online employs various methods for the learner to efficiently learn new vocabulary items. Many students have their own strategy on how to memorise new words, and as long as you think that the way you are doing it,... Read More >...

…and the Indonesian plural In textbooks for the Indonesian language you can sometimes read that the plural in Indonesian is simply formed by reduplicating the noun. In “Indonesian for Beginners” by Restiany Achmad, we can read on page 6: The example he gives is anak (child), anak-anak (children), dua anak (two children), and banyak anak... Read More >...

by Dr. Uli Kozok In the article “Why no-one speaks Indonesia’s language” published in BBC Travel, BBC correspondent David Fettling claims that “Bahasa Indonesia has fewer words than most languages.” How does he know? He doesn’t. Instead, he relies on Endy Bayuni of The Jakarta Post, who has argued that foreign translations of Indonesian novels... Read More >...

Grammars There are numerous grammars on the market and all have their advantages and disadvantages. The Indonesian Reference Grammar by James Neil Sneddon is one of the most comprehensive grammars and we highly recommend it. Sneddon also published Understanding Indonesian Grammar. This a reference and workbook designed primarily for intermediate and advanced students in senior... Read More >...

In Indonesian, the Indonesian language is called bahasa Indonesia. It is essentially the same language as Malay (Bahasa Melayu) or Malaysian (Bahasa Malaysia). Bahasa Indonesia is the national language of Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia is the national language of Malaysia and Brunei, and one of four national languages of Singapore. In 1928 Indonesian nationalists declared... Read More >...

There is no question whether a learner should be taught authentic Indonesian or not. Yet, many textbooks and Indonesian language Internet sites teach Indonesian phrases that no Indonesian would ever use. For instance, it is quite common to find textbooks that translate ‘good bye’ as selamat tinggal. Selamat tinggal is the reply to selamat jalan.... Read More >...