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Each time when you log in to Indonesian Online account, the IP from where you log on is recorded, and hence we know from what country you accessed Indonesian Online.

We don’t consistently keep track from where our customers log in, but within the last four days, we had log-ins from 14 countries: 6 from Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Viet Nam; 4 from Europe: Spain, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom; 2 from the Americas: Canada, USA. We also had multiple logins from Australia.

By and large, our customers are fairly equally divided between Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. But within these geopolitical regions, there are large differences. In the Americas, almost all of our customers are from Canada and the USA, and almost none from Latin America.

I am not aware that we have a single customer from Latin America, Africa, or South Asia, nor have I seen an IP address pointing to one of the countries of those regions. The same is true for the dozens of countries where Arabic, Persian, and Turkic languages are spoken.

And that brings us to a related topic. In what countries is Indonesian taught? This question is difficult to answer as the picture constantly changes. Indonesian is taught in less than 60 research universities.

We found 13 countries that have at least one university that teaches Indonesian. Most are located in Asia, followed by Australia and Europe:

By far the single most important country for Indonesian language studies is still Australia where Indonesian is not only taught at most research universities but also at high schools, and in some places also at intermediate and primary schools. Each year, Indonesian is taught to about 100,000 students in Australia. Compare that to less than 500 for the entire United States.

In Europe, the only country where the Indonesian language is taught at more than two universities is Germany. Indonesian is taught at universities in Berlin, Bonn, Cologne, Constance, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Passau, and many of these universities afford full professors in Indonesian. Unfortunately Indonesian language studies are rare outside of Germany. One should think that teaching and learning Indonesian is widespread in the Netherlands, but there is only one Indonesian language program at Leiden University. In France, Indonesian is taught in Paris and La Rochelle, and in Russia in Moscow and Leningrad. Among the remaining 40 European countries, Indonesian is only taught at one university in Naples, Italy.

In the United States, nine universities (UCL Berkeley, UCL Los Angeles, Cornell, Hawaii, Michigan, Yale, Ohio, Northern Illinois, Wisconsin) offer permanent Indonesian language courses. In the past, many Indonesian language programs in the United States were chaired by a professor. Now, the only university in the US that still employs a professor for the Indonesian language is the University of Hawaii. However, when the current professor retires, the university will either close Indonesian for good, or continue offering Indonesian beginner courses taught by a tutor.

In Asia, Indonesian is taught in only six countries: China, Israel, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. China alone is reported to have more than 10 universities with Indonesian language programs.

Do you know of any other places where Indonesian is taught? Please let us know!

We are very pleased that the Indonesian language textbooks in indonesian-online.com have received almost exclusively good to excellent reviews. A few months ago we were absolutely thrilled. After having received about 50 user-written testimonials within about five years, our rating stood at 5.0. Yes, five point zero.

Over years and years we had only positive review but we knew that one day we would receive a not-so-stelar testimonial. And then it came. It was not a four, three, or a two star review. It was a one star review, the lowest rating possible, that instantly lowered our rating to 4.9.

After that we had no more rating less than four stars, but even four stars can quickly lower your ratings when you start from a relatively high ceiling.

And so it happened, After 71 testimonials we’re now at 4.8. Not devastating at all, but sobering.

The more were we enjoyed when today the 72th testimonial arrived. I immediately recognised the sender’s name. He was one of our first-hour clients who, after having stopped learning Indonesian for some time, decided to resume his course a few years later. This is what he wrote about his experience:

This is so nice. Thank you, Hendrik, for your encouraging words, and this lovely testimonial.

We have just finished creating three more lessons for «Baca Yuk!» . All three lessons are based on videos available on YouTube. In order to expose the Indonesian language learning community to a wide variety of texts, «Baca Yuk!» texts embrace a wide range of topics.

It is difficult finding YouTube videos that we deem suitable to become the base of a lesson and it took us many hours of viewing before we finally found three videos that met the following criteria:

1. They must be shorter than 5 minutes.
2. The language must be authentic.
3. It also must be simple enough, and not too fast, for B1 (intermediate) learners.
4. And the register should be either standard formal or colloquial Indonesian.
5. The video should have a cultural component

So, and these are the three videos that we selected:

1. An instructional video on how to set up a washing machine that, be surprised, does in fact have a cultural component.
2. A short report by Kompas TV North Sumatra on a group of kayakers on Lake Toba.
3. A propaganda video by the Indonesian Ministry for Education that aims to create an anti-corruption sentiment among young Indonesians.

All three videos come with a transcript, a translation, interactive activities focusing on comprehension, vocabulary and grammar. And each lesson has, of course, cultural and linguistic notes, and a vocabulary list.

With the three new lessons Baca Yuk has now a total of 29 lessons.

I recently visited Berlin where they have a very active Indonesian community. Berlin even has an excellent Indonesian House which is worth visiting. The house is called Rumah Budaya Indonesia, or, in German, Haus der indonesischen Kulturen. Although it does not have a dedicated website, it does have a very informative Facebook and Instagram blog.

The Berlin House of Indonesian Cultures provides a space for Indonesian artists, including musicians, dancers, and of course writers.

Indonesian poets and novelists are invited on a regular basis and – and this is what this blog is about – the management of the Berlin House of Indonesian Cultures has created an excellent blog dedicated to Indonesian literature.

The blog is called Indonesien Lesen (Reading Indonesia), which is entirely in German, but even if you cannot read German, it does not really matter as the reading texts are all available in Indonesian with a translation into German.

Obviously you need to have a certain proficiency to be able to read Indonesian literature. A proficiency level of B2 is usually required before you can start reading authentic Indonesian texts. You can test your proficiency level here, here, and, if you are already a fairly advanced reader, here.

Obviously you cannot read entire books at indonesienlesen.com, but at least you get an idea of the books’ content and the language. And then, if you like it, you can purchase the book in Indonesian – more and more Indonesian language books can nowadays be purchased online.

And some of the books showcased by indonesienlesen.com are also available in English, translated by the Lontar Foundation.

Oh, and if you want to start reading right away, try Isaka Banu’s short story Selamat Tinggal Hindia which you can read in full at indonesienlesen.com.

Then, the only thing you need is a good dictionary. The best is of course the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia which is available online and also as an Android and iPhone application. This is the only dictionary that I use, but if you still need a bilingual dictionary, try IndoDic (and stay away from Google translate!).

“How are you?” — What does it mean when you first see someone you know and say, “How are you?” Is it a greeting, like “hello”? or are you actually interested in that person’s well-being? In most cases “How are you?” is just a conversation starter.

Indonesians use a similar phrase, which, when translated literally, means “What are the news?”. Here too, it is nothing more but a conversation starter, answered by either “Baik” (good), “Baik, baik saja” (just fine), or “Biasa-biasa saja” (as always). The latter is slightly sloppy and should only be used among friends. So a conversation goes:

Is there something missing? Don’t you have to ask back “And you?”. No. Not in Indonesia. Nobody does it. You’re perfectly polite by not asking back.

An alternative answer, appropriate when you bump into someone you know, is to ask where she is going to. Here again, the person does not really want to know where you are going to.

You can also answer “Tidak ke mana-mana” (no where in particular), “Jalan-jalan saja” (I’m just going for a stroll), or “Makan angin” (getting some fresh air).