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“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).

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 lalu lintas fails to reveal is that this lalu and lintas of vehicles (kendaraan) is, in Indonesia, never done in a coordinated or regulated way. Traffic signs are always ignored, traffic lights are sometimes observed, and sometimes not. But first let’s see how lalu lintas is used in a sentence.

The compound word lalu lintas, even though it consists of two words, is regarded as one lexeme and is listed in the KBBI as such. It is both a verb and a noun. Here are two examples. In the first, it acts as a verb, and in the second as a noun:

In Medan, North Sumatra, where the traffic is even more chaotic than in the capital, there is one major intersection where the traffic is regulated by traffic signs. There are large stop signs for the north- and south-bound traffic, while the east-west traffic has the right-of-way. Traffic at this junction is relatively smooth. Traffic jams rarely occur because most drivers know the rules. But drivers don’t adhere to the rules set by the traffic signs. Contrary to the signs, the north-south traffic has the right-of-way. This is how people know it. And this is how they do it. Traffic signs don’t matter. Not a bit.

I have lived in Indonesia for six years and I have driven thousands of kilometers with my Honda GL Pro, a 200cc motorbike, large by Indonesian standards. A situation as caught by the camera in the following video, is completely normal, and I have experienced it hundreds of times.

This is how traffic in Indonesia works. You have to be persistent and inch forwards as soon as there is an opportunity. Eventually this combined inching forward will allow you to pass the crossroad.

So here’s the video of a completely normal street in completely normal and relatively smooth traffic. Enjoy.

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 this method as useless and out-of-date.

I disagree. I think that dictation is a useful activity, especially in e-learning. It forces the learner to actively listen during the dictation, trying to catch every word. It enables students to listen and understand language at natural speed, and, most importantly, it trains your ear to understand connected speech as it is produced by native speakers.

Connected speech is a continuous sequence of sounds forming utterances or conversations in spoken language. There is often a significant difference between the way words are pronounced in isolation and the way they are pronounced in the context of connected speech. For example, words or syllables can be clipped or run together, or their stresses can change. Understanding connected speech can be effectively trained through dictation.

Implementation

Every recording is presented twice: once at natural speed and once at slow speed. Learners should try to catch as much as possible at the natural speed level, and only use the low-speed recording when really needed.

Please try it out, even if you have not yet subscribed to The Indonesian Way. Lessons 1 to 4 are free.

We are also in the process of adding dictation for our intermediate course Baca Yuk, and also to the advanced Indonesian course Serba Serbi Nusantara.

We would highly appreciate if you could have a look at the dictation exercises that we have created. Please let us know whether you like them, and how we can further enhance them.

Terima kasih banyak,

The Indonesian Way Team

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, please go ahead and employ your own strategy. This is because each learner learns differently, and what works for student A may not work for student B.

This is why we at Indonesian Online always try to offer a variety of methods for you to learn new vocabulary. One language learning strategy that we find very useful for learning new words is spaced repetition.

Spaced repetition is a learning technique that incorporates increasing intervals of time between subsequent review of previously learned material in order to exploit the psychological spacing effect. The way it works is very simple, and it really makes remembering new words much easier. Indonesian Online provides you with electronic flashcards that you can import into a spaced repetition software such as Anki. Anki is free for all platforms including Android, but, unfortunately there is a $25 charge for the iOS version (iPhone/iPad). Because spaced repetition is more efficient than traditional study methods, you can either decrease your time spent studying, or increase the amount you learn.

A spaced repetition software like Anki adapts to your own learning style. It presents you only what you need to repeat right before you forget it. The algorithms of the learning software are optimised so that you spend as little time as possible on learning and repeating.

If you learn Indonesian using «The Indonesian Way», download the Anki flashcards there. Smart spaced repetition flashcards are also available for «Aneka Baca».

The newest set of Anki flashcards has just become available for everyone who uses «Baca Yuk». «Baca Yuk» is our most recent e-learning textbook for the intermediate level. If you already use «Baca Yuk», please download the Anki deck by clicking on the following button.

…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 (many children).

This is a gross oversimplification and also misleading.

In fact, anak-anak (and also ibu-ibu and bapak-bapak) can be both singular and plural.

Reduplication in Indonesian is quite complex, and definitely not “simple”.

Every noun in Indonesian is by default singular and plural, and it is only the context through which we know whether the word is singular or plural.

Instead of reduplication, one can also use group words. For example, “more than one student” could be phrased as beberapa mahasiswa (some students), banyak mahasiswa (many students) or para mahasiswa (students as a group).

Reduplication is typically only used when it is not clear from the context whether the noun is singular or plural. Reduplications also often expresses variety.

Reduplication of Indonesian nouns does not occur when group words are used. So you cannot say *banyak kue-kue.

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However, when you travel through Indonesia, you will see many traffic signs that read “Hati-hati. Banyak anak-anak!”.

This is because anak and anak-anak differ slightly in meaning. Anak is not only ‘child’ but also ‘offspring’ or ‘person’.

Anak is not necessarily singular:

And anak-anak is not necessarily plural either:

It is hence evident that anak as well as anak-anak can be both singular and plural, and the same is true for bapak-bapak and ibu-ibu. Just like anak can mean either ‘person/persons’ or ‘child/children’ whereas anak-anak is ‘small child/children’, bapak-bapak can also mean either ‘male person/persons’ or ‘mature male person/persons’. The same is true for ibu-ibu:

The following is a quote from the novel “Shanum” by Tesa Yuli Dhenis (p. 32):

For more on the Indonesian plural consult J. N. Sneddon’s “Indonesian Reference Grammar”. Allen & Unwin 1996. The US edition was published by Routledge (2010) under the title “Indonesian: A Comprehensive Grammar”.

You may also want to read the article Expressing plural and singular forms in bahasa Indonesia.