Listen to the audiobook for Lesson 2.

• To practise asking where a person comes from
• To get to know the Indonesian names for a number of countries

Note that the above video recording was improvised by the actors and rendered slightly more informal. This is the original text that we gave them.

Try to repeat the dialog. Say the sentences out loud until the words come smoothly off your tongue. Then click on the sound file to check whether you got it right. Keep on trying till the entire dialogue comes smoothly off your tongue.

Click on the following grey bar to see a transcription of the above recording.

Look at the world map. We have named twenty countries. The countries are: Australia, China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Singapore.

Some countries sound similar in Indonesian, but others are quite different.

Click on the grey bar to see a table with the countries and their English counterparts. Study it briefly (or use the world map below), and then close it and continue to Latihan 6.

The word bahasa means ‘language’ and precedes the name of the country: bahasa Denmark is ‘Danish’. Look at this simple dialogue:

Please note that bisa means ‘can, able to’, and that it’s common to omit the verb berbicara ‘speak’. Of course you can also ask Anda bisa berbicara bahasa Inggris? if you want to sound very formal.

Now let’s repeat this dialogue, substituting “English” with “Indonesian” (bahasa Indonesia), “Mexican” (bahasa Meksiko), “Egyptian” (bahasa Mesir), and “Dutch” (bahasa Belanda). Click on the + sign to see the answers.

Now, let’s examine some similar sentences:

Notice that the word bahasa isn’t capitalised. This is because it is not part of the name of the language. Therefore, bahasa Inggris literally translates as ‘the language of England’, bahasa Jerman is ‘the language of Germany’, and bahasa Indonesia is ‘the language of Indonesia’.

Imagine someone asks you: “Anda bisa taal?” (Do you speak Dutch?). In Dutch, the word for ‘language’ is taal, but of course it cannot be used to substitute the name of the language. Likewise, you should never call the Indonesian language “Bahasa”.

In his essay, The History of Indonesia, George Quinn writes:

The same dialogue in the negative is:

Let's repeat this dialogue, substituting “Dutch” with “Greek” (bahasa Yunani), “Chinese” (bahasa Cina), “German” (bahasa Jerman), and “Swedish” (bahasa Swedia). Click on the + sign to see the answers.

There are three slightly different ways to ask “Where are you from?” in Indonesian. You can say, quite formally, Anda berasal dari mana? In relaxed conversation you can drop berasal and simply say Anda dari mana? although in some contexts this phrase can also mean “Where have you just come from?”

The third way to ask where someone is from (referring to the person's place or country of origin), is also the most common one as it omits the subject Anda. Other than in English where there is only one personal pronoun for the second person, namely “you”, Indonesians have many choices. Depending on whom you are talking to, Anda may be perceived as being too formal, or even too casual. Therefore Indonesians prefer to omit it whenever possible.

The literal meaning of the suffix -nya is “hers”, “his”, and “its”. So bahasanya means “her language” or “his language”, but it can also mean “the language”, and even “your language”.

When someone tells you where they come from you can respond by saying O begitu (Is that so? Really!) followed by the question Saya kira Anda dari… (I thought you were from…). Or you can express incredulity or crass surprise by saying Hah? again followed by the question Saya kira Anda dari… (I thought you were from…)

Study this fragment of a conversation. Learn it by heart. Notice the two slightly different, but equally correct and common ways of asking where someone comes from. Notice also how you can express surprise or incredulity, and how you can give corrected information about where you come from.

Dialogue 2

Listen to the dialogue and answer the following questions before looking at the transcription (transkripsi) of the dialogue.

Once you have listened to the dialogue and answered the questions, look at the transcription of the dialogue by clicking on [+ Transkripsi]. In most browsers you will see that the text is underlined. This means that mouse-over is activated. When you hover the mouse pointer over a sentence, an English translation will be displayed.

Transkripsi

	Anda berasal dari mana?
	Saya berasal dari Mesir.
	Hah? Dari Mesir! Saya kira Anda dari Arab Saudi!
	Tidak. Saya dari Mesir. Anda dari mana?
	Saya dari sini.

In each of these mini-dialogues there are two speakers. You take the role of the second speaker. In the second line, say the name of the country where you think the first speaker comes from, then after you have been corrected, give your own country of origin in the last line. Say the sentences out loud taking care to get the Indonesian pronunciation of country names correct. Study the example first.

1. Kenalkan, saya Shun. Saya dari Cina.
   Hah? Saya kira Anda dari __________!
   Tidak, saya dari Cina. Anda berasal dari mana?
   Saya dari ____________.
2. Saya berasal dari Belanda.
   O begitu, Saya kira Anda berasal dari __________.
   Tidak. Saya berasal dari Belanda. Anda dari mana?
   Saya dari ____________.
3. Nama saya Sarah. Saya dari Australia.
   Dari Australia? Saya kira Anda dari __________.
   Tidak, saya dari Australia. Dan Anda? Anda berasal dari mana?
   Saya dari __________. Jauh dari sini!
4. Selamat pagi. Nama saya Herman. Saya dari Indonesia.
   O begitu. Saya kira Anda dari __________.
   Tidak. Saya dari Indonesia. Anda dari mana?
   Jauh dari Indonesia. Saya dari __________.
5. Saya berasal dari Perancis, jauh dari sini.
   Dari Perancis? Saya kira Anda berasal dari __________.
   Tidak. Saya dari Perancis. Anda berasal dari mana?
   Saya? Saya berasal dari __________.

You can complete this exercise either by recording your voice or by writing your response.

Step 1

Answer each of the questions below with a complete sentence.

Question 1: Siapa nama Anda?
This question should be answered with a complete sentence containing an authentic ethnic personal name, e.g. Ahmed, John, Giovanni, Dimitri, Akiko, Sergio etc.

Question 2: Anda berasal dari mana?
This question should be answered with a complete sentence containing the Indonesian name of the country the person comes from. Refer to the map for the names of countries. Cover a variety of countries.

Do the exercise orally over and over again until all the words come smoothly and correctly.

Step 2

Listen carefully to the following dialogue. Repeat listening until you have fully memorised the dialogue.

Step 3

You can complete this exercise either by recording your voice or by writing your response.

Translate the following mini-dialogue into idiomatic Indonesian. You may use a dictionary. Do not use any online translation aid!

Translate:

A: Good morning. Excuse me, what is your name?
B: Good morning. My name is Salim.
A: Come on in, Salim. Please take a seat.
B: Thank you.
A: Where are you from, Salim?
B: I am from Padang.
A: Oh, I see.

Vowels in Indonesian are normally pronounced “pure”, that is they don’t tend towards diphthongs as is often the case in English. Practise saying these words without twisting or distorting the vowel sounds. Check the accuracy of your vowel sounds against the pronunciation of a native-speaker or the pronunciation in The Indonesian Way audio exercises.