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Indonesian pronunciation is relatively straightforward, with just six vowels (compared to English’s 12) and 18 consonants. However, depending on your native language, certain aspects of Indonesian may be challenging. For example, Japanese speakers may find the /l/ sound difficult, Germans may struggle with the /j/, and native English speakers often have trouble rolling the /r/. English speakers also frequently mispronounce the /a/ sound, saying orang as if it rhymes with “slang” or pronouncing the “a” in Bali as in “ball.” However, the only correct pronunciation of “a” in Indonesian is like the “a” in “father.”
I can often identify someone’s origin based on their pronunciation or “accent.” This is completely normal, since achieving native-like pronunciation in a language learned as an adult is nearly impossible. So, if your pronunciation isn’t perfect, that’s okay. However, it’s important to aim for accurate pronunciation. To help you improve, we’ve developed a short, free course called “Mastering Indonesian Pronunciation”, which hopefully will assist you in achieving that goal.
Great article, thank you.
Perhaps you could comment on the use of ‘e’, as in ‘ke’? I spend most time in Java, where ‘e’ is usually pronounced as you suggest in the article, but sometimes i hear a very different usage, often from NTT accents, where the ‘e’ is more like the first letter in ‘elephant’ – also its drawn out, and sometimes as if it has an ‘h’ at the end. I have also heard this accent from a Chinese Indonesian from Semarang. Any thoughts?
Some regional languages do not have the Schwa, for instance Toba Batak. Many speakers of Toba Batak cannot pronounce /ǝ/, and pronounce it /e/ instead. I also observed the same with native speakers of Tetum.
Apart from these very few languages that do not have an /ǝ/ sound, Indonesians are pretty consistent in differentiating between /ǝ/ and /e/. Pronouncing ke as /ke/ is very uncommon. But there are a few words where the /ǝ/ is often (incorrectly) pronounced as /e/. Like pentas (stage), peta (map), and pegang (to hold). Especially speakers of Javanese almost consistently pronounce these words “incorrectly”.