Reading Indonesian

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!).