Читать книгу Survival Indonesian - Katherine Davidsen - Страница 5
ОглавлениеINTRODUCTION AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Welcome to Indonesian! This logical, practical language will be of great use to you not only in the Republic of Indonesia, but also Malaysia, Brunei and even Singapore. A few words and, more importantly, a desire to communicate and understand will endear you to young and old, hotel reception staff, waiters, fellow bus passengers, rickshaw drivers, children, shopkeepers, swaggering teenagers and university students, to name a few.
Background to Indonesian
Indonesian is one of four modern languages created in the twentieth century which now have the status of a national language and are used as a medium in higher education (the others are Afrikaans, Hebrew and Hindi). Based on Malay, to which it is obviously very similar, Indonesian is widely understood (if not necessarily spoken) across Southeast Asia in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, East Timor and even parts of southern Thailand. Malay was the language of trade throughout pre-colonial and Dutch times from Sumatra and the Malay peninsula in the west to the Spice Islands (present-day Maluku) and beyond in the east. This widespread usage was one reason for its adoption by the independence movement in Indonesia in the 1930s who, upon freedom in 1945, then made it the national language of the fledgling state.
Indonesian is sometimes mistakenly referred to as “Bahasa.” Bahasa Indonésia simply means “Indonesian language,” which is the common language of all Indonesians, whether their first language is Javanese (bahasa Jawa), Sundanese (bahasa Sunda) or one of the other 700 regional languages spoken across the archipelago. It is written in the Latin alphabet and is phonetic, which makes it easy to learn. Its grammar is also relatively logical, as will be explained.
Pronunciation Guide
The pronunciation of Indonesian is regular once you learn a few sounds particular to the language (shown here with an *). In general, the sounds of Indonesian are similar to that of Italian or Spanish.
| a | as in Bali, father. Never “ay” as in English |
| e | as in mother (unvoiced shwa sound) |
| e | + ac cent (é, usually not written) as in saté, café. This sound is much less common than the unvoiced e. In this book, an accent will be shown, but this does not appear in ordinary written Indonesian. Neither e nor é is ever pronounced as “ee” like in English. |
| i | as in mini, piano. Never “eye” as in English. |
| o | as in pogo, piano |
| u | as in ukulele, true |
| b | as in bed, Bali |
| c* | as in chair, church (never k in words of Indonesian origin) |
| d | as in door, diva |
| f | as in five, off (some Indonesians say p instead of f) |
| g | as in goat, giggle (always hard) |
| h | as in hello |
| j | as in juice, Jakarta |
| k | as in kettle, Kalimantan |
| l | as in lemon |
| m | as in Médan, mini |
| n | as in November |
| ng* | as in singing, gong |
| ngg* | as in finger (ng + g) |
| p | as in party, pen |
| q | is only in words of Arabic origin and is pronounced k, e.g. Qatar |
| r* | is trilled as in Spanish. Rrrrrr. A tricky sound to learn. |
| s | as in sarong, satay |
| t | as in tornado, tent |
| v* | is pronounced as f, usually in words from Dutch, e.g. the female name Vivi is usually pronounced Fifi. |
| w | as in water, Wednesday |
| y | as in yellow, young |
| z | as in zoo. This letter is not common and is pronounced as j by some people. |
The alphabet can be sung to the same tune as the English alphabet song:
Ah bé sé dé é éf gé
Ha ii jé ka él ém én
O pé ki érr éss té oo
Fé wé éks yé zét
The International Phonetic Alphabet is very useful where it is unclear whether the English or Indonesian alphabet is being used. Misspelt international airline tickets can cause a great deal of problems and stress, so make sure you always check spelling and name order. The concept of having a family name is a fairly recent development and the idea of surnames is quite unfamiliar to even some westernized Indonesians.
The following codes are used for Indonesian letters and numbers when given verbally (e.g. over a phone):
Alpha bravo Charlie delta echo foxtrot golf hotel India Juliet kilo London (the usual equivalent is Lima, but this means 5 in Indonesian) Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo sierra tango uniform victor whiskey x-ray Yankee Zulu
Numbers are said by putting the word angka (number) before the actual number. For example: IP32AF would be read
ii / péh / angka tiga / angka dua / ah / éff,
or
India / Papa / angka tiga / angka dua / alpha / foxtrot.
