My Questions

Question #1

The Origins of the Dissapearing Indonesian Language and the History of the Speakers of my Language

The common and the official language of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia. This language is spoken throughout Indonesian and East Timor, particulary in Netherlands, Suriname, Philippines, Australia, Saudi Arabia, New Caledonia, and the United States, although it is also spoken in the urban areas, it is treated as a second or third language. It is spoken by about 15 million or more people worldwide. It is the standed language of Indonesia. Indonesian language is a lingua franca that (which means a language that is spread into many places) has been used for many many centuries. The people who speak Indonesian is about 100%. That means that with the huge population, it is one of the most widely spoken languages. Most of the people in Indonesia, aside from speaking their national language, speak another language,what you would call a regional language (like Javanese, Minangkabau, and Sundanese) which the people commonly use at home or within a community. Bahasa Indonesia practically means "the language of Indonesia".

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HANA :)

Question #2

Tourists say, "If I learn Indonesian where could I speak it???"

Where? That is a great question but they don't speak this interesting language in a lot of parts of the world. It is of coarse not the biggest language in the world. The biggest language in the world is Mandarin Chinese. It is used a lot, so people like it, and they people speak it a lot. This language is not included in the top ten language list. Indonesian is spoken in the islands of Indonesia, in small parts of Malaysia. But you should know that Indonesian is mostly spoken in Indonesia. You might think "I don't care why would I care I am not even fluent in Indonesian" but people who live in Indonesia want to keep the language. Please try and speak it is not too hard.

P.S. I hope you guys are not people who think ,"I don't care" because if you are, one of those people, I feel sorry for you, but you know what, you deserve it. You should care and languages are important.

HANA :)

Question #3    
           

These are the basic phrases in Indonesian!

These are the basic phrases you need if you are in Indonesia:

        English                               Indonesian

                       

        Hello                                Selamat pagi

    How are you                            Apa kabar

I'm fine, thank you          Baik-baik saja, terimakasi

What is your name                  Siapa nama anda 

     My name is...                         Nama saya...

       Thank you                           Terima kasi

    Your welcome                          Kembali

          Sorry                                      Maaf

    Have a nice day         Semoga hari anda menyenangkan

  Bye (you're leaving)                 Salamat tingal

      Good afternoon                    Selamat siang

      Good evening                        Selamat sore

        Good night                         Selamat  malam

    Pleased to meet            Senang bertemu dengan Anda

   Where are you from           Anda berasal dari mana

       I am from...                              Sata dari

           Yes                                           Ya

            No                                         Tidak

 Do you speak english     Dapatkah anda berbicara bahasa inggris?

HANA :)




Question #4


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HANA :)


Question #5

Any unique sounds?

Actually, there aren't any unique sounds according to my research. Except that they pronounce the r a lot. I have seen my mom and dad talk in Indonesian and I can hear the sounds rrrrrrrr...

But I am sure that there are unique sounds in Zulu. That are the clicks. It sounds amazing and weird at the same time. I heard my teacher speak it and I did not understand a thing it was click something, click something, and click something. My teacher says he is not fluent in Zulu but for me he is fluent. It is really hard. I hope I will be fluent in Indonesian.


HANA :)

HANA :)

Question #6


 A few grammar rules

If you want to tell someone "to a place", you say ke. Normally ke is with pergi that means "to go".

Example:     Ibu pergi ke pasar. (Mother goes to the market)

dari is synonyms with "from" in English.

Example:    Saya datang dari rumah. (I come from the house)

If you want to say from, use the particle "untuk"

Example:     Buku ini untukmu. (This book is for you)

Some verbs in English need the word "to" like "I give the book to you''. In Indonesian, for the word "to" you use the word ke. But we mostly use the particle kepada.

If you want to know the plural, there are no plurals like adding a word after the word.

You write the word you are using again.

Oh, you don't understand?

Ok for example:

House = rumah

House plural = rumah-rumah

Quite funny right! :)

There are much more grammar rules but these are the basic ones you would often use.

HANA :)


Question #7

How is the Indonesian doing???

In Indonesia, the number of the native speakers are 23 million. That sounds like there are a lot of native speakers there, but comparing to English's native speakers; it is a small language. By the way, English's native speakers are a number of 325-350 million. Well, actually the reason English is a big language is because: America and England is a big and a rich country/state, English is used a lot (all over the world), and people love this language. So getting back to how Indonesian is doing, the speakers (not the native ones), there are a number of 140 million... this is including the people who learned it and is now speaking it. Still I think that is a small amount of people, (as I say again comparing to English). That means there are only a few people speaking Indonesian. I guess the youth still speak it but it's not like they speak it everyday and they never stop speaking it. They often speak English too! People in Indonesia (other people who speak famous languages don't care) hope Indonesian won't disappear. Indonesian people predict that it will start disappearing in about 50-80 years. You might think,"That is a long way from now on! I don't even care.", but you should care. Just imagine that right in this second, your language is disappearing. Aaah you still don't care, then you won't be a linguist. BYE!!!

HANA :)