I’ve been studying Bahasa Indonesia in Bali for two weeks now, and while the classes move a bit slow for my liking, I’ve already picked up a decent amount of the language. Unlike Chinese and Thai (two other languages I’ve studied in recent years), Indonesian does not use complex characters or symbols for an alphabet. In fact, it uses the same one as English! There also aren’t any tones, which is quite the relief. Studying Indonesian is actually proving to be lots of fun. I can already introduce myself confidently, and I hope our readers can do the same with a bit of practice. Here’s a short self-introduction in Indonesian, followed by the translation in English.

Indonesian Version

Nama saya Alexander, tetapi panggil saya Sasha. Saya dari Amerika Serikat. Kampung halaman saya Detroit – Kota Mobil. Saya bekerja sendiri; saya seorang blogger.

Keluarga saya besar!

Keluarga saya besar. Saya punya enam saudara – empat adik laki-laki dan dua adik perempuan. Saya paling tua. Umur saya tiga puluh tahun. Bapak saya seorang dokter, dan ibu saya seorang perawat.

Sebelum saya tinggal di Cina.

Sebelum saya tinggal di Cina lima tahun, bekerja sebagai guru Bahasa Inggris. Saya bisa bicara Bahasa Cina, dan saya suka makanan Cina. Makanan Cina enak sekali!

Sekarang saya tinggal di Bali.

Sekarang saya tinggal di Bali. Saya mahasiswa di Universitas Udayana. Saya belajar Bahasa Indonesia. Sekarang saya hanya bisa bicara sedikit-sedikit. Saya senang sekali tinggal di Bali, karena Bali ada banyak tempat indah. Saya tiga kali datang di Bali.

Istri saya cantik sekali!

Saya sudah menikah. Istri saya juga orang Amerika. Dia tinggal di Cina. Dia juga guru Bahasa Inggris, dan dia cantik sekali!

Saya suka berpergian.

Saya suka berpergian. Tahun depan saya mau pergi ke Asia Selatan – Sri Lanka, India, dan Nepal. Saya suka setiap hair dengarkan musik.

English Version

My name is Alexander, but call me Sasha. I’m from the USA. My hometown is Detroit – the Motor City. I work by myself; I’m a blogger.

My family is big. I have six siblings – four younger brothers and two younger sisters. I’m the oldest. I’m 30 years old. My dad is a doctor and my mom is a nurse.

Before I lived in China for five years, working as an English teacher. I can speak Chinese and I like Chinese food. Chinese food is very delicious!

Now I live in Bali. I’m a college student at Udayana University. I’m studying Indonesian. Now I can speak a little. I’m really happy living in Bali because Bali has many beautiful places. This is my 3rd time coming to Bali.

I’m already married. My wife is also American. She lives in China. She iss also an English teacher, and she is very beautiful!

I like traveling. Next year I want to go to South Asia – Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal. I like listening to music every day.

Practice

Now try to introduce yourself in Indonesian! Here are some questions you can try to answer:

• Siapa nama anda? (What’s your name?)

• Apa pekerjaan anda? (What do you do?)

• Apakah anda punya saudara? (Do you have any siblings?)

• Berapa? Adik atau kaka? (How many? Younger or older?)

• Bapak anda bekerja sebagai apa? Ibu anda? (What does your dad do? Your mom?)

• Anda tinggal di mana? (Where do you live?)

• Apa hobi anda? (What are your hobbies?)