Meeting People

Indonesian are quite inquisitive. When we meet people they often want to know more about you by asking a lot of personal questions. If you don’t want to answer them please let them know politely. Those questions are part of daily greetings and it is not considered rude.

Examples;

Meaning Description
Nama Ibu siapa?
Siapa namanya?
What’s your name? ‘Nya’ is a 3rd person singular possessive pronoun. But in a polite situation ‘nya’ is used instead of ‘kamu’
Nama saya John My name is John/I am John
Bapak dari mana asalnya? Where are you from, sir?
Saya dari Inggris I am from England
Saya baru datang dari Amerika I just came from America
Saya tidak mengerti Bahasa Indonesia I don’t understand(speak)
Indonesian language
Bapak/Ibu sudah menikah? Are you married?
Berapa putranya? How many children do you have? ‘Putra’ is usually used to represent children not son.
Yang paling besar umur berapa? How old is your eldest?
Tinggalnya di mana? Where do you live?
Kerja di mana? Where do you work?
What do you do?
Sudah berapa lama di Indonesia? How long have you been in Indonesia?
Berapa lama akan tinggal di Indonesia? How long will you be staying in Indonesia?


Meeting people - Picture from Daden Suhendra's collection.

e-Learning

The University of Hawaii at Manoa offers three dedicated distance education e-learning courses for advanced Indonesian under the supervision of Dr. Uli Kozok, coordinator of the Indonesian language program at the University of Hawaii. The three courses offered are available not only to UH students but to anyone anywhere. You can enrol through UH Outreach College.