The term syukur originates from the Arabic word shukran (شكراً), meaning ‘thank you’. So, what sets it apart from terima kasih, the conventional Indonesian expression…
Posts published by “Prof. Dr. Uli Kozok”
German philologist Uli Kozok was a lecturer at the University of Auckland in 1994-2001 before he became Associate Professor at the Department of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages and Literature at the University of Hawaii in Manoa.
Kozok, who speaks German, English, Dutch, Indonesian and Batak fluently, obtained his master’s degree in 1989 and his PhD (Magna cum laude) in 1994 from the University of Hamburg. His thesis was on the Batak language.
Numbers with decimal point and thousand separator |n numerous English-speaking nations, including former British and American colonies, a full-stop (period) is used to denote the…
This word is difficult to find in the dictionaries because the “proper” form is actually “gemas”. Gemes is the Jakartanese pronunciation. The word describes the…
Most houses in Indonesia divide their space into formal “public” areas at the front, and private “inner” areas at the back. They both have open spaces…
Javanese cities used to be built around an alun-alun or rectangular, grassed common. Around the sides of the alun-alunyou would find the palace of the ruler (called…
The Indonesian word for climate is iklim /EE.k’leem/. The word cuaca /choo.WĀ.chā/ is usually used like the English “weather” to talk about a particular situation on a…
Indonesia has a huge number of Islamic schools that operate beyond the direct jurisdiction of the Department of National Education (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional). Many of…
Abbreviations are often used in Indonesian. There are literally thousands of commonly used acronyms and abbreviations, and they pop up in profusion in every domain…
The Indonesian term for “alphabet” is abjad, and for “letter (of the alphabet)” huruf. Both these words are borrowed from Arabic. Just as the English word “alphabet”…
A transitive verb is one that “looks forward” in the sense that it signifies an action that is done to someone or something. An example of…