Language Course: Learn Bahasa Indonesia

What language do they speak in Bali?

Bahasa Indonesia is the language of Indonesia and the Balinese speak Balinese among themselves. However, English is widely spoken everywhere and you can easily get by.

Before you go to Bali, you should know these basics about the language so you can pronounce signs and menus correctly - even the English is pronounced a bit differently over there.

In Indonesia this is particularly a problem with vowels.
The letter 'I' is pronounced "ee" in Bahasa Indonesia … thus the westerner hears the letter "E".

The letter "E" in Bahasa Indonesia is pronounced "eh" which the westerner often interprets to mean "A".

A is pronounced 'aa' in Bahasa Indonesia. Thus I/E and A/E are often heard/written incorrectly. 

There is only one important point, though: in Indonesian, the letter 'c' is pronounced 'ch', so cap cai is pronounced 'chap-chai': the letter 'k' is used for hard k-sounds. There one notable exception, though: Coke is pronounced as in western English, probably because it wouldn't sell too well if pronounced correctly in Indonesian...

To locate a toilet, ask for the
KAMAR MANDI (bathroom)
KAMAR KECIL (little room)
WC (pronounced WAYSAY)

A = aa
E = eh
I = ee
C = ch
k = hard k


Learn Bahasa Indonesia in 7 days (words and sound):
www.seasite.niu.edu/

Intensive 10 week course studying language, culture, and staying with a host family
12 - 23 July 2004 - AUD$1120.00
http://www.ialf.edu/bahasabali.html
Bali
Jalan Kapten Agung 17
Denpasar 80232 Bali
Tel. (62-361) 225-243
Fax (62-361) 263-509
ialfbali@ialf.edu
http://www.ialf.edu/bahasa.html
emailed them about "chit chat" program, which is a 2hr a day program (AUD$50 per hr!) OUCH!


Exchange english for indonesian, learn native talk
http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/Learn/Indonesia.asp


other tips from this travel writer:
learning_bahasa_indonesia.html

common phrases:
http://www.lombok-network.com/learning/

Sanur
Bali International School in Sanur ph 288770



Balinese
Wow, click on the following link for a great site which covers a fair bit of the Balinese language:
http://www.balitouring.com/bali_articles/balinesean.htm
This person has spelled out words so one can read them phonetically and actually speak the language:
http://coralreeffish.com/balinese.htm
Learning Indonesian & Balinese (includes AUDIO)
http://www.batukaru.info/language/greeting.htm

Taking language lessons in Bali

You can trust me when I say that many locals in the tourist areas will be happy to teach you a bit of Balinese or Indonesian for exchange of correcting or teaching them English. They are constantly trying to improve their English because that means more $$ to them, so if you can befriend a local, it's a great free way to learn.

I bought books and took some paid lessons in Ubud. It was 50,000 per lesson and it was by a professional English teacher in Indonesia, so the guy knew what he was doing and how to teach. 50,000 isn't very much but it felt like a lot after I'd been there a while because everything is so much cheaper than that, but once you get in the mindset, you get to find out that 50,000 is a lot to them, which changes your perspective about everything. That being said, 50,000 for a professional teacher is a bargain price.