Languages.Org.Au - Indonesian

Why learn Indonesian

Indonesian is spoken by more than 250 million people – ten times the Australian population – and is the language of our closest large neighbouring country, one that is likely to be in the top ten world economies before long. Not only is it spoken in Indonesia; it is also closely related to Malaysian. Indonesian is easier for English speakers to learn than some other Asian languages, using the same script as English.

Guides, online courses and tutorial resources

These are listed alphabetically.

Duo Lingo Learn Indonesian – Not yet available for Indonesian. Due for release in 2018.
Indonesian 101 – This site is designed as a starting point for people who want to learn more about the Indonesian language.
Indonesian Pod 101 – This is another resource, distinct from the one listed above. There are two types of signup: free or premium.
The Indonesian Language (Bahasa Indonesia) – Langfocus. A video about the Indonesian language (Bahasa Indonesia), its history and development, its features, and its colloquial varieties.
Learning Bahasa Indonesia the National Language – This page is sponsored by the Indonesia Australia Language Foundation (IALF).
Learning Indonesian – Learning Indonesian offers 32 free online basic lessons or a full premium course.
Learning Indonesian Online – 48 lessons and downloadable podcasts. A resource from the Netherlands.
Linguanaut Learn Indonesian – Linguanaut offers free Indonesian (Bahasa) lessons online, from Phrases, Alphabet, Numbers, Adjectives, Prepositions, Verbs, Vocabulary used in Indonesia.
Peace Corps Indonesian Courses – The people at Live Lingua have made available these Free US Peace Corps Indonesian resources for you to use. Read the Indonesian ebooks online, listen to the Indonesian audios and practice your Indonesian pronunciation with the online recorder or download the files to use whenever you want.
Useful Indonesian phrases – A collection of useful phrases in Indonesian, the lingua franca of Indonesia and a close relation of Malay.

Reference

Online sources to look up words and phrases – a quick option is to run a Google search with the required expression in English followed by the words "in Indonesian", eg accommodation in Indonesian, then select from sources (some of which also provide an audio version of the Indonesian) such as the ones listed below (listed here alphabetically).

Bab.la Indonesian – Type in the word you would like to translate into the search field.
Cambridge English-Indonesian Dictionary – Type the expression to be translated into the search field. Use the toggle to select English-Indonesian or Indonesian-English.
Kamus.net – Kamus.net proclaims itself to be the world's largest and most popular English-Indonesian dictionary on the web.
Penerjemah Bahasa Inggris - Indonesia – First select English to Indonesian or Indonesian to English; then enter the expression; and then select Translate.
Systran online translation – This uses Systran machine translation technology for translation between languages.

News and current affairs

These are listed alphabetically.

Berita: BBC Indonesia – News in Bahasa Indonesia by BBC.
Delta FM – "Delta FM is a radio station that broadcasts from Jakarta, Indonesia. It has been on air since the beginning of the nineties, featuring news, information and entertainment." (Notes from http://www.radioonline.co.id/delta-fm.)
Radio Australia program pilihan – Dengarkan program-program radio pilihan kami termasuk berita, tinjauan, wawancara dan cerita-cerita lainnya. ("Listen to our selected radio programs including news, reviews, interviews and other stories.")
Radio Rakosa – Kota Yogyakarta, Indonesia. "Rakosa FM broadcasts its programmes decorate its playlists for a socially and culturally diverse audience. In addition to the broadcast of a variety of information and entertainment programmes, Rakosa FM broadcasts diverse local productions." (Notes from http://www.liveonlineradio.net/indonesian/rakosa-fm.htm.)
SBS Indonesian News – Daily broadcasts 3-4 pm. Available as podcasts.

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