Indonesian, an Austronesian language, is a standardized form of Malay and is spoken throughout Indonesia. About 30 million people speak Indonesian as their first language and a further 140 million speak it as a second language. Indonesia is a linguistically diverse region where the Indonesian language acts as a lingua franca, even though there are more native speakers of Javanese - about 75 million.
In the 1930s, as part of the independence movement, the Indonesian language was standardised and the term Bahasa Indonesia was adopted as the name of the language.
During the time Indonesia was a Dutch colony, the Latin alphabet was introduced to write Indonesian and a number of Dutch spellings were used. This alphabet was called ejaan lama (Old Script) in Indonesian.
In 1947 the spelling of oe was changed to u. Then in 1972 a set of official changes to the Indonesian spelling system were introduced by former president Soeharto. The major changes included changing ch to kh, dj to j, j to y, nj to ny, sj to sy, and tj to c.
In Muslim communities in Indonesia the Jawi alphabet, a version of the Arabic alphabet, is sometimes used to write Indondesian.
A recording of the Indonesian alphabet by Pangus Ho
Hear the Indonesian alphabet, with example words:
Download an Indonesian (and Malay) pronunciation chart (Excel)
Source: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Indonesian/Lessons/Alphabet
Semua orang dilahirkan merdeka dan mempunyai martabat dan hak-hak yang sama. Mereka dikaruniai akal dan hati nurani dan hendaknya bergaul satu sama lain dalam semangat persaudaraan.
A recording of this text by Ali Aulia Ghozali
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Information about Indonesian | Phrases | Numbers | Family words | Tower of Babel | Articles | Learning materials
Information about Indonesian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_language
https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabet_bahasa_Indonesia
Online Indonesian lessons
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Indonesian
http://indonesianlanguage.net/learn-indonesian1
http://langhub.com
http://www.indonesianpod101.com/
Indonesian phrases
http://www.expat.or.id/info/bahasa.html
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/indonesian/percakapan/indonesia7days/indo7days_fs.htm
http://www.indonesian-easy.com
Online Indonesian dictionaries
http://www.freedict.com/onldict/ind.html
http://vvv.sederet.com
http://indodic.com
Penerjemah Bahasa Indonesia - Inggris (Indonesian - English Translator)
https://indolang.com/
Ririo - folk tales and children's stories in Indonesian with recordings
https://ririro.com/id/
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page last modified: 29.05.23
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