Learning Bahasa Indonesia - Pronunciation

Like we said in our last article that learning Bahasa Indonesia should be very enjoyable, due to the fact that it is simple language to learn. Almost many of the words are spelled and read as they are. The basic word order/syntax in Bahasa Indonesian is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). There are not any changes of the VERB in a different adverb of time. There are no TENSES in bahasa Indonesia.

For example:
I read a book (Saya membaca buku)
Alice reads a book (Alice membaca buku)

I am reading a book (Saya sedang membaca buku)
Alice is reading a book (Alice sedang membaca buku)

I read a book yesterday (Saya membaca buku kemarin)
Alice read a book yesterday (Alice membaca buku kemarin)

I will read a book tomorrow (Saya akan membaca buku besok)
Alice will read a book tomorrow (Alice akan membaca buku besok)


How to pronounce?
For foreign language speakers, colloquial Bahasa Indonesia is perhaps among the easiest to learn. Unlike Thailand language, Korean, Japanese, Arabic or Chinese, Indonesian uses the Roman alphabet, and spelling is consistently phonetic. Basic intonation is generally conventional: rising intonation for questions and falling intonation for statements. Words are segmented into syllables all of which receive almost equal stress and are pronounced almost equally one by one. And, there is no TENSES.

Alphabeth
A a ------------- J je ------------- S es
B be ------------- K ka ------------- T te
C ce ------------- L el ------------- U u
D de ------------- M em ------------- V ve
E e ------------- N en ------------- W we
F ef ------------- O o ------------- X eks
G ge ------------- P pe ------------- Y ye
H ha ------------- Q ki ------------- Z zet
I i ------------- R er


Vowels
There are five vowels in bahasa Indonesia.

a always pronounced like the a in 'father', ‘car’
example:
api (fire) padi (rice) kepala (head)
apakah(what) makan (eat) bapak (father)
baju (clothes)

e has two different pronunciations, 'e' is pronounced like the e in 'enjoy' and 'establish'
example:
empat (four) beli (buy) beras (rice)
kelapa (coconut) penat (tired)

e is also pronounced similar to the 'e' in ‘red’
example:
enak (delicious) desa (village) bebek (duck)
pensil (pencil) keju (cheese)

e is also pronounced similar to the 'e' in 'republic'
example:
republik (republic)
presiden (president)
demo (strike)

i always pronounced like the ee in 'meet' or 'bee'
example:
ini (this) itu (that) biji (seed)
ikan (fish) ingat (remember)

o always pronounced like the o in 'go' but short
example:
toko (shop) kota (city) koran (newspaper)
radio (radio) obat (medicine)

o always pronounced like the o in ‘saw’
example:
botol (bottle)
kotor (dirty)
kompor (stove)

u always pronounced like the oo in 'spoon' and 'tooth'
example:
buku (book) guru (teacher) untuk (for)
tubuh (body) bubur (porridge)



Diphthongs
Diphthongs are made by combining vowels with one another.
ai pronounced like the word 'eye'
example:
lantai (floor)
pantai (beach)
kaisar (emperor)

au pronounced like the ow in 'cow' and 'now'
example:
kemarau (drough) pulau (island)
walau (although) engkau (you)
aura (aura) audit (audit)

oi is similar to the oi sound in 'boy'
example:
koboi (cowboy)
boikot (boycott)



Consonants
There are 21 main consonants in Indonesian, (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z). Most consonants are pronounced roughly as in English (close enough to get you by). Some consonants are influenced by Arabic (like ‘q’) and for scientific usage (like ‘x’). There are some consonants that need additional attention, including double consonants as follows:

c always pronounced like ch in 'chicken'
example:
cari (search)
cinta (love)
benci (hate)

g always hard as in 'girl'
example:
garam (salt)
gula (sugar)
gelas (glass)
surga (heaven)

h normally very soft in the beginning or middle of a word; in the final position, h must be pronounced audibly
example:
hidup (live)
tahun (year)
buruh (laborer)
membunuh (kill)

kh represents one phonetic unit, and is found primarily in words of Arabic derivation
example:
akhir (end, last)
mutakhir (sophisticated)
makhluk (creature)
khusus (special)

ng pronounced much like the ng in 'hanger'; notice that ng may occur at the beginning of a word
example:
mengantuk (sleepy)
tangan (hand)
datang (come)
ngengat (moth)

ngg pronounced like the ng in 'finger' and 'tango'
example:
panggil (call)
tunggu (wait)
pinggul (hip)

ny similar to the ny in 'canyon'
example:
nyamuk (mosquito)
tanya (ask)
banyak (many)

r trilled or rolled, as it is in Spanish
example:
rakus (greedy)
seratus (a hundred)
baru (new)
belajar (learn)

k at the end of a syllable, k serves as a glotal stop and is never aspirated (no puff of air)
example:
kata (word)
katak (frog)
anak (child)

sy hissing sound, similar to the sy in 'symbol'
example:
syukur (praise)
syahdu (quiet)
musyawarah (deliberation)




See you in the next lesson, ...........



Reference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_language
http://www.bahasakita.com/
http://pusatbahasa.diknas.go.id/kbbi/index.php
http://kamus.orisinil.com/
http://bahasa-indonesia.com/index.html