Indonesia Translation Services

Based on the Malay trade dialect, Bahasa Indonesia is the national language of the Republic of Indonesia. It unites the 200,000,000 people of Indonesia, whose native tongue may be one of the over 300 distinct languages or regional dialects. Older people may speak some Dutch and the foreign language of choice for business, tourism and study isLearning Bahasa English.

While it is possible for foreigners to live in Jakarta without speaking Bahasa Indonesia, it is highly recommended that you obtain a working knowledge of the Indonesian national language. An inability to communicate in Bahasa Indonesia will cut you off from the mainstream of society, and dealing with those who don't speak a foreign language will be very difficult. You deny yourself as well the rich cultural experience of fully communicating with those from another culture.

To get you started and introduce you to the language, are some basic phrases in Bahasa Indonesia. Click on the Indonesian phrase and download the sound clips to hear the phrases in Indonesian.

INDONESIA
Indonesian is the national language of the Republic of Indonesia. When independence was declared in 1945, bahasa Indonesia ("Indo-nesian language") was decreed as the country's official language. Although it is the mother tongue of only about 20 million people out of a population of 200 million, it is estimated that as much as three-fourths of the population now understand it.

Indonesian is virtually the same language as Malay, the latter spoken in Malaysia. The principal difference is in the spelling, the Indonesian system having been developed by the Dutch, the Malay by the British. Thus the Indonesian j is y in Malay (e.g., kaju—wood, Malay: kayu); Indonesian dj is j in Malay (gadjah—elephant, Malay: gajali); Indonesian tj is ch in Malay (kutjing—cat, Malay: kuching); and Indonesian sj is sh in Malay (sjarat—condition, Malay: sharat). The Indonesian plural, like the Malay, is formed by merely repeating the word, as in angan-angan in the poem below, which means "fantasies."

Sample

Translation
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.