The Indonesian Language (Bahasa Indonesia)

Summary

This video explores the Indonesian language, its roots in Malay, and its evolution into the national language of Indonesia. It explains how Indonesian became the lingua franca amidst hundreds of regional languages, highlighting its simplicity, lack of verb conjugations, and minimal grammatical complexity. The video also delves into the differences between Standard Indonesian and colloquial Bahasa Gaul, showcasing regional variations in pronunciation and grammar. It concludes by discussing how the language is spoken across Indonesia and the experience of learning it for non-native speakers.

Takeaways

• 😀 Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is closely related to Malay and serves as the national language of Indonesia.
• 😀 Indonesian has around 43 million native speakers and 155 million second-language speakers, primarily in Indonesia.
• 😀 The language was historically used as a lingua franca across the Malay Archipelago, facilitating communication across different regions and languages.
• 😀 Indonesian evolved during the colonial period, where Dutch influence contributed many loanwords, but the language remained largely Malay in structure.
• 😀 The Dutch East India Company used Malay as the administrative language, but Dutch itself was not widely spoken in Indonesia, leading to minimal colonial language influence.
• 😀 Indonesian became the national language of Indonesia after independence in 1945, despite being the native language of only 5% of the population.
• 😀 Indonesian was chosen over Javanese as the national language to avoid favoring one ethnic group over another and to promote national unity.
• 😀 One of the reasons for the success of Indonesian as a national language is its simplicity: no verb conjugations, no grammatical gender, and simple sentence structures.
• 😀 Indonesian uses reduplication to form plurals (e.g., 'orang' for 'person' and 'orang-orang' for 'people').
• 😀 Bahasa Gaul, the colloquial form of Indonesian spoken in daily life, differs significantly from Standard Indonesian in vocabulary and grammar, incorporating slang and regional influences.
• 😀 Learning Indonesian can be easy for beginners due to its simplicity, though mastering the colloquial forms and regional varieties requires more practice.

Q & A

What is the relationship between Indonesian and Malay?

Indonesian is closely related to Malay, with both languages being based on the same root language. However, Indonesian has evolved to include uniquely Indonesian features while retaining much of the structure and vocabulary of Malay.

Why does Indonesian have more second-language speakers than native speakers?

Indonesian is used as a lingua franca between speakers of various regional languages in Indonesia. It is the national language and is used in education, media, and government, leading to it being spoken by a large number of second-language speakers, even though many Indonesians speak a regional language as their native tongue.

How did Indonesian become the national language of Indonesia?

Indonesian, based on Malay, was chosen as the national language in 1945 due to its historical use as a lingua franca in the archipelago. Despite Javanese being the native language of over 40% of the population, Indonesian was selected to promote national unity and avoid regional favoritism.

Why wasn't Javanese chosen as the national language instead of Indonesian?

Javanese wasn't chosen because it would have favored the Javanese ethnic group, which would have undermined the unity of the country. Indonesian, a widely spoken and neutral language, was seen as a more inclusive choice for national unity.

What makes Indonesian an easy language to learn?

Indonesian is known for its simplicity. It has a straightforward phonology, no grammatical gender, no verb conjugations, and a simple sentence structure. Reduplication (repeating words) is used for plurals, and possession is indicated by adding pronouns after nouns.

What are the key features of Indonesian grammar?

Indonesian has several key features that make it easy to learn, including simple SVO (subject-verb-object) sentence structure, no case inflections, no grammatical gender, no verb conjugations, and explicit plurals formed by repeating words.

What is the role of affixes in Indonesian?

Affixes are an important part of Indonesian grammar. They are attached to root words to form verbs and nouns. These affixes can change the meaning of a word, such as indicating a verb’s tense or converting a verb into a noun.

How does colloquial Indonesian (Bahasa Gaul) differ from Standard Indonesian?

Colloquial Indonesian, or Bahasa Gaul, differs from Standard Indonesian in several ways, including vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. For example, in Bahasa Gaul, present tense is indicated with 'lagi' instead of 'sedang', and words like 'teman' become 'temen'. There are also more informal pronouns and expressions used in everyday speech.

What are the challenges in learning Indonesian?

One of the main challenges in learning Indonesian is mastering the affixes, as they are crucial for forming verbs and nouns correctly. While Indonesian is simpler than many other languages, the numerous affixes can be difficult for learners to grasp initially.

How did historical events influence the development of the Indonesian language?

The development of Indonesian was significantly influenced by colonial history. During the Dutch colonial period, Malay was promoted as the language of trade and education. The language underwent further development in the 20th century, and during the independence movement, the pro-independence nationalists chose Malay (which became Indonesian) as a unifying language.