The Indonesian Language (Bahasa Indonesia)

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If you're not Indonesian and you speak standard Indonesian, it is OK. Indonesian will respond to you with standard Indonesian too.

Japanese: has various levels of politeness Indonesian: has various levels of casualty

I'm from Mexico 🇲🇽 and I'm trying to learn this beautiful language since I have so many friends from Indonesia (Sumatra, Java and Gorontalo). I hope I can learn since the alphabet is not different like the other languages from Asia. Thanks for this video, it's very interesting.

I learnt Indonesian at high school in Sydney (Australia) in 1968-69 and as a part-time course at Uni in 1970. I also studied German. The one thing we had to do extra was to learn a bit of Nederlands because most of the history books for Indonesia were still in Nederlands. At the end of 1970 I moved to Cape Town (South Africa) and due to my German and Nederlands studies, I quickly learnt Afrikaans, and I was also surprised that my Indonesian was also helpful with the Cape Malays who also spoke/speak a broken form of Malay, which I could reasonably understand.

Fun fact, "apakah kamu mau duduk?" "apa kamu mau duduk?" "kamu mau duduk? " "apa mau duduk?" "mau duduk?" "duduk?" they all can have the same meaning, which is "do you want to sit?" and the shorter it is the less formal it can be

An Indonesian viewer here, and here are my answers to the questions you asked at the end of the video : Personally, my native language is Bahasa Indonesia, neither one of all other variety of languages spoken here. It's because I was raised speaking Bahasa Indonesia since my parents are from different ethnicity and they also had to live approximately 1000 kilometers away from where they originated. I use standard Indonesian to speak to older people, to speak in classrooms, or to speak formally. It is (obviously) a more polite language to use. Bahasa Indonesia and bahasa Gaul is very similar in comparison with English and its Slang words. If you use standard Indonesian at the wrong time, you will often get called a person that's 'impolite'. For bahasa Gaul, I use it casually in day-to-day basis to friends and on the internet, and to family members. People prefer using bahasa Gaul since it is very simple and if you speak the language, you'll also get called 'gaul' or 'kekinian' (Which in English, roughly translates to 'a cool kid' or 'a modern kid'). If you're close enough with a person, it is preferred to use bahasa Gaul instead of standard Indonesian. Some people can get uncomfortable if you use standard Indonesian to speak with someone close enough since you will sound very serious, and in most cases people will think that there is a problem. Hence why you used standard Indonesian to sound more mature in the 'problem-solving progress'. Hopefully my answer could help you guys in determining 'when to' and 'when not to' use bahasa Gaul/bahasa Indonesia. Cheers! *Keep up the good work, Paul!

A West Papuan here, :), to answer your question, I only speak Standard Indonesian when I have to read an official document or present something in class. For everyday use however, with friends, parents, teachers, and even strangers, I use a dialect called Papuan Malay. Though for older people, I use a more polite version. Standard Indonesian is usually considered too stiff by people around here. I can write in Standard Indonesian very well though. p.s. To be truthful, I think I speak English way better than I speak Standard Indonesian, haha.

As a Filipino, I really wanted to learn Bahasa Indonesia. Hopefully I could meet someone to teach me or exchange language hehe (Saya cinta bahasa indonesia <3)

FYI, most of indonesians are born bilingual.. except for the one who lived in the city like Jakarta for a looong time.(they just can understand the bahasa indonesia in his/her childhood) Their first or second language is bahasa indonesia, and their second or first language is their tribe's language :) annndd we got english in the school.. soo basically some students or educated ppl can speak 3 language.. trilingual.(if they studied well) some muslims(not all muslims) can also fluently speak arabic, some chinese(not all of chinese) in here can also fluently speak chinese(mandarin/cantonese/etc), and also in some highschool, arabic, mandarin, japanese, french, german are being thought. So.. some indonesians can speak up to 5 languages(or more).. even not fluently.

Indonesia adalah bahasaku Ulangan bahasa Indonesia: 70 Ulangan bahasa Inggris: 96

I'm a surigaonon( a Philippine dialect) and Indonesian words is also similar in my language, I've been thinking if could learn Indonesian- because for me it's interesting.

As an Indonesian learner, I did find it helpful to initially learn standard Indonesian. It's especially helpful when reading official documents, news or literature, and if you plan to travel throughout different provinces of Indonesia, since everyone can speak it. However once you settle in one area, I do think it's better to learn the bahasa gaul or the local language of that area, it allows you communicate and bond with the locals even better.

Aku org Brunei yg bisa/dapat/boleh memahami bahasa melayu Indonesia dan bahasa melayu Malaysia.. sebab kenapa? sebab kita ini serumpun yg sejak awal bahasa melayu adalah bahasa kita di NUSANTARA tpi setelah dipisahkan oleh penjajah... rata2 skrg bnyk org nga/tidak kenal apa itu serumpun... jdi jgn hairan kalau ada org ckp/bilang "ini bukan bahasa melayu, ini adalah bahasa indonesia ataupun ini bukan bahasa indonesia, ini adalah bahasa melayu" ... sebab kita ini adalah serumpun pada awalnya.. !!

This video is a result of careful & serious research. As an Indonesian, I really appreciate your effort in making this video. Thank you!

We speak standard Indonesian in formal situation such as school, media, writing, and any formal context. For bahasa gaul, actually, since I am from Sumatra, I rarely speak bahasa gaul but still understand when people speak bahasa gaul. So in informal situation, I just mix standard indonesian and bahasa gaul because some people find it's weird and awkward if you just speak standard indonesian

After never encountering Indonesian before, it seems like the most perfect and utilitarian language out there

Awesome, I love it. When I lived in Jakarta as a Marine guarding the U.S. Embassy I mainly spoke Bahasa Jakarta or "Jakartay" as we would sometimes say when I spoke with my Indonesian friends. We never called it Bahasa Gaul. We always considered it slang and were sometimes admonished by older people as they considered it improper. I miss Indonesia. Of all the countries I have visited and learned languages I loved Indonesia the most.

English : i told you not to do that Indonesia : kan

Great video. Been studying and speaking bahasa Indonesian for ~ 1 year living in Indo. It's definitely very regionalized with people still using some words from their home areas regardless of where they live, and most people understand the variations from Java, but maybe not from Sumba. As for the formal part of the language, you only read it but never speak it.