Indonesian Voice Over Agency (Bahasa)

Everything you never needed to know about speaking Indonesian

Bahasa is an official language
The official language of Indonesia is Bahasa which is part of standard Malay. And it is the 9th most spoken language in the world. It is also the second official language in Vietnam.

It’s a Latin alphabet
The Malaysian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, and it has 26 letters. It is said to be an easy language for English speakers to learn and it is taught as a language choice in some Australian schools.

Not a flower to take a sniff at
The world’s largest flower comes from Indonesia. It’s Latin name is Rafflessia Arnoldia, but it is known as the corpse lily because when it blooms it gives off a foul smell. They are found in Indonesia’s rainforests and they can grow up to 3 feet and can weigh up to ten kilograms. Try and find a vase for that one!

More than one earthquake a day
Indonesia has about 130 active volcanoes and the country is located within the Pacific Ring of Fire which is the world’s largest earthquake belt. The country has about four tiny earthquakes every day. The last great earthquake took place in 2004 when the Boxing Day Tsunami hit the communities along the coast of the Indian ocean.

Playing in the snow
Indonesia is better known for its hot, tropical climate, but there’s snow too. If you manage to climb Mount Jayawijaya in the Jayawijaya mountain range you’ll get to see the snow. You’ll have to be a good mountaineer though, the peak is 4,884 metres, which is higher than Mount Fuji.

Don’t lose your head
Centuries ago, the Indonesian tribes were known as head-hunters because the beheaded their enemies and preserved the head to show off to family and friends. Although they don’t practice this ritual anymore there are said to be preserved heads in some Indonesian homes who believe in keeping their ancestor’s trophies.

Come and see the Orangutan
In Indonesian the word orangutan means person from the forest. This is because the word is made up from the word ‘Orang’ meaning person and ‘Utan’ meaning forest. There are orangutans in the jungle of Sumatra and you can travel to the Gunung Leuser National Park to observe them in the wild.

Enjoy a (large) noodle
A company in Indonesia broke the world record for the largest packet on instant noodles in 2005. The packet was around 8,000 times the size of a standard packet of noodles. It weighed just under 665,000 kilos and was 3.4 metres x 0.47 metres. The brand was Mi Goreng and it also included a packet of seasoning. Strangely enough it was even declared fit for human consumption.

Poo coffee
There’s a mammal in Indonesia which is a bit like a cat and is called an Asian Palm Civet. The Indonesians feed this mammal on coffee berries and then their poo is collected and Kopi Luwak coffee beans are extracted. Kopi Luwak coffee beans are the most expensive in the world.

Frogs Legs
I bet you thought France was the leading exporter of Frog’s legs, but it’s not. The biggest importer of frog’s legs is Indonesia and they import more than 4,000 tonnes of frogs legs to European countries LIKE France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

A short history on the Indonesian language

Indonesian is a form of the Riau dialect of Malay, which belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family of languages. The reach of the Austronesian languages extends from the coast of Africa (Malagasy spoken on Madagascar), to the islands of Southeast Asia (Balinese spoken on Bali), over to the Pacific (Maori spoken by the indigenous people of New Zealand).

Malay is spoken natively on both sides of the Strait of Malacca, which separates Sumatra from the Malay Peninsula. From the 5th century onwards the Strait of Malacca became a busy trade route, and the language spread throughout Indonesia, eventually becoming a lingua franca.

Over the years Malay came under the influence of other languages, including Sanskrit, Arabic, Dutch and English (as well as hundred of local languages, such as Javanese). But even when Indonesia came under Dutch control in the 17th century, Malay was so commonly used that it became the primary means of communication between the government and the people.

When Indonesia became an independent republic in 1945-49, a standardised version of Malay – coined Bahasa Indonesia (literally, “the language of Indonesia”) – was designated as the country’s official national language.

Which countries have Indonesian as a national language?

Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesia consists of almost 18,000 islands, and has over 700 different native languages and dialects. Most Indonesians speak both their regional language and Bahasa Indonesia.

How many people speak Indonesian as their first language?

It is estimated that approximately 25 million people speak Indonesian as their first language, with a further 150 million people speaking it as their second language.

Did you know…

• Indonesian is largely mutually intelligible with the official Malaysian form of Malay. There are differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, however, mainly due to Dutch and Javanese influences on the language.
• Indonesian is non-tonal and non-hierarchical – the same vocabulary is used no matter who is being addressed. In this way it is very different from Javanese, which has a hierarchical structure.
• There are several Indonesian words that have been incorporated into the English vocabulary, including orangutan, agar, kapok, batik, sarong, gong and amok.

The Indonesian economy

Indonesia’s emerging market economy is the largest in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is classified as a newly industrialised country, and is a member of the G20 major economies.