Learn Indonesian

Start at the alphabet

The Indonesian on-ramp is written by hand, not generated, and it is 192 cards long. Every card is spoken in a recorded Indonesian voice, and what you get right is scheduled for review rather than shown again at random. This is the shorter, starter size of on-ramp; most languages here have about 480 cards.

• 26letters
• 10digits
• 16pronunciation rules
• 100core words
• 20everyday phrases
• 20sentences

Three of the pronunciation cards, exactly as the on-ramp teaches them:

• e — the only thing you cannot read off the page — so learn each word with its vowel. As a rough guide: in short common words and in prefixes (se-, ke-, be-, me-, te-) it is nearly always the quick “uh”; the clear “eh” lives in a smaller, learnable set — enak, merah, sore, meja, becak, bebek. sepeda has one of each: “suh-PEH-da”sepeda — a bicycle
• selamat — stress falls on the second-to-last syllable — and it is a light lift, far gentler than an English stress. One catch: if that syllable holds a schwa, the stress slides onto the last one instead, so beli is “buh-LEE” and besar is “buh-SAR”terima kasih — thank you
• ngerti — ng is a single sound, and Indonesian is happy to start a word with it — something English only ever does in the middle or at the end. Do not put a “nn” or a “guh” in front: begin with the back of your tongue already up, as if you were part-way through “singing”ngeri — creepy, horrifying

Your first Indonesian phrases

The first phrase and sentence cards of the on-ramp, each spoken in a recorded voice:

• Selamat jalan! suh-LA-mat JA-lan — goodbye! — said to the one who is leaving (the one staying behind is told “selamat tinggal”)
• Apa kabar? A-pa KA-bar — how are you?
• Kabar baik, terima kasih. KA-bar BA-ee’, tuh-REE-ma KA-sih — I’m well, thank you
• Nama saya Budi. NA-ma SA-ya BOO-dee — My name is Budi.
• Saya dari Inggris. SA-ya DA-ree ING-gris — I am from England.

What Indonesian actually costs a beginner

There is essentially one hard thing, and it is the letter e, which is either a quick uh or a clear eh with nothing in the spelling to say which — sepeda has one of each. The on-ramp handles it the only honest way, by teaching each word with its vowel and giving the rough guides that cover most cases. Below that: stress is a light lift on the second-to-last syllable, sliding to the last if that one holds a schwa; and ng is a single sound that Indonesian is happy to begin a word with, which English never does. All three are recorded.