Indonesian language for foreigners is now a priority language to be mastered by several countries in the world. There has been many institutions within and outside the country that organizes Indonesian language learning program for foreigners. This shows that Indonesian language learning activities for foreigners have become quite important for foreigners. It could be the benefits for Indonesians in introducing Indonesian language and the culture internationally.
Learning Indonesian Language could be difficult for some foreigners. It is because the different spelling and pronunciation of Indonesian with their language. However, for those foreigners who learn Indonesian language, here are the ways how to speak as Indonesian natives.
- Vibrate/r/ sound clearly
Indonesian natives would normally pronoun /r/ sound clearly. Sometimes it is too difficult for some of western people since they never do it in their language. However, you can train your tongue by vibrate it while you want to pronounce /r/ sound. Make sure to roll your tongue the teeth. By doing this method you can sound/r/ like Indonesian native perfectly.
- Use the Indonesian slang
In Indonesian language, there is a number of slang or unofficial languages that you unknowingly use everyday. However, some Indonesians keep using it every day. There are list of the words that just Indonesian people who know and can not be found in any dictionary. It is called Indonesian slang words. The most popular slang is often used in daily activity of Indonesia.
Mostly, they would rather say some brands to mention a product. As the example they would mention Pepsodent for toothpaste and Rinso for the detergent while buying something at mini market or stall.
- Watching Indonesian film
Another effective way to speak like natives is by watching Indonesian film. In Indonesian film, you could learn how Indonesian natives say the words and speak in their daily activities. Besides, you could also learn the culture of Indonesia through the film. The bonus is, you could get much experience from the message that you can take from the films. You could watch the film in youtube or other media. If you want to watch the newest film of Indonesia, you can come to the cinema that available in your city where you stay in Indonesia.
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- Keep practicing by speak with Indonesian natives
The most recommended things to fluent your Indonesian language is practice and practice. Don’t forget to socialite much with Indonesians. Seek your Indonesian friends, and start to practice with them. If you stay at the overseas, you could search your Indonesians friend through social media. You know that Indonesians are really adaptive with the use of spcial media. You could communicate by video call, phone call, or even recorded voice. Remember that language is a habit, and practice makes perfect.
- Learn through the Indonesian song
In Indonesian songs, the most language that used is formal language. It is good for you to rehearsal the Indonesian pronunciation. Besides, it would give you much Indonesian vocabulary collection. Some sources stated that learning a new language through listening songs could be 50% more effective than if you read from the books. That is why listening Indonesian song could be one of the ways to inspire your Indonesian speaking.
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- Take Indonesian language course
Taking an Indonesian language course would be the most effective ways to speak like Indonesian native speaker. At the course, you would interact with the expert of Indonesian language directly. The teacher would motivate, guide, and give you some tips to learn this language easily. Moreover, the experts usually have some secrets or the fast method that fit with your ability in learning new language. However, you should make bigger effort to attend the class intensively.
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- Staying in Indonesia
The best way to learn new language is by staying to the country where there are many natives. It could be a recommended way for those who learning Indonesian language. You could stay in Indonesia for at least 2 months. Don’t forget to socialite with the local people around you. Listen how they pronounce and learn the vocabularies. If you are a beginner, you could bring the dictionary everywhere. Ask some of them to teach you how to pronounce a word. Slow but sure, you could increase your Indonesian speaking ability.
- Ask you Indonesian friends to correct
If you have many Indonesian friends, you could use them as your partner in learning Indonesian language. Don’t hesitate to ask them to be your Indonesian speaking practicing partner. For your information, Indonesian people are typically friendly and like to help others. That is why, it is impossible that they would refuse your request to help you. As the payment, you could treat them for lunch or dinner. Friend in need is friend indeed. (Read also: How to Make Friends in Jakarta)
- Don’t aspirate while pronounce the letter /k/,/p/, /t/
In English, The phonemes /k/, /p/, and /t/ are always aspirated when they are the only consonants before a stressed vowel. While in Indonesia, you don’t need to do it. You just need to pronounce it like normal. And also notice the stress while pronounce those three letters. In Indonesia, stressing is not so important. However, while you want to ask a question, it would be better to use the raising intonation in the end of sentence.
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- Don’t be too formal
The last tips of speak like Indonesian natives is don’t speak to be formal. You could do the tips while you speak someone closed to you. However, the method of changing the formal language to informal language in Indonesia is so simple. You just need to lose some prefix to make it into formal. As the example, changing bagaimana into informal, is just by saying gimana. Sudah becomes udah. And the last example is sebentar becomes bentar. It is so easy, isn’t it?
Those are the ways how to speak as Indonesian natives. In conclusion, learning Indonesian language is basically an art to train your tongue. If you have been successfully speak like Indonesian natives, don’t forget to practice it continuously.
