So, yesterday, I tried my counting skills out on Lusy, our maid. I counted to 10 in Bahasa Indonesian and she said "baggus!" Then she said "Missus stay in Indonesia long time, Missus be smart!"
I've been trying to spend about 10 minutes a day learning Bahasa Indonesian ("language of Indonesia"). It's got to be the easiest language on the earth! No verb tenses, just a verb followed by "yesterday" or "tomorrow" changes it to past or future. Only one sound per letter -- other than "e" which has two options. Very few adjectives. No superlatives. Everything nice, excellent, lovely, beautiful, good, ('sounds like I'm quoting from the book of Philippians, chapter 4!) ... is "baggus"! That's it ... just baggus!
The only complicated thing is the greetings. Just like in Nigeria, people don't just say "hello!" and "good bye" -- oh, if it were only that simple! It's got to be specific, which requires a watch:
good morning -- selamat pagi
good day -- selamat siang
good afternoon (which is not after noon but after 4 p.m!) -- selamat sore
good evening -- selamat melam
"good bye" changes, depending on whether you're the one leaving or if they're leaving --
selamat tinggal -- is when I leave them
selamat jalan -- is if they leave me
I have no clue what is to be said when we both leave!
But still, when I say "Saya tidak bisa Bahasa Indonesia" (I don't speak Bahasa Indonesian!), because I'm saying it in Bahasa Indonesian, they think I CAN speak it so they rattle on in their language! Or, they stop and think for a minute and then just giggle because I DID speak their language so I must be teasing them!
Anyway, because the average person I meet in the stores and the gardeners, the maids, etc. don't speak English ... this study is proving to be beneficial! And fun!
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2 comments:
What fun to learn a language with no issues over dangling participles or conjugated verbs! Is it easy to distinguish what is said? And is the language spoken rapidly or slowly?
It's the easiest language to listen to, too! Because there's only one way to pronounce each letter, if it's even close, it's understandable -- and that goes both ways 'cuz they understand me, too!
It's not even spoken very quickly. They're such a laid back people that it doesn't seem to be as fast as many languages. But, it's still too fast for me, with my limited understanding.
When I get back from our U.S. trip I'm gonna seriously start to study!
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