Selamat datang di Indonesia.
Selamat datang ke Indonesia. (wrong)

Lagi ngapain? (really the only expression used by Indonesians in informal speech although: Anda sedang apa? is technically more correct)

kayaknya (everyone is taught the word 'seperti' but we've yet to meet a student who was taught the word 'kayak' yet it's very, very commonly used)
Kayaknya mau hujan. = I think it's going to rain. / It looks like it's going to rain.

Likewise studying grammar. It's really not effective, and should play a supportive role to intuitive understanding which is developed by learning words and expressions from 'situations' where the meaning of what is being said is self evident.

The easiest way to start is simply with scenarios of "What's this? What's that?". This allows for a lot of natural repetition in 'real life' scenarios with a minimal vocabulary (and it's better to set up the physical environment).

In this way, you immediately begin learning the language. There's no wasted time with explanations. You immediately begin trying to pronounce the new words. As new words are introduced, your conscious mind starts focusing on them, and the important words, expressions and grammar are absorbed 'automatically' by your 'intuitive mind'.

The most important aspect is to develop the 'physical reflex' so that you say things correctly without thinking, because more often than not, if you start thinking, you'll start making mistakes.

We had a student start with us who had had about 2 months language training in Australia before being posted to the embassy in Jakarta. She knew plenty of words and was generally able to express herself, but the pattern of her speech was much closer to English than 'native' Indonesian. She also repeatedly said 'saya suami' (my husband).

In Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), there is only 'saya' for I,me,my,mine. If you've been reading the simple dialogue to the right, you perhaps already realize that the possessive is always after the object. But when you learn using our method, explanation of this grammar point is never needed. Why waste time explaining something that can be learned automatically with no effort?

After weeks of language training with us she still often made the mistake because it had become a bad habit. If she had studied with our program from the beginning, it would have been physically impossible for her to make such a mistake. Her 'mouth' would have already been conditioned to saying: suami saya, anak saya, buku saya, rumah saya, etc. etc.

Again, learning a language is more of a physical process than a mental process. Stay with us as we help you learn Indonesian quickly and easily.

Face it--whether you are in Indonesia for one week or for 10 years, it is not only polite and useful to know a little of the language, in many cases, it is outright necessary. If you don't want to be trapped at the Hotel Borobudur or restricted to traveling with a translator, you need to be able to communicate with that cheerful, friendly, curious populace out there. This booklet provides one approach to learning a very basic level of the Indonesian language, Bahasa Indonesia, with no strain.

I have yet to encounter a structured, functional approach to learning Bahasa Indonesia. Phrase books confront the linguistic novice with a barrage of special purpose phrases ("Is the play a comedy or a tragedy?"). They are often badly organized into social situations (going to the market, at customs) where you are likely to have neither the time nor the inclination to be fumbling around with a silly little phrase book even if you did bring it with you, which is highly improbable. With these books, you can either memorize several hundred phrases that may or may not have an application. Or you can keep the book in your pocket and hope that your fingers are fast enough to find the phrase for "turn left here" before the taxi takes you completely out of town in a straight line.

Grammar books and dictionaries, although fine for a long-term study of the language, are even more of a hindrance in taxis and at the supermarket checkout. Language tapes also have their place in learning to communicate but this approach requires time and effort to achieve practical results.

What is required for the short-term visitor and even for the newly arrived longer-term expatriates is a list of common, useful and necessary words and phrases grouped into bite-sized quantities so the most important ones can be learned and used first.

The most useful phrase book I have found is Indonesian Words and Phrases by the American Women's Association. It provides some very important basic concepts and I recommend it highly but no one wants to memorize an entire book the first day in a new country.

With the internet, mp3 players, ipods, cellular phones, etc, the possibilities for new ways to learn a language are nearly endless. We agree, traditional phrasebooks are not really very useful, but if you incorporate the new possibilities into a new style of phrasebook, then you can create something really, really useful.

We haven't finished putting such a "phrasebook" together yet but we have lots of very useful material that you can use in the meantime while we finish putting it all together in one handy e-book.