Indonesian Language Book Recommendations

Aug 31

Indonesian self-study

When studying Indonesian, it can be a bit hard to know what resources will help you the most. In this article I give some suggestions for a range of resources to help with your grammar, vocabulary, and slang.

Grammar Book

For serious grammar study, I can’t go past Indonesian Reference Grammar by Sneddon, Adelaar, Djenar, and Ewing. It is amazingly comprehensive in terms of the grammar it covers. Importantly, it is easy to navigate. This book is not one that you read from cover to cover. But rather you dip into it when needed. By using the contents section you can easily find the grammar point that you are looking for, and then flip over to the relevant section. So if you are studying an Indonesian course, or want to get a deep understanding of standard Indonesians, then this is a great resource.

Reading and vocabulary

Reading is a great way to expose your brain to words and expand your vocabulary. There are some great guided reading resources out there. The best one I have found so far is Mari Membaca, by Partoredjo. The readings start short and simple, and gradually build in length and complexity. Vocabulary lists and comprehension tasks accompany each reading and it does a good job to reinforce language that is useful on a day to day basis.

If you are looking for something more challenging, Readings in Indonesian Culture, by Mintz, is a great resource. The readings are interesting and cover topics like Mata Pencarian Penduduk Kalimantan Tengah, Agama Orang Bali, and Bahasa dan Kesuasasteraan Orang Sunda. The readings increase their length and complexity as you get further into the book, and there is comprehensive vocabulary support as well as exercises testing understanding. One great thing about this book is that it comes with an audio CD so you can listen to the readings and add another level to your vocabulary absorption.

Slang

Now if you want to speak to people on a day to day basis, and especially if you want to make friends, then you need to know informal Indonesian, otherwise known as bahasa gaul. I struggled with this in the beginning of my Indonesian language journey. I studied Indonesian at university where there was an understandable emphasis on standard Indonesian. Also, early in my studies a lot of my language exchange partners insisted on helping me with ‘proper’ language, not slang. The result was that when I came across Indonesians in social settings in Sydney I understood nothing! They often had little patience for my slow and ‘proper’ speaking, and my inability to understand fast bahasa gaul made them think I couldn’t understand Indonesian at all.

So, if you want a handy, easy to digest, guide to bahasa gaul, then Belajar Bahasa Gaul, by Molodysky and Santoso, is a must have. The book gives a good overview of the basics of informal Indonesian and a large list of vocabulary. A nice part of the book is that it discusses how the grammar changes in bahasa gaul. There is some discussion of regional differences, but on the whole the book focuses on the dominant informal language that comes mainly out of Jakarta. That is fine and will get you by in a lot of situations. Though when you travel throughout Indonesia it is good to get to know local. Like when you go to Kupang, learn some Bahasa Kupang because dong in Jakarta isn’t the same as dong in Kupang!

Normal Books

There are a lot of textbooks and educational resources out there if you want to learn Indonesian. While useful, it all can get a bit boring if that is all you are using for your language learning. So make sure you make time to read what you are interested in. This can be comics, novels, or even newspapers. Whatever you are interested in is likely to be translated into Indonesian. I’d recommend getting hard copies so you get away from tiring screen time. You can probably find stuff online, though if you are in Sydney, Abbey’s Bookshop is a great place to browse foreign language books, including Indonesian. One strategy is to skim through the book or comic and just try to get the gist of the story. Don’t get bogged down by all the words you don’t understand but focus on the overall story, and using a little imagination helps. Saying that, if there are one or two words that are repeated frequently that you don’t know, then definitely look them up.