PRONUNCIATION

This section is designed to make you familiar with the sounds of the Indonesian
language using our simplified phonetic transcription. You will find the pronunciation
of the letters and sounds in Indonesian explained below, together with their
imitated equivalents.

VOWELS

The pronunciation of some Bahasa vowels is slightly different to English ones

LETTE SYMBOL APPROXIMATE PHONETIC

EXAMPLE
RS USED PRONUNCIATION TRANSCRIPTION
a ah as in spa apa ah-pah
a eh bed, enter, resume Emper Ehm-pehr
Empat,
E about, sofa
terbang
m-paht

I Ee eerie, free Ini ee-nee

i I sing, miss, pin Dingin Dee-ngin
O Oh only Obat Oh-baht
U Oo Book Buku Boo-koo
Ai Ai Eye, bye Cukai Choo-kai
Au Ow Cow Atau Ah-tow
Ar Ahr Car Bayar Bah-yar

Berlibur
b r-lee-boor
Er r December
Desember
deh-sehm-b r
Ir eer Leer Konfirmasi Kohn-feer-mah-see
Or Or For Paspor Pahs-por

CONSONANTS
Generally, consonants in bahasa sound like their English counterparts :
CDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ
LETTE SYMBOL APPROXIMATE PHONETIC
EXAMPLE
RS USED PRONUNCIATION TRANSCRIPTION

Bawa, Bah-wah
B B But, web
sebab
s h-bahb
C Ch Church Cuci Choo-chee
F F Fool, leaf Fasilitas Fah-see-leetahs
G G Go,beg Ganti Gahn-tee
Hati, Hah-tee
H H Ham, ahead
ramah Rah-mah
J J Joy, judge Jalan Jah-lahn
K K Kiss, sick Kamar Kah-mahr
L L Leave, bell Lain Lah-een
M M Man, ham Mau Mah-woo
N N No, tin Nasi Nah-see

P P Pin, tip Pesan p -sahn

Q Q Kick Qirana Qee-rah-nah
R R Run, car Ruang Roo-wahng
Saya, Sah-yah
S S Sun, miss
bisnis Biss-niss
T T Too, bet Tidak Tee-dahk
W W We Waktu Wahk-too
Experience,
X X
example
Alex Ah-l x
Y Y Yes Ya Yah
Z Z Zoo Zaitun Zai-toon
Ng Ng Sing Ruang Roo-wahng
Ny Ny Cayon Nyanyi Nyah-nyee
Sy Sy She, leash Syal syahl

Note

1. /g/ is always a hard /g/, as is go never /j/ as in ginger

2. /h/ at the end of a syllable is always pronounced
3. /c/ is always /ch/, as is church never /k/ as ini caror /s/as in certain
CONSONANTS COMBINATIONS
Two consonants combinations are command in the Bahasa. The combinations ng
sounds like ng in ring. It can occur at the start, in themiddle, or at the end of
word. Wide open (mouth) nganga ngah-nga.

Hand tangan tah-ngahn

Take one note that this combinations is not equivalent to the sequence of n
followed by g in the English word finger. When this sequence of sound is
needed in Bahasa, it is spelt nng as in tangguh tahng-guh

The combination ny sound like ny in banyan or ni in onion. It can occur at

the start or in the middle of a word.

Fresh (environment) nyaman nyah-mahn

Smile senyum s -nyoom