LESSON NOTES

Survival Phrases S1 #6
Where Is The Bathroom in Indonesia?

CONTENTS

Dialogue - Indonesian
Main
English
Vocabulary
Sample sentences
Grammar
Cultural insight

# 6
INDONESIANPOD101.COM SURVIVAL PHRASES S1 #6 1
DIALOGUE - INDONESIAN
MAIN

1. Kamar kecil di mana?

2. di mana kamar kecil?

ENGLISH

1. The bathroom, where is it?

2. Where is the bathroom?

VOCABULARY

Indonesian English Class

kamar kecil restroom noun

WC Bathroom, acronym of British “water closet”. noun

Kamar kecil di mana? "The bathroom, where is it?"

di mana kamar kecil? "Where is the bathroom?"

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Kamar kecil di mana Di beberapa wc umum di Bali, sangat kotor

tetapi tetap diminta bayaran untuk memakainya.
"Where is the bathroom?"
"Some public lavatories in Bali are very dirty but a
fee is still required to use them."

GRAMMAR
In today's lesson we'll cover an extremely important phrase, "Where is the bathroom?"

In Indonesian "Where is the bathroom?" is Kamar kecil di mana?.

Let's take a look at the components. The first word kamar means "room." This is followed by kecil, which
in Indonesian is "small" or "little." So to recap here, we have kamar kecil. Literally this means "the small
room" or "bathroom." One small note: typographic [c] in Indonesian is always pronounced "ch" as in
"chicken." Now, let's take a look at the final word di mana which means "where?"

So altogether we have Kamar kecil di mana ?. Literally this means "The bathroom, where is it?"

There is another way of asking "Where is the bathroom?" which is di mana kamar kecil?

INDONESIANPOD101.COM SURVIVAL PHRASES S1 #6 2

Since we already have learned the first way of asking "Where is the bathroom?" which is Kamar kecil di
mana ? this phrase is simply a reordering of the words for "bathroom" kamar kecil and "where?" di
mana . This time, we say di mana kamar kecil? Literally this means "Where is the bathroom?"

What's the difference between the two phrases, you may ask? Well, for our purposes here, not much. In
fact, in most situations, you can use either. It's just that the first expression Kamar kecil di mana ? is
slightly more frequent, but just slightly.

There's also another word for bathroom, which is WC. This is actually the Indonesian pronunciation of
the British acronym "WC," or "water closet." This is used quite often, and can substitute kamar kecil in
any phrase we've learned so far.

Now when you finally get to the bathroom there may be one last hurdle. Sometimes, only the words for
"men" and "women" are printed on the doors, and in Indonesian, there are two versions for each. The
words for "men" are laki-laki or pria. The words for women are perempuan or wanita. Just remember:
laki-laki always occurs with perempuan, while pria always occurs with wanita.

CULTURAL INSIGHT
Quick Tip #1

Most of the toilets in Indonesia are of the Western sit-down style nowadays, but there are still many
non-Western toilets, i.e. these are of the squat type, or in other cases, simply a hole in the ground. You
simply squat over the toilet or hole in these cases.
 
When you are finished, if there is no flushing mechanism, you should take a dipper (gayung) that should
be near or next to a large basin of water known as a bak and fill it with water. Then, you simply flush the
toilet by pouring water from the dipper. Also, the plumbing in these toilets usually cannot handle toilet
paper, so used toilet paper should be disposed of in a small garbage bin that should be in the room.
 
Quick Tip #2

In Indonesia, only the more exclusive resorts or restaurants are guaranteed to have toilet paper in the
bathrooms. So, be sure to bring a small roll or package of toilet paper whenever you need to use the
bathroom. Also, if you consider yourself a purist, always use your left hand to handle and use toilet
paper since this hand is traditionally used to clean yourself. (That's also why there's a strong taboo for
using your left hand for just about everything else.)
 

INDONESIANPOD101.COM SURVIVAL PHRASES S1 #6 3