Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Jason:Hi everyone, Jason here! Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 2 - Ta king a Walk in Indonesia. Welcome to IndonesianPOD101.com, where we study modern Indonesian in a fun, educational format!
Fira: Hi, I’m Fira. Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. Jason, what are we going to learn in this lesson?
Jason: In this lesson, you’ll learn about basic greetings in Indonesian.
Fira: Ya, benar! That’s right. So, where does this conversation take place?
Jason: Well, it takes place at a coffee shop. The conversation is between Edi and Tuti, and they will speak in formal Indonesian.Let's listen to the conversation.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Fira: Jason, do you know that many Indonesians ask “Where are you going?” just to say “hello”, especially if it looks like you’re headed off somewhere?
Jason: Ah, that sounds familiar! In western countries, we usually don’t ask “Where are you going?
Fira: Why not?
Jason: We’d feel that this is an invasion of one’s privacy – basically, it’s just none of our business.
Fira: Well, in Indonesia, people will ask you “mau kemana” which means “Where are you going?”, because it shows they are friendly and sociable.
Jason: Then do I have to say where I’m going?
Fira: Not really. You don’t have to respond to this question directly.
Jason: So how do people usually answer to the question?
Fira: You can simply say “jalan-jalan", which means ‘going for a walk’.
Jason:I see. I’ll use it when I get asked the question, then!
Fira: Please do! Now let’s take a look at the vocab.
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Jason: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Fira: The first is apa kabar.
Jason: I know it has a very interesting meaning, right?
Fira: Yeah, it does. It literally means ‘what’s the news’. This is the way we ask, ‘how are you?’
Jason: That’s right. And how do we respond to that question?
Fira: You can say “Kabar Baik”. Kabar means ‘news’ – and baik means ‘well’.
Jason: So, all together, it literally means “The news is well.” right?
Fira: Yes, that’s right. Listeners, repeat after me. “Apa Kabar”
Jason: (pause) “How are you?”, literally “What’s the news?”
Fira: Kabar Baik
Jason: (pause) I’m fine. literally ‘News well’ / Okay, what’s the next phrase?
Fira: Mau kemana?
Jason: It means ‘Where do you want to go?” right?
Fira: Yes. It literally means “want to + where”, but in natural English it means “where do you want to go?”
Jason: Ah, so there’s not even a mention of the verb “to go” in this phrase.
Fira: No, there isn’t – . “Mau” means “to want”, and “kemana” means ‘where to’.
Jason: I see – that’s really interesting. Okay, let’s move on to the grammar points now.
GRAMMAR POINT
Jason: In this lesson, we're going to learn about basic greetings in Indonesian. First, we’re going to talk about the use of kinship terms in Indonesian.
Fira: You may think that it’s a bit too early to be talking about kinship terms, but they’re actually really important in Indonesian.
Jason: So, let’s start out with the one we heard in the first lesson – mas. What does this mean?
Fira: “Mas” literally means “older brother”. But you can use this for other people who aren’t necessarily in your family.
Jason: In fact, it can be used to address any slightly older man, usually one who isn’t married – yet.
Fira: That’s correct . In Indonesian, we also have the term “mbak”, which means ‘older sister’. You can use it to an older woman who isn’t married – yet.
Jason: Oh, we should tell our listeners that these terms aren't originally from Indonesian.
Fira: Yes, they’re originally from Javanese, spoken on the island of Java. But many people use them nowadays. In West Java, however, people sometimes use the term “abang” or “bang” for older brother.
Jason: And it seems that every regional language has their own kinship terms that you can possibly use.
Fira: That’s right. As for pronouns, did you know Indonesian people often leave out pronouns?
Jason: That’s right. Could you give us an example, Fira?
Fira: In the dialogue, we had “mau kemana”
Jason:It means “Where are you going?” but it didn't have “going” and “you” in Indonesian.
Fira: Right. In Indonesian, there’s no need to include the pronoun Anda meaning “you”..
Jason: When Indonesian people talk each other, they usually don’t use pronouns. In the beginning of the conversation, we immediately know who’s participating, right? It was between Tuti and Edi and they knew each other well.
Fira: In that case, they don’t mention pronouns such as ‘I’ or ‘you’.
Jason: We simply don’t need to – since we’re not talking about anyone else.
Fira: That’s right. And in the answer, we also leave out pronouns. Do you remember the answer to “mau kemana” in the dialogue?
Jason: Could you say it one more time?
Fira: Jalan-jalan. Here, you won’t find the pronoun Anda either.
Jason:In fact, if you use saya and Anda as you would use them in English – this sounds quite unnatural in Indonesian.
Fira: So, listeners, repeat after me. (normal) Mau kemana
(pause)
Jason: And this means: "Where are you going?".

Outro

Jason:Okay, that’s it for this lesson.
Fira:See you next time!

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