Language

Bahasa Indonesia is the official language, actually most of the Indonesians are united by this common national language. Many regional languages and dialects are spoken. On Sulawesi alone for instance, 62 different languages have been identified.

The language started a long time ago as a language for traders througout the archipelago. After becoming independent from the Dutch this Malay like language was quickly developed to become the national language. A lot of foreign words (especially Dutch) have been adopted and modified to fit the Indonesian phonetic rules. Words like "doktor", "polisi", "foto", "paspor" and "musik" must sound familiar.

Bahasa Indonesia is grammatically simple with no conjugations, no tenses, and no declensions. Unlike the other major languages of Asia, it is not written with ideographic characters or complex syllabic scripts, but with the same alphabet as European languages.

English is the most widely understood foreign language. Some elderly people still speak Dutch.

Tip: Check out the "Useful phrases" section to learn some basic bahasa Indonesia.