Reflection #5

Indonesian history is pretty interesting. It's a long and varied hardship through oppression, liberty and lies. I guess most countries have some sort of mix like that though. I think the future has to catch up with Indonesia's past. For example, over the past few weeks there's been things about Soeharto and how he's "getting away" with things because he's pretty sick. Some people are a bit uppity about him getting away because he's ill - but realistically, you can't put someone on trial if they are on their death bed! Some people support him, but I wonder if they would support him if they knew the truth about how he came into power. I doubt many Indonesians even now would know how he really came into power. That's really sad. It's like generations of people being lied to here, they just don't know it. But I wonder if people knew about the cover up, Indonesia would become a better place. I was having a conversation with someone yesterday who said that Jakarta would have to be blown up just for Indonesia to repair itself. That's pretty huge.

I think the whole reformasi thing that happened in the 90's was a good thing though. At least there are little bits of reformation going on, like Bu Indra said there was a deregulation of media or something like that. (Although I'm sure the Government still regulates it a little...) I guess it's got to be one step at a time, especially when there are plenty of wrongs to right.

Historical words

To be influential - berpengaruh
To be ruled by/to rule - dikuasai/menguasai
Kingdom - kerajaan
To embrace (a religion) - memeluk
State - patung
Trader - pedagang
Trade - perdagangan
King - raja
Spices - rempah-rempah
The only one - satu-satunya
Spread - tersebar
Previous era/times - zaman dahulu
To fight - berjuang
To be captured - ditangkap
Archipelago - kepulauan
Against - melawan
To admire - mengagumi
To colonise - menjajah
Government - permintah
Government administration - pemerintahan
A fight - perjuangan
Company - perusahaan
The people - rayat
Local - setempat
To be published - diterbitkan
Literary works - karya sastra
Establishment - pendirian
Important figure/person - tokoh
Among them - diantaranya
To be occupied - diduduki
To be proclaimed - diproklamasikan
Nationalist/nationality - kebangsaan
Power - kekuasaan
To acknowledge - mengakui
To remind - mengingatkan
WWII - Parang DDunia Kedua
Army - tentara
Vice President - Wakil Presiden
In fact/even -bahkan
Wave - gelombang
attention - hadir
Firm determination - kebulatan tekad
To reach - mencapai
About something - mengenai
To aim - menuju
Witness - menyaksikan
Event - peristiwa
A quote - petikan
Long live! - hiduplah!
so - jadi
Soul/Spirit - jiwa
Free - merdeka
Guide - pandu
Great - raya
My country - tanah airku
Place of birth (where my blood was shed) - tumpah darahku
Candidate - calon
Coup - kudeta
Political parties - partai politik
General elections - pemilihan umum
Elected - terpilih
Attempted coup - usaha kudeta
Entitled - berjudul
Relationship - hubungan
Soldier - prajurit

Ch 8: Dari dulu sampai sekarang (Then and now)

Internet vocab

Through/via - melalui
To look for - mencari
Foreigner - orang asing
As well as - setra
Useful - berguna
Essay - Kemeredekaan
To ask for - meminta
To prepare - menyiapkan
Website - situs web
Interested in - tertarik pada

Reflection #4

I was watching 60 Minutes on the weekend and they had this segment about people in Papua. I'm not sure which part of Papua it was though... as in Irian Jaya (West Papua) or Papua New Guinea (East Papua). But it was really interesting. These 2 white guys (one of whom was a regular reporter on 60 Minutes) went into the jungle with some local guides. They went to the local guides village first and they were dressed up as you could probably imagine people from the stone age! They were a cannibalistic tribe. One of the men said that their brother told him that someone was a witch doctor and put a curse or something on the brother. So he decided to kill the witch doctor and ate him up. Apparently they eat everything except for their teeth and nails. When I saw it was like, "wow! somewhere in the depths of all these jungles (like the Amazon perhaps or relatively uncharted territories like Papua) there are people who still live like people back in time!"

None of these people have ever seen white people before and thought they were ghosts when they heard that there white people roaming. Imagine that compared to the bustling cities of Jakarta where they have definetely seen white people before and don't dress up as people from the stone age (unless theyre at a dress up party?)

Village & City words

Village
Rooster - ayam jantan
To crow - berkokok
To sigh - bernapas panjang
To change - berubah
Desau Daunnya - rustling of leaves
Silent - diam
To be compared with - dibandingkan
Scattered with - ditaburi
Darkness - kegelapan
To reflect - membayangkan
To stroke - mengelus-elus
Dreams - mimpi
The look in his eyes - pandangan matanya
Adventure - Petualangan
Soft hands - tangan lembut

City words
Port - pelabuhan
Park - teman
Slide - temapt meluncur
Becak free zone - daerah bebas becak
These days - dewasa ini
Traffic jam - kemacetan lalu lintas
luxurious - mewah

Food/crop words

Sawah - wet rice field
Padi - the rice that's growing in the field
Beras - uncooked rice
nasi - cooked rice
Dipotong - cut/harvest
Known as - disebut
Planted - ditanam
Staple food - makanan pokok
To call/name - menyebut
Sago - sagu
Cassava - ubi kayu
Soya bean - kedelai
Plants - tumbuh-tumbuhan
Sweet potato - ubi jalar

Danau Toba words

Happy - bahagia
Behind - balik
Smell - bau
Look in the mirror - berkaca
Sound - bunyi
The time - kala
Rice cake with palm sugar - kue beras bergula
Bellow/moo - lenguh
Moonlight night - malam berbulan
Ripples - mengelucak
To appear - muncul
Hammer - palu
Swamp - paya-paya
Weekly market - pekan
Surface - permukaan
A whistle or flute - puput
A piece - sepotong
Light of the full moon - sinar purnama
Bay - teluk
Lotus flower - tunjung

Chapter 7: Desa dan Kota (village and city)

Telling a story vocabulary

To tell a story - bercerita
Wise - bijaksana
Activity/bustle - kesibukan
To pass away/die - meninggal
Place of birth - tempat kalahiran
On one the one hand.... on the other hand - di satu pihak....di lain pihak
Sometime in the future - kapan-kapan
In my opinion - menurut pendapat saya
Relatives - saudara-saudara

forming nouns through ke-an

You can form nouns by adding ke-an to an adjective - ie: ke + adjective + an.

For example:

Miskin (poor) - kemiskinan (poverty)
Baik (good) - kebaikan (kindness)
Sehat (healthy) - kesehatan (health)

Causative me-kan

To make a causative word you do: me + base word + kan

For example:
panas - hot
therefore: memanaskan

bersih - clean
therefore: membersihkan

But some of the words dont follow that kind of pattern such as bangun, which means to get up. membangun means to build, but membangunkan means to wake someone up!

Supaya vs Sehingga

Sehingga means "so that" as a result of an event that occured.
For example: Penny kehujanan sehingga dia sakit.
(Penny was caught in the rain which resulted in her being sick).

Supaya means "so that" in the sense of theres a purpose of doing something.
For example: Robert harus minum obat supaya cepat sembuh.

Ch 6: Semoga cepat sembuh

Doctor Vocabulary
For - bagi
To practise (as a doctor) - berpraktek
To be needed - diperlukan
Clinic - klinik
Choice - pilihan
Diligent/study hard - rajin
Private - swasta
Not only - bukan hanya
Look after - jagalah
But also... - melainkan juga...
To look after - menjaga
Knowledge - pengetahuan
Role - peranan
Often - sering kali
Injection - suntikan
Blood - darah
Heart beat - denyut jantung
Accident - kecelakaan
Victim/casualties - koraban
To board (accommodation) - kos / indekos
Exhausted - lelah
Wounds - luka-luka
To pass away/die - meninggal
To nurse - merawat
Disease - penyakit
Nurse - perawat
Very ill - sakit keras
Pressure - tekanan
Woman - wanita
To have a treatment - berobat
To be checked - diperiksa
Not so good/unwell - kurang sehat
Weak - lemah
To put name down/register (to see doctor) - mendaftar
To feel - merasa
Dizzy - pusing
Flu - selesma
Tonsil - amandel

Other vocab
That's a pity! - kasihan!
Not sure - kurang pasti
Hope you get well soon - semoga cepat sembuh
Rather severe - agak berat
Chemist - apotek
Open - buka
What's wrong with you/what are you suffering from? - Kena apa?
Medicine - obat
Prescription - resep
Doctor's Certificate - surat keterangan sakit
No need - tidak perlu
Package - bungkus
Fever - demam
Pain - nyeri
Adult - orang dewasa
Instructions for use - pentunjuk pemakaian
Dosage/measurement - takaran
To fall - jatuh
Broken - patah
Village meeting hall - balai desa
Only/just/recently - baru
Cough - batuk
Baby - bayi
Grandchild - cucu
Herbal remedy/medicine - jamu
To have someone examined - memeriksakan
To cry - menangis
Suffer from - menderita

Reflection #3

I think it's cool to have a country such as Indonesia that generally embraces different faiths more openly than too politically correct such as Australia. Or France. I could go on about this, but I'll spare you all. But if you want to know my view, then feel free to ask - but I warn you, I could go on about Western civilisation's loss via political correctness. I think multi-religious activities/events really culturally enriches a society. It's a pity that there are people who generally just are politically correct (Eg not being allowed to wear religious symbols such as crosses, jewish skull caps, or the jilbab) or people who want to harm other people because they don't share their faith (eg "muslim" terrorists). :-/

Something my uncle (who is English Australian) pointed out to me was that most of the bombers from Indonesia are from Solo (I think he said). He actually went to the city where most of the bombers were from and when he got out of the car, everyone was looking at him cos he was the only white man there. I thought that was kind of funny.

How to write.....

A Formal Letter

Yth. Bapak/Ibu (insert last name) Yth. means yang terhormat which means "who is respected"
(Title)
(Address)

(Date)

Then start the letter with "Dengan hormat" which means "Dear/With respect".... then write the body, and sign off with "Hormat saya" (yours sincerely), (insert name here).
Some closing lines are:
* Atas perhatian dan bantuan Bapak/Ibu, saya ucapkan terima kasih - for your attention and assitance bapak/ibu, i express my thanks.
* sambil menunggu kabar bapak/ibu, saya ucapkan banyak terima kasih - while waiting for your reply, i express many thanks.

An Informal Letter

When beginning a letter to a friend you can say:
(Insert name here) yang baik which means To Dear (name)
But if you know the person really well you put a personality descriptor such as:
Mary yang lucu - to Mary who is funny
Sue yang cantik - to Sue who is pretty

To end the letter you can say:
That's all for now - Sekian dulu OR Sampai di sini dulu
Regards from - Salam dari
Warm regards - Salam hangat

Flight vocab

(Ok, so I lied. I managed to break it up somewhat. :p)

Airport - bandar udara
To pray - bersembahyang
Warm - hangat
Arrival - kedatangan
To meet/pick up - menjemput
To deliver - menyampaikan
To be stamped - dicap
Contents - isi
Departure - keberangkatan
To hug - memeluk
To prepare - mempersiapkan
Souvenirs - oleh-oleh
Customs (airport) - pabean
Very - sangat
Representative - wakil
To tell - bercerita
Cost/payment - biaya
Fluent - lancar
Shy - malu
Flight - penerbangan
Friendly - ramah
To miss someone - rindu
Busy - sibuk
Lucky - untung

Chapter 5: Pertukaran Siswa (Student Exchange)

Vocab! (Sorry all, I'm not really sure how to separate all the vocab since it seems to be linked to each other!)

Advertisement - iklan
Opportunity - kesempatan
To enrol/apply for something - mendaftarkan diri
About - mengenai
Education - pendidikan
Exchange - pertukaran
Selected - terpilih
Via - lewat
Possibly - mungkin
Express post - pos kilat
Letter of application - surat pendaftaran
Rather - agak
Reason - alasan
To get to know - berkenalan
Please explain - coba jelaskan
To be interviewed - diwawancarai
Culture - kebudayaan
Interviewer - pewawancara
Afraid - takut
Host family - keluarga angkat
On your success - atas sukses Anda
Group - rombongan
Consists of - terdiri dari
Suitable - cocok
To attend - menghadiri
To explain something - menjelaskan
Experience - pengalaman
Interest/attention - perhatian
Meeting - pertemuan
Respectful - sopan
Behaviour - tingkah laku
Public - umum

Reflection 2

Bu Indra also spoke about one of her ex-students who was going to marry an Indonesian lady but her parents sort of put him off because her parents wanted to do the full-set traditional Indonesian wedding. I think that if he really wanted to marry her he would have done it the Indonesian parents way. *shrugs* Sometimes you just have to go through 'pain' to get to the good stuff. But anyway, one of my Indonesian friends is getting married and I managed to go to her engagement party when I got back from the east coast the summer holidays. (Note: She had two engagement parties. This is the one her mother put on for a "small" crowd which turned out to be around 50 people! My friend's only guests were me and a girl from her class because we hd missed out on her real engagement party). Anyway, my friend was supposedly wearing a traditional engagement/wedding dress from her dad's part of Indonesia, which I think may be Padang. But I'm not entirely sure. It was really nice though but it didn't look like any of the dresses in the book. What a shame.

At that engagement party we had a buffet - but not a selamatan, which according to the book is a buffet style ceremonial meal for special occassions. However, we did have Nasi Tumpeng, which is this special cone-shaped rice. They ordered two nasi tumpengs from a er special nasi tumpeng maker. The nasi tumpeng was in the middle of the dish. Around the nasi tumpeng were about 5-6 different foods such as vegetables and prawns.

Apparently in Indonesia if you don't say you belong to a religion, it's a bit weird. Bu Indra suggested to us that we should say we're Christian if you don't belong to a religion. I'm not so sure about that one though. She says we should all know a little bit about it since we live here but some people really don't know anything about Christianity except that there's like Easter, Christmas, the Holy Book is the Bible and that there's this dude called Jesus. (Or people who fully believe The Da Vinci Code even though it's a fictional book). Imagine if you were probed by the Indonesian who was a Christian! o.o

I was actually having a conversation with someone called Jordan on saturday night. He wasn't baptised in any religion because his dad was Greek Orthodox and his mum was something else and the families didn't get along and didn't agree about where he should be baptised but he can imagine the Greek part of his family smuggling him into church and secretly baptising him. Anyway, his best friend who is a Roman Catholic asked him to become his baby's Godfather. So when they had the meeting with the priest, the priest asked Jordan whether he was a Catholic and he lied and said he was one. Jordan then said that he could imagine that when he reached the pearly gates that St Peter was going to open up the book and say, "I see you lied about being a Roman Catholic to a priest. You're going to hell!" I laughed at that. So for those of you who are considering turning Christian just for the sake of not being thought of as weird in Indonesia, consider before you really do say you belong to a certain religious group that you don't belong to. It might be marked against you on Judgement Day or you might be re-incarnated into something 'lowly'.

Words about love. Awwwww.

Love - cinta
I love you - Saya cinta padamu
Puppy love - cinta monyet
Nature lover - pecinta alam
Affection - rasa cinta
Looking at boys/girls - cuci mata
To flirt - main mata
Boyfriend/Girlfriend - pacar

Other ceremonial words

Puppeteer - dalang
To be accompanied by - diiringi
To be done - dikerjakan
Refined - halus
Fall in love - jatuh cinta
Coarse/bad - kasar
Skin/buffalo hide - kulit kerbau
Prince - pangeran
Important - penting
Performance - pertunjukan
Clowns - punakawan
Princess - puteri
King - raja
Queen - ratu
All night long - sepanjang malam

Religious ceremony vocab

Names of the 5 major world religions
Agama Hindu - Hinduism
Agama Islam - Islam
Agama Budha - Buddhism
Agama Kristen - Christianity
Agama Yahudi - Judaism

General religious ceremony vocabulary
Fasting month - bulan puasa
Gods - dewa-dewa
To be burnt - dibakar
Incense - dupa
Please forgive my sins - maaf lahir batin
Corpse - mayat
To Worship - memuja
Tower - menara
To Follow - menganut
To carry on the head - menjunjung
Ancestors - nenek moyang
Chest/coffin - peti
Ceremony - upacara

Wedding Ceremony vocab
Customs - adat
Wedding - perkawinan
For your blessing - atas doa restu
To intend - bermaksud
Attendance - kehadiran
To give permission - mengizinkan
The One Almighty God - Tuhan Yang Maha Esa
Side by Side - berdamingan
Shake hands - bersalaman
Joined in by - diikuti
Groom - pengantin laki-laki
Bride - pengantin wanita
Guest - tamu

Farewell/graduation vocab

To accompany: mengantar
To send: mengirim
Doesn't know yet: belum tahu
Contact: hubungi
To organise: mengadakan
Leaving/farewell: perpisahan
Every: setiap
Graduation Certificate: Surat Wisuda
To graduate: tamat
Graduation: Wisuda
You all: Anda sekalian
To give a speech: berpidato
Ambitions: cita-cita
To be opened: dibuka
To be served: disediakan
Results: hasil
Decorations: hiasan
Enjoy: menyenangkan
Hopefully: mudah-mudahan
Marks: nilai

Birthday invitation vocab

RSVP - harap dijawab
Party - pesta
Happy birthday - hari ulang tahun
Invitation - undangan
Wishing you a long life - semoga panjang umur
Special - istimewa
Candle - lilin
To invite - mengundang
To celebrate - merayakan
That - bahwa
A reply - jawaban
To tell someone something - memberitahu
Message - pesan
Cake - kue

How to congratulate someone

Congratulating or Wishing Someone Well

Selamat or Selamat berbahagia: Congratulations

Selamat berbahagia atas pertunangan Anda: Congratulations on your engagement (pertunangan is engagement)

Selamat berbahagia atas kelahiran putera/puteri Anda: Congratulations on the birth of your son/daughter.

Semoga sukses dengan ujian Anda: Wishing you success with your exams

Formal ways to reply
Kepada Bapak Murdiadi yang terhormat: To Mr Murdiadi who is respected

Terima kasih atas kebaikan Ibu dan Bapak Murdiadi: Thank you for your kindness Mrs & Mr Murdiadi

Kami ingin mengucapkan terima kasih atas hadiahnya: We wish to express our thanks for the gift

Atas nama: on behalf of

Hormat kami: Yours sincerely

Here is a more indepth site on passive and active sentences in Indonesian

Active and Passive (Aktif dan Pasif)

If someone does something to someone or something, the verb that describes that action is a transitive verb. The one who does the action is the agent. The person or thing that receives the action of the action is the recipient. In Indonesian, if the agent and/or the action is the main concern of the sentence, the "active" form of the verb is used, which means the verb takes the prefix meN-*. Often, but not always, the agent will be the subject of an active sentence. The exception is if the verb is in a "yang phrase" and the agent is not in that phrase; then, the agent is the predicate and the verb in the "yang phrase" is active. If the agent is in the "yang phrase" with the verb, the verb is "passive". If the recipient of the action is the main concern of the sentence, the "passive" form of the verb is used. Often, but not always, the recipient will be the subject of a passive sentence. The exception is as mentioned above: if the verb is in a "yang phrase" and the recipient is not in that phrase, the recipient is the predicate and the verb in the "yang phrase" is passive. In the passive, the verb is preceded either by :

(1) short forms of the intimate pronouns (ku-, kau-) or di-; or by

(2) the full forms of the formal pronouns (saya; Anda, Saudara, Bapak, etc;
beliau); or by the plural pronouns (kami, kita, kalian, mereka).

In all cases, NOTHING (no auxiliary word such as bisa, harus, akan, etc.) comes between the pronoun form and the verb stem. In the case of third person passive, the noun or pronoun(-nya) which designates the agent comes after the verb, optionally preceded by oleh ("by"). Except for sentences where the verb is in a yang phrase, the subject of a passive verb is the recipient, and often precedes the verb. With subject /predicate inversion the recipient-subject may come after the passive verb.

Taken from Seasite.niu.edu (click on that link for more examples)

Passive and Active sentences, Chapter 4 style

I admit I don't fully get the whole passive/active sentence thing, but I do try my best. Anyway, this is how I figure is best how to learn it. All full, "correct" sentences should have a subject, verb and an object. For example, "I played with the dog." would have "I" as the subject, "Played" as the verb and "Dog" as the object.

Step 1: Figure out what point of view the sentence is.
A 1st person point of view will say, "I, we" or "Saya, aku, kita, kami"
A 2nd person point of view will say, "You" or "Anda, kamu"
A 3rd person point of view will say, "He, She, They, Them, or that person's name" or "Dia, Mereka, (insert name here)"

STEP 2: Figure out whether the sentence is an active sentence or a passive sentence.
An ACTIVE sentence is one that focuses on the subject. An example of an active sentence is, "I wrote that book" as it focuses on me having written the book.

A PASSIVE sentence is one which focuses on the object. An example of a passive sentence is, "That book was written by me" and it focuses on the book more than me being the author of it.

Step 3: Change the sentence type
Ok by changing the sentence type, obviously I mean going from changing an active sentence to a passive one, and a passive sentence into an active one.

Changing from an active sentence to a passive sentence
As mentioned before, an active sentence will be Subject + Verb + Object such as "Anne wrote that book" where "I" is the subject, "Wrote" is the verb and "Book" is the object. So because this is an active sentence and I want to change it to an passive sentence, I want the sentence structure to be Object + Verb + Subject. Therefore, the sentence will be "This book was written by Anne".

Or in Indonesian:
Anne menulis buku itu (Active sentence) --> Buku itu ditulis oleh Anne (Passive sentence).

Things to note:
* 'menulis' changes to 'ditulis'. Basically the key is just to drop the "me" from the verb and change it to a "di".
* 'oleh' means 'by'... just use it whenever you're writing a passive sentence to be safe.

When changing the passive into an active, just move the words around to make the Subject + Verb + Object pattern. But remove the "di" from the verb and add the "me-" prefix. And remove the 'oleh'

More about the passive and active sentences will be continued later when I get to the next chapter. :)

Chapter 4: Perayaan dan upacara (Celebrations and Ceremonies)

Forming Nouns with '-an'

Nouns can be formed by placing -an at the end of a base word.

For example:
Baca (To Read) -> Bacaan (Reading Material)
Membantu (To Help) -> Bantuan (Assistance)
Makan (To Eat) -> Makanan (Food)
Hari (Day) -> Harian (Newspaper)
Manis (Sweet) -> Manisan (Sweets)