Tag Archives: Indonesian language

Indonesian Hero: Mamat Gayo

By aboutindo | Published: June 1, 2010
If you ever thought the world was against you, or you don’t have the advantages that other people have, you should think about Pak Gayo.  He’s got more spirit than you and me and then some.  I’ve taken the liberty of having the essay attached to the youtube clip translated because I like this story and there isn’t much [...]
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Jakarta Street Food: Warteg (Vegetarian)

By misterjames | Published: March 25, 2010
A ‘warung’ is a small restaurant.  ‘Tegal’ means a dry field, that is one which has not been flooded for rice growing and is therefore suitable for growing vegetables.  By combining and shortening the two words, we get ‘warteg’, vegetarian restaurant.  This practice of shortening and combining two words to make a new one is quite [...]
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Indonesian names that I like

By misterjames | Published: March 19, 2010
I’m starting a list of Indonesian first names that I’ve heard about or have appeared on this blog and sound cool or unusual.  I’ll put the formal name first, then the nick name that’s derived from it (if I know it) in brackets.  Please contribute if you have something to add: Girl’s names Bintarasari (Binbin, Sari); Endang (can be [...]
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Treasure house of languages

By misterjames | Published: March 15, 2010
This map is taken from Mikael Parkvall’s book Limits of Language.  The size of each country depends on the number of languages produced within its borders.  Papua New Guinea is the champion with over 800.  But Indonesia can’t be far behind, thanks to West Irian Jaya.  Even some of the other Indonesian islands, such as Kalimantan, [...]
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Indonesian street food: Ayam Goreng

By misterjames | Published: March 11, 2010
Fried chicken seems to be Indonesia’s most popular meal, judging by the number of fast food outlets. Even McDonalds sells more chicken pieces than hamburgers in Indonesia.  But this one in the clip is better than KFC.  Just for the record, dada = head; in this context, paha atas = thigh and paha = leg (I guess they [...]
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Indonesian street food: Pisang goreng – fried banana

By misterjames | Published: March 6, 2010
Here’s how to order a snack from the kaki lima (hand cart) which ply the streets of every city and town.  Notice the environmentally friendly wrapping?  Sheets of banana leaf can be bought at most food supermarkets, it’s such an elegant substitute for plastic. Matkiding, the owner of the video, orders two misro first, then the bananas. In his words: pisang [...]
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Slow motion car chase on the Jakarta Tollway

By misterjames | Published: March 4, 2010
It crossed my mind that this might have been staged, but they look like real people (not actors) and the scenario is too weird to be fiction. As you watch, keep in mind that this is happening on a toll road in the biggest city in SE Asia, in the middle of the day. Pak Win (Mr [...]
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Cute bird

By misterjames | Published: February 24, 2010
I never knew a bird of prey could look so cute.  When I was teaching in Jakarta, a high school-aged student came to class with a few feathers attached to his backpack so I asked him about it.  It turns out he kept a collection of raptors at home.  He offered me a falcon but naturally I couldn’t [...]
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