Body Language and Conversation

Conservative dressing in Indonesia consists of a collared shirt for men and long pants. Women are expected also to wear pants or skirts that go beyond the knee and tops which cover the shoulder. Shorts and t-shirts are accepted in tourist areas and bikinis on tourits beaches, but otherwise they are best avoided, and certainly must be avoided when visiting an Indonesian home or place of worship. Sarongs, short-pants and t-shirts are normally worn around the home. In Balinese Hindu temples, a sash should be worn around the waist.

Prepositions

Prepositions establish relationships between words and are therefore useful in building phrases. Some common examples in Bahasa Indonesia include the following:

At, In, On (all referring to place), use "Di".
At, In, On, For (all referring to time, use "Pada jam", "Dalam", "Pada", "Selama", respectively.
For (a purpose) use "Untuk"
From use "Dari"
Towards use "Ke"
Inside, Outside use "Di dalam", "Di luar", respectively
Since and Until use "Sejak", "Sampai", respectively
About and With use "Tentang" and "Dengan", respectively

Greetings and Responses

In any language basic introductions must be learned. Introductions in Indonesia may include a gentle handshake and the touching of the heart afterwards to indicate goodwill. Always use the right hand.

"Selamat" is the basic greeting word, derived from the Arabic "salam", meaning peace.

"Selamat pagi" (Good morning), "Selamat siang" (Good day, from about 11am to 2-3pm), "Selamat sore" (Good afternoon), "Selamat malam (good evening, after nightfall), "Selamat tidur" (good night, "tidur" = to sleep).

Whilst rote-learning should be avoided in most cases when learning a second language in some cases, as people learn sentences, not words, in some basic cases it is an effective way to ingrain knowledge. Specifically, basic pronunciation, the alphabet and numbers should be practised until they become second nature.

Pronounciation

Dear Senator Conroy,

By way of introduction I am a systems administrator for a high-performance computing centre critical for researchers in your state. You may also remember me working on IT support for the Victorian Parliamentary Labor Party for a number of years.

I am writing to you concerning the proposed "mandatory 'clean feed' internet service" which you expressed last year in "Labor's Plan for Cyber-safety".