Learning Indonesian - The fun and easy self-paced course in Bahasa Indonesia, the Indonesian Language

Tentang Cici (About Cici)

admin — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:20:51 +0000

Salam kenal semua! Saya pikir ini saat yang tepat untuk memperkenalkan diri saya kepada kalian.

Nama saya Cici. Saya lahir di kota Medan (di pulau Sumatra) dan pindah ke Jakarta sejak umur 5 tahun. Saya tinggal di Jakarta sampai lulus SMA lalu saya pindah ke Amerika Serikat. Walaupun saya tinggal di Amerika, saya sering pulang Indonesia untuk berkumpul dengan keluarga saya.

Ketika saya dan Shaun tidak sedang merekam podcast Learning Indonesian, kami suka memasak, menonton televisi dan berjalan-jalan menikmati udara luar. Belakangan, kami suka memasak berbagai makanan Asia. Contohnya: sri kaya (a popular spread made of eggs, sugar and coconut milk, usually spread on buttered toast) dan berbagai nasi goreng. Karena sekarang sudah musim semi, kami juga akan barbeque di luar rumah. Kami sudah tidak sabar bakar ikan (kesukaan Cici) dan sate ayam (kesukaan Shaun). Pasti sedap sekali!

Here is a direct translation…

Hello everyone! I think this is a good time to introduce myself to you.

My name is Cici. I was born in Medan (on the island of Sumatra) and moved to Jakarta since I was 5 years old. I lived in Jakarta until I graduated from high school then I moved to the United States. Even though I live in the US, I often go back to Indonesia to meet with my family.

When I and Shaun are not recording Learning Indonesian podcasts, we love to cook, watch television and walk to enjoy the air outside. Recently, we love cooking various Asian cuisine. For example: sri kaya (a popular spread made of eggs, sugar and coconut milk, usually spread on buttered toast) and various fried rice. Since now is already spring, we will also barbecue outside of our house. We can’t wait to grill fish (Cici’s favorite) and chicken satay (Shaun’s favorite). Definitely going to be delicious!!

Photo courtesy of goosmurf

My Favorite Indonesian Foods

cici — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:55:00 +0000

After so many years of living in the US, I still think Indonesian food is the best food in the world. (no offense! I’m crazy about cheeseburgers too!) But for me, nothing compares to eating a plate of nasi padang with ayam goreng or a plate of rice with barbecue fish (ikan bakar) and sambal.

Every time I go back to Indonesia, I always make sure I eat my favorite foods. Here are some of my top favorite Indonesian foods.

Nasi Padang
Nasi Padang literally means rice from Padang, a place in West Sumatra. Padang food is spicy and features an array of curries, rendang, and sambal. Usually, when you go to a Padang restaurant, the waiter/waitress (pelayan) will bring small plates of Padang dishes to your table. Don’t worry, you only pay what you eat.

Spicy but very yummy!

Watch Anthony Bourdain from the TV show No Reservations visit (and almost destroy!) a Restoran Nasi Padang below…

Sate Padang
Padang-style sate. Unlike sate ayam, the gravy of sate padang is spicy and curry-based (with turmeric, coriander, and cumin). Usually served on banana leaf and sprinkled with fried shallots or onion. It’s a very popular street food (kaki lima).

Ikan Bakar/Panggang
Barbecue fish marinated with sweet soy sauce. Very delicious eaten with rice and sambal.

Nasi Uduk
For those who don’t like spicy food, nasi uduk is a good choice to try. Nasi uduk is coconut-flavored rice, usually served with side dishes such as ayam goreng (fried chicken), tempe goreng (fried tempe), telur goreng (fried egg), and of course, sambal!

Martabak Manis
Indonesian adaptation of Dutch pancake. The most popular options are martabak manis dengan coklat (sweet martabak with chocolate) or martabak manis dengan keju (sweet martabak with cheese). You can even order one martabak with both coklat and keju. Yummy! Once you try it, you will never get enough!

Es Campur
Es campur literally means mixed ice. It is usually served in a bowl (mangkok). The mangkok is filled with shaved ice, santan (coconut milk), gula merah (palm sugar), alpulkat (avocado), kelapa (coconut), nangka (jackfruit) and several kinds of jelly. Perfect for a warm day in Indonesia!

Hmmm. My mouth is watering just thinking about my favorite foods…

What is your favorite Indonesian food?

Dari Ibu Cici…

cici — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:35:24 +0000

I’m working on some very interesting topics and it’s not quite ready for the new site launch. Please stay tuned for my new blog!

Balinese Cooking Class

shaun — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:54:19 +0000

Food. Great food is everywhere in Indonesia… there’s a long, rich history behind the food of the archipelago. Foods and techniques from timeless native tradition, Malay, Indian, Chinese, Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern and European have come together and been perfected over time. In fact, you could call Indonesian food the original “fusion” cooking!

Bali has its own rich tradition of cooking, echoing its long history and connections to many parts of the world. Cici and I learned a lot about how all of this comes together through a one-day class for learning how to cook classical Balinese recipes. We had a great time and learned a lot. While we can’t share how delicious the food was or the beautiful smells of a Balinese kitchen in action, we can show you some of the photos we took while we were there!

Our Balinese Chef and Cooking Instructor…

All of the beautiful ingredients we used…

Cici making sambal… the right way!

I’ve been entrusted to handle the sambal goreng…

Very Hot Wok + Water = Surprised Cici

Our barbie master.. shy but very good at his job!

Nasi Goreng Bali dan Mi Goreng Bali.. enak sekali!

The fruits (or is it meats??) of our labor..

Lunch!

Just look at that lunch.. Makan siang yang enak! How can you not love it?? The smell of coconut milk, shallots, garlic, ginger, chili, kaffir lime leaves, grilled meat.. if you’ve been to Indonesia, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t been, you’re in for a real treat. If you’re interested in some recipes, please let us know in the comments below.

Selamat Makan!

-Shaun

Major Redesign Coming Soon

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:08:48 +0000

We just wanted to give you a little warning that our main site will be going through some major visual changes. We’ve commissioned a new design that will make it much easier for us to deliver educational Indonesian language content. It should also be more appealing to the eye, which is always a welcome change!

For now, this is only for the main site, but we will be incorporating elements of this design into other parts of the site such as the member’s area. We tend to be conservative when it comes to the member’s area as we want to be 100% sure everything’s in perfect working order before we make any major changes. Stay tuned, though, it is coming and it will make the site even easier to use.

Thanks!

- Cici and Shaun

Lesson 48 of Learning Indonesian – Occupations

admin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:22:13 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk about how to say various professions in Indonesian.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Speed Improvements and Other Enhancements!

admin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:50:56 +0000

As our site has grown (thanks to you!), we have seen our web hosting service get slower and slower during peak times. We tried working with the service, but they just couldn’t give us the performance we needed.

So, over the past week, we’ve been carefully moving everything over to a new company and a very high performance server.We also have a few more things we’ve been working on… New site layout and redesign!We are working on a redesign to the site to improve the layout of things and make everything, well, just a bit better looking. We know many folks spend a lot of time on the site, so we want it to be a bit more comfortable. The redesign will also allow us to add more useful material to the site.

Right now, the layout makes it difficult to present information exactly how we would like. Overall, it will aid in making this a better educational resource, which is our top priority above all else.

We’ll also be working on further speed improvements and break things up into more manageable chunks. This will help you navigate around the site easier while grouping things more logically. Again, this is all with the goal of improving the educational quality of the site as a whole.

Throughout all of these changes, you should not notice any problems. If you do, please don’t hesitate to send us an email at support@learningindonesian.com and we’ll look at it right away. And, of course, please feel free to comment below.

Lesson 47 of Learning Indonesian – Making Telephone Calls

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:54:37 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk about making phone calls. We’ll learn how to begin and end phone calls and the terminology associated with making telephone calls in Indonesian.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 46 of Learning Indonesian – Fruits

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:48:52 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk more about fruits. We’ll learn the names of a few more fruits as well as practice more sentence construction.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 45 of Learning Indonesian – Senses

admin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:12:18 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk more about the senses. Previously we’ve talked about taste and smell. In this lesson, we’ll introduce terms related to seeing and hearing.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 44 of Learning Indonesian – Noun Classifiers

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:34:26 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk about noun classifiers, which have the an effective meaning such as “a” or “an” or even “a piece of” or “a slice of” in English. We’ll be talking about the most common ones such as sebuah, seorang and seekor.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 43 of Learning Indonesian – Comparisons

admin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:57:21 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk about comparing different things. We’ll learn how to compare things that are similar, more or less than other things.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 42 of Learning Indonesian – Hiring People

admin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:15:00 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk about hiring people and renting things. We’ll learn how to talk about hiring drivers, tourist guides, etc.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 41 of Learning Indonesian – Nature

admin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:44:01 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn how to talk about nature. We’ll talk about the sun, moon, stars, sky, clouds, etc.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 40 of Learning Indonesian – Animals

admin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:56:33 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn the names of different animals and use previous material to construct new sentences.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 39 of Learning Indonesian – Evening Activities

admin — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:29:52 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn about some important evening activities such as watching television, eating dinner and going to bed.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 38 of Learning Indonesian – Morning Activities

admin — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:10:49 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn about some important morning activities like getting up, taking a shower and eating breakfast.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 37 of Learning Indonesian – Action Verbs

admin — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:37:11 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn introduce some action verbs. We’ll go over some common actions like run, jump, play etc. as well as talk about Indonesian prefixes for distinguishing action verbs with objects from verbs without objects. Be sure to check the study guide in your email for a table on how to construct verbs with the me- prefix.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 36 of Learning Indonesian – Colors

admin — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:10:16 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn about colors in Indonesian. We’ll build more descriptive sentences using new words and previous material.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 35 of Learning Indonesian – More on Conjunctions

admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:33:15 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn continue our work with conjunction. We will introduce some more conjunctions and work on building some more complex sentences.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 34 of Learning Indonesian – Conjunctions

admin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:04:20 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn about conjunctions such as “and” and “or”. We’ll begin to use these words to construct complex sentences. In the next lesson, we’ll introduce more conjunctions. Conjunctions in Indonesian allow us to express much more complex ideas and are a key step in fluency.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 33 of Learning Indonesian – Asking Questions

admin — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:00:18 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll introduce a few new important words to use when asking questions. Who, Which (one), When and Why to go along with What and How. We’ll use these to form various basic questions.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 32 of Learning Indonesian – Stating Views and Opinions

admin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:20:18 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk about how to express your views, thoughts and opinions. We’ll introduce words such as “know”, “feel”, “believe”, and “think” as well as useful adjectives to describe thoughts and opinions.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 31 of Learning Indonesian – More on Describing People

admin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:24:36 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll continue our discussion on describing people. We’ll go over more physical attributes, including age and hair length. We’ll also do some more Indonesian sentence practice with all of the terms.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 30 of Learning Indonesian – Describing People

admin — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:00:30 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk about describing people. We’ll talk about some physical and personality aspects and build some more complex sentences.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 29 of Learning Indonesian – Directions

admin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:00:19 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk about how to give directions. We’ll talk about important words related to understanding directions such as left and right, walking, continue on, stop, etc.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 28 of Learning Indonesian – Getting Lost

admin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:00:13 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn a few helpful terms if you get lost or need help in Indonesia. We go over terms such as citizen, embassy, and consulate as well.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 27 of Learning Indonesian – Business Hours

admin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:00:29 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk about how to express a shop’s business hours. We’ll learn to ask what time a shop opens and closes.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 26 of Learning Indonesian – Past, Present and Future

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:00:27 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll begin to learn about how to express events that happen in the past, present and future. In Indonesian, tense is expressed with simple words instead of verb suffixes and prefixes.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 25 of Learning Indonesian – More on Shopping

admin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:00:53 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn a bit more about shopping, how to pay and listen to a conversation between a customer and a shop owner.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 24 of Learning Indonesian – Shopping

admin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:00:56 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn how to talk about buying things, discuss the price, and even ask for a discount.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 23 of Learning Indonesian – More Emergency Expressions

admin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:00:03 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn some more important emergency expressions.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 22 of Learning Indonesian – Emergency Expressions

admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:00:00 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn several important emergency expressions. You’ll learn how to call for help, ask someone to call the police, an ambulance, say you are sick and ask for a doctor.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 21 of Learning Indonesian – Big Numbers

admin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:00:37 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn how to say numbers in the hundreds, thousands and millions. We’ll go through a few example numbers, allowing the listener to construct the number in completely in Indonesian.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 20 of Learning Indonesian – The Days of the Week

admin — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:29:09 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn the names of the days of the week as well as how to say yesterday, today, tomorrow.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 19 of Learning Indonesian – More on Drinks

admin — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:00:41 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn the names of some different common drinks and how to ask for them.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 18 of Learning Indonesian – More Food and the Bill

admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:01:16 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn the names of some foods, how to ask for food to be wrapped and how to ask for the bill. We’ll also have a short conversation at the restaurant.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 17 of Learning Indonesian – Ordering Food

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:00:03 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn how to order food in a restaurant. We’ll go over some new vocabulary and have a short conversation and finally order the special (not too spicy!).

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 16 of Learning Indonesian – Expressing Love and Affection

admin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:38:31 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn how to express love and affection. In honor of Valentine’s Day, we’ll go over several different ways to say you love someone, from your children to your sweetheart.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 15 of Learning Indonesian – Months and Dates

admin — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:00:20 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn how to say the names of the months and a few different ways of saying the date. Because they are similar in sound to the English names, we will practice pronunciation of the names of the each of the months to get used to the difference. We also learn a few new words related to dealing with dates in Indonesian.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 14 of Learning Indonesian – Telling Time

admin — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:00:41 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll learn how to ask what time it is and understand the answer. We go over several different ways used every day to say what time it is.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 13 of Learning Indonesian – Small Numbers

admin — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:00:00 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll talk about the numbers from zero to 10. We’ll also introduce how Indonesian speakers put together numbers up to 99.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 12 of Learning Indonesian – Introducing Others

admin — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:00:22 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we will talk about how to introduce others in a few different ways. We’ll also go through an exercise where we will introduce different people to other people.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 11 of Learning Indonesian – Introducing Yourself

admin — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:00:17 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we will talk about how to introduce yourself properly. We’ll go over the proper way to introduce yourself and follow along with an example conversation.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 10 of Learning Indonesian – Addressing People by Titles and Pronouns: Part 2

admin — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:00:38 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll finish our discussion of pronouns and titles. We’ll go over the differences in addressing people formally and formally. We will also introduce the singular and plural pronouns unique to Indonesian.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 9 of Learning Indonesian – Addressing People by Titles and Pronouns: Part 1

admin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:00:47 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we’ll introduce several important pronouns that may be used in a variety of situations. You will learn how to respectfully address people of different ages and social status. In the next part of this two part episode, you will learn some other every important pronouns, and achieve an excellent comfort level with the most common Indonesian titles and pronouns.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 8 of Learning Indonesian – Direction and Location

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:00:36 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we will learn about how to talk about direction and location. We’ll introduce the words “di” and “ke”, which are critical to being able to express where something is and where it’s going.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 7 of Learning Indonesian – Food and Drink

admin — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:00:56 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we will learn about how to talk about food and drink, how to say what you like and don’t like and what tastes good. By the end of the lesson, you’ll be able to express the core ideas around eating and drinking.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 6 of Learning Indonesian – Talking about Nationality

admin — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:00:28 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we will learn about how to talk about nationality, how to say where you are from and the names of several countries. By the end of the lesson, you’ll understand the names of many countries and be able to say where your or someone else is from.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 5 of Learning Indonesian – Talking About Language

admin — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:00:23 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we will learn about how to talk about language, how to say what what you understand and speak, and what you can’t. We also introduce some other useful conversational words to help you follow along and participate in everyday Indonesian conversations.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 4 of Learning Indonesian – Expressing Yourself: Part 2

admin — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:00:11 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we continue our work on expressing your basic wishes. We’ll talk about how to say what you want and need. We’ll also have you follow along with your first Indonesian conversation!

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 3 of Learning Indonesian – Expressing Yourself: Part 1

admin — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:00:12 +0000

In this audio Indonesian lesson, we will begin a two part lesson on expressing your basic wishes. By the end of the second part, you will have learned how to say what you want, don’t want, need and don’t need.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 2 of Learning Indonesian – More Greetings

admin — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:00:58 +0000

Welcome to Learning Indonesian! In this audio Indonesian lesson, we continue our study of greetings with a few more as well as talk about how to say your goodbyes.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.

Lesson 1 of Learning Indonesian – Greetings

admin — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 17:00:38 +0000

Welcome to Learning Indonesian! In our first audio Indonesian lesson, we introduce some important everyday greetings.

Feel free to download the MP3 of this lesson or just play it using the player below.