Indonesian

Indonesian belongs to the Austronesian group of languages. It is a standardized form of Malay and is spoken throughout Indonesia. About 30 million people speak Indonesian as their first language and a further 140 million speak it as a second language. Most Indonesians, aside from speaking the national language, are often fluent in another regional language or local dialect (examples include Minangkabau, Sundanese and Javanese) which are commonly used at home and within the local community. Most formal education, though, as well as nearly all national media and other forms of communication, are conducted in Indonesian. During the time Indonesia was a Dutch colony, the Latin alphabet was introduced to write Indonesian and a number of Dutch spellings were used. This alphabet was called ejaan lama (Old Script) in Indonesian. In the 1930s, as part of the independence movement, the Indonesian language was standardised and the term Bahasa Indonesia was adopted as the name of the language.

Map of Indonesian language speakers.

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Basic stats

First language : 30 million

Second language : 140 million

Main Countries: Indonesia, East Timor

Alternate names: Bahasa Indonesia

ISO 639-3 Code: ind

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Language Sample

Semua orang dilahirkan merdeka dan mempunyai martabat dan hak-hak yang sama. Mereka dikaruniai akal dan hati nurani dan hendaknya bergaul satu sama lain dalam semangat persaudaraan.

(Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1)

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Some proverbs in Indonesian:

Karena mulut badan binasa
Because of the mouth the body is destroyed

Wit ing tresno jalarane soko kulino
The seed of love comes from the intense of meeting each other.

Rajin pangkal pandai
Diligence is the beginning of brilliance

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Product Availability

The following products are currently available in Indonesian:

For Consumers

(Coming soon)

For Manufacturers

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Sources

Retrieved from "http://ns2.eatoni.com/wiki/index.php/Indonesian"

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