Spelling and Pronunciation

Bahasa Indonesia, the national language of Indonesia, is written using the Roman script. Pronunciation is generally similar to English, with a few exceptions as given below.

  1. ai = "eye" (Sailendra)
  2. ay = "eye" (wayang)
  3. c = ch (candi)
  4. oe = u (Soeharto)
  5. s = sh (Sailendra, Siwa)
  6. w = v (Wishnu, Siwa)
Special pronunciations:
  1. Yogyakarta = "Johg'ja-kar'ta"
  2. Majapahit = "Ma'ja-p-eye-t"
  3. batik = "bah-teek'"

In addition to the national language, there are over 200 languages that are spoken locally in Indonesia by its many historical peoples and tribes.