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Bijak’s Book Club
Bijak’s Book Club
Improve your language skills by reading widely more regularly and discussing what you find with other students. Read up on topics that you are interested in, or perhaps delve deeper into topics that you’ve been studying in class. Like any form of practice, the more authentic language you consume, the more it will become like second nature.
Try a range of different media, from articles and books to songs and movies. Choose things that are at your language level (even sources predominantly in English are interesting if about Indonesia) or are about topics you would particularly like to learn how to speak about better. All the while, pay attention to the vocabulary, grammar and sentence structures used.
After reading/viewing/listening to your source, submit your discussion points online using the form and prompts below. Responses will be compiled anonymously and published below for review. Feel free to make comments here about things you find interesting about the cultural and language points raised by other students.
Question Overview (English translations)
Question Overview (English translations)
Source Title:
Source Type (eg. book, article, musik, video):
Obtained Online? Link: (if not, upload a snapshot)
Source Topic:
Summary/Synopsis:
Opinion (eg. What did you like? What was useful?):
List of keywords (and translations):
What did you find interesting about the language/culture shown (in English):
Artikel - Surat Kabar dan Berita
Artikel - Surat Kabar dan Berita
Indonesia’s biggest national broadsheet is ‘Kompas’. The media group, which also owns the publisher and bookstore chain Gramedia, has now expanded from newspapers to encompass a range of media including a TV channel and radio stations.
‘Jawa Pos’ is Indonesia’s most popular newspaper. Based in Surabaya, the tabloid has been reporting news from around the archipelago - not just Java - since 1949.
Indonesia’s biggest news portal is ‘Detik.com’. It emerged in 1998 during the explosion of news media after the fall of President Suharto, who kept a tight rein on freedom of speech during his 31-year dictatorship. It is now part of the widespread Trans Media group, which also owns TV stations Trans TV and Trans7.
Some international news agencies, including Australia’s ABC News, carry articles in Indonesian. The major agencies have Indonesian staff that translate and even report the news in both Indonesian and English. Most of these articles will have a corresponding article in English, which can help you to translate. Reading them side-by-side to see how the language changes from one to the other is also good practice.
Conversely, some Indonesia-based media have English-language news articles. While this may not be the best for language practice, it does make finding out about culture and current events in Indonesia much easier. These English-language articles also often have equivalent articles in Indonesian.
SBS meanwhile has regular locally-produced Indonesian language radio broadcasts, as well as Indonesian channel TVRI’s daily news broadcast on its news channel on TV (early mornings) and OnDemand.
If you’re more of a visual learner, the latest trend in Indonesia at the moment is infographics. The pictures and diagrams are useful because they help you to decode the language a bit.
Indonesia Baik
Good News from Indonesia
Artikel - Majalah
Artikel - Majalah
There are more magazines in Indonesia than can be accommodated in this brief guide but there should be something that covers whatever your areas of interest are. Gramedia bookstore does a good job of stocking Indonesian (as well as import) magazines. Have a look at their range and then see if the magazine has their own website:
Tempo - the country’s leading news and current affairs magazine.
Bobo - the long-running kids’ magazine that covers anything from poetry to sustainability.
National Geographic - Indonesian edition also focuses on travel, history and science.
Dewi - a leading women’s magazine that looks at high fashion and trends (like Vogue).
Gadis - like Dewi but for young women and teens.
Hai - a popular youth/teen magazine that skews heavily toward music and film.
Bola - a sports magazine that reveals which sports Indonesians are interested in (soccer).
*Comparing the language used in magazines to that found in newspapers is particularly interesting, looking at the level of formality used.
Buku
Buku
Even though you only need to be journaling short sources (stick to 250-500 words), there are actually quite a lot of book samples you can find on platforms such as Google Books.
The Indonesian-language version of The Lord of the Rings, for example, has about 50 pages available for preview online. The Fault in Our Stars has almost 90 pages worth.
Sometimes it’s better to start at the beginning and choose children’s books for more suitable language. Maybe Roald Dahl is still too advanced when in another language but give it a try: The Witches
*In Google Books you will need to select “Indonesian” as the language in an Advanced Book Search and see if they have a translation available - and moreover if they offer a preview. This is a bit hit and miss but does the job.
Finding books by Indonesian authors is a little more complicated if you don’t know what to look for but essentially follow the same system. You need to find a book first. Try browsing major bookseller Gramedia for popular and suitable books before searching for authors and titles in Google Books.
Andrea Hirata’s Laskar Pelangi is a famous example that has become both a movie and had an official English edition published. You could even luck out and find one that provides both Indonesian and English side by side, like this one.
Another source for children’s books is the 'Let’s Read' free digital library. There are a few Indonesian and translated picture books available online or to download as a PDF. Select the Indonesian language option to view all the books in the target language.
Komik
Komik
Japanese manga and Korean manhwa are extremely popular with young people in Indonesia. While there are many sites that upload these imported comics (copyright questionable), they often provide quite rough translations. There are, however, some websites where you can find properly sourced and translated comics - including those by Indonesian artists.
Webtoons is one of the more popular online comic platforms, and is actually designed for a phone app. You can, however, access a range of different genres of both local and imported content featuring Indonesian language. Other sites host free educational comics - which may not sound as fun but can be insightful and also provide good language practice:
Cerita/Kisah/Dongeng
Cerita/Kisah/Dongeng
Storytelling in Indonesia has a long history, with traditional folktales originating from across the archipelago. If you know what to look for, they’re readily available online. A good starting point is the Indonesia Kaya website, which includes several stories from a number of different provinces/areas.
Another easy way to find traditional Indonesian folk tales is on YouTube. The channel Dongeng Kita has a huge catalogue of videos to sample, including the famous Kancil tales and regional stories. Although there are no captions, you can turn the playback speed down to help follow the language. Also try reading the same story first before watching.
There is also a YouTube channel that is exclusively fairy tales told in Indonesian, including many you will probably recognise. These ones often have English subtitles burned in.
If you’d like the stories read to you before bed, then try searching for them on Spotify. There are even some playlists that compile them:
Televisi
Televisi
Although it’s difficult to get Indonesian television signals in Australia, there are a few ways to get around this. Most TV stations, for example, have a YouTube channel and publish their programming there. Some even stream live content.
TransTV - a good variety of programming, from TV dramas to reality shows.
SCTV - great for watching Sinetron (sinema elektronik), like soapies but much more...
NET. - a lot of talk shows and variety shows.
Indosiar - your one-stop shop for dangdut singing competitions, with some Sinetron on top.
Then, if you know what you’re looking for, you can go straight to the program’s page and watch entire series (or at least ones old enough for the stations not to care about streaming).
Dari Jendela SMP - popular high school-based Sinetron series.
Kelas Internasional - comedy based on a class of international students learning Indonesian.
The Voice Indonesia - much like the singing competition reality show the world over.
Family 100 - game shows are fun to watch, even if you can’t follow the language.
Take Me Out Indonesia - or watch embarrassing dating shows to laugh at contestants.
In addition to regular TV programming, you can also get a lot out of Indonesian TV advertising. With short bites of only 30 seconds to a minute long, they’re usually packed with not only language but cultural information - whether they be similarities or differences.
Moving away from traditional TV, a lot of Indonesians are recording and watching online content now. YouTube, once again, is full of vlogs, webisodes, film pendek (short films), and dokumenter. Once you start looking you’ll uncover a treasure trove of videos to watch. Some examples below:
Nanti Kita Cerita Tentang Hari Ini (now a film)
Bertepuk Sebelah Friendzone
Dunia Dalam Kita
Di Balik Kubikal
Sore
Film
Film
Netflix now carries a growing collection of Indonesian films. Type in “Indonesian movies” into the search function to get a list of some of them and then add those to a watchlist or like them to get Netflix’s algorithm suggesting more like it. Netflix has also produced some local content, such as June & Kopi and Ali Dan Ratu-Ratu Queens.
Having Indonesian subtitles for English-language content is a little harder to do in Netflix. You will need to get into the account settings and change one of the profile’s language settings to Indonesian (this will change your menus and descriptions as well, so perhaps start a new profile).
Amazon Prime, meanwhile, only has a limited collection of Indonesian films, some being Sherina's Adventure 2 and Buffalo Boys. But it does offer all of the subtitle options from the English-language menu, which includes Indonesian for some movies and TV series. Indonesian subtitles are hit and miss though for both Prime and Netflix, and is essentially luck of the draw. Even more rare (but does exist on both Prime and Netflix) are programs that have Indonesian audio dubbing tracks that you can select. See if you can find any.
DVDs are extremely rare now that piracy has all but destroyed the market for buying films in Indonesia. You may still be able to find them around though, particularly internationally successful films such as the action flick The Raid. DVDs released in Region 3 (covering most of East Asia) will often have Indonesian subtitles, including all the big Hollywood hits. This can be great practice to pick up the nuances of translation and how some English-isms are said in Indonesian. Unfortunately, it's not easy to get these in Australia (Region 4).
*Although not recommended, some Indonesian films (particularly the older ones) have been ripped and posted to YouTube - quite often in parts but sometimes the whole movie. While you’re looking through Indonesian film titles it never hurts to try searching for it on YouTube.
Musik
Musik
Spotify has really opened up Indonesia’s music scene to the rest of the world. You can find anything and everything here - from traditional gamelan to Indonesian Idol pop numbers - if you know what to look for. The best idea is to Google search Indonesian bands and songs in your favourite genre, and then to search for them specifically in Spotify. Once you start searching for and saving Indonesian music to playlists, you will notice more and more being suggested for you. Print out the lyrics to refer to when listening as it helps with understanding.
This Spotify playlist features the latest indie music from Indonesia. You can also find the soundtrack to the Indonesian film Galih & Ratna. And here's a sample playlist spanning a number of different genres.
There are also plenty of Indonesian songs to find on - you guessed it - YouTube. This has the added advantage of being able to see the accompanying music videos. And you can often find videos that conveniently show the lyrics on screen. Feel free to explore but here's a sample mix tape.
Food
Food
Last but certainly not least, what better way to learn Indonesian than to do so whilst sampling some of its culinary delights? Indonesia has no end of celebrity chefs that you can see in action, such as Yuda Bustara and Farah Quinn, making familiar Western dishes or local regional specialities. You can either just watch (and salivate) or also try your hand at some of the Indonesian resep (recipes)* as can be found on Detik's dedicated food page or on websites like Masak Apa Hari Ini.
*Check your local Asian grocer for specialty ingredients.
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