Lonely Planet Indonesian Phrasebook

This book is a handy source for getting by speaking Bahasa Indonesia, the national language of Indonesia, and will serve you well if you go to Bali. In Bali, they speak Bahasa Bali and Bahasa Indonesia, and as I have read in Lonely Planet Bali & Lombok guidebook, apparently, Bahasa Indonesia is easier for the visitor to learn.My husband and I used this book on our trip to Bali in April, and found it very useful. We pleased many Balinese by trying to speak in Bahasa Indonesia, instead of expecting them to speak English.This is a very small book (126 pages, 3.5" x 5") and fits nicely in the pocket of the very lightweight clothing you will want to wear while in a hot, humid, tropical climate. The book is organized according to topics (food, taxi, shopping, emergencies etc.), rather than alphabetically like a dictionary, and we found the organization helpful when we really needed it, like when dealing with vendors or when going to a cafe. The only thing different that I would have liked to be added, is a small dictionary of Bahasa Indonesia at the back of the book to accompany the small English one. Although we were not at a loss without and Indonesian dictionary.

Selamat siang. Saya hanya tahu sedikit bahasa Indonesia. Dimana setasiun kereta api? Bagaimana jika kita makan pagi di warung ini? Saya mau beli kelambu. Terima kasih.

This fit-in-your-pocket phrase book is nicely designed, and I really use it.The grammar section alone outperforms bigger Behasa Indonesia language courses for simplicity and clear explanations. Categories like "Getting Around" and "Food" are well organized, and it really is possible to find what phrase you are looking for, standing at the market in front of Mister Banana Seller, in a few seconds. Glossary is English to Behasa Indonesia only (and not the other way around).

Unfortunately Echols and Shadilly's two volume Indonesian dictionary is a little too bulky to carry when back-packing in Indonesia. On my first two visits to Indonesia I took the MIP Concise Indonesian Dictionary, which fits comfortably into a pocket, and it never really left my person. While I really like this dictionary (and will probably buy a copy of the new edition), with about 4000 entries in each section its limitations were always fairly obvious. For my most recent trip I bought a copy of Tuttle's Concise Indonesian Dictionary. With more than twice as many entries as the smaller dictionary, I expected this to be pretty solid. Most of the time it was, but there were a few problems: some words I expected to find - "swap" is one, "retribusi" is another - weren't included (though there is a somewhat obscure entry for "tank steamer"); there is an entry for "polemics" rather than for "polemic"; and explanation of meanings is limited, creating problems with polysemic words which even reverse lookup often fails to resolve. On the plus side, Tuttle's Dictionary just fitted into my trouser pocket, and its sturdy plastic cover is a godsend given the wear and tear of travel.