Learn Indonesian

Start at the alphabet

The Indonesian on-ramp is written by hand, not generated, and it is 192 cards long. Every card is spoken in a recorded Indonesian voice, and what you get right is scheduled for review rather than shown again at random.

• 26letters
• 10digits
• 16pronunciation rules
• 100core words
• 20everyday phrases
• 20sentences

Three of the pronunciation cards, exactly as the course teaches them:

• e — the only thing you cannot read off the page — so learn each word with its vowel. As a rough guide: in short common words and in prefixes (se-, ke-, be-, me-, te-) it is nearly always the quick “uh”; the clear “eh” lives in a smaller, learnable set — enak, merah, sore, meja, becak, bebek. sepeda has one of each: “suh-PEH-da”sepeda — a bicycle
• selamat — stress falls on the second-to-last syllable — and it is a light lift, far gentler than an English stress. One catch: if that syllable holds a schwa, the stress slides onto the last one instead, so beli is “buh-LEE” and besar is “buh-SAR”terima kasih — thank you
• ngerti — ng is a single sound, and Indonesian is happy to start a word with it — something English only ever does in the middle or at the end. Do not put a “nn” or a “guh” in front: begin with the back of your tongue already up, as if you were part-way through “singing”ngeri — creepy, horrifying

Then material that does not run out

Once you are reading, the level is the point. Make a text writes Indonesian at the CEFR level, length, topic and format you ask for, so the step up is a setting rather than a new book. Speaking scores you word by word as you read aloud. Lexi talks back. The Translator fixes your mistakes as it translates and can give a simpler version at your level, and Writing marks what you wrote and says why.

Above the on-ramp sits the Course — a map of practice steps from A1 to C2 with grammar, vocabulary and a level test at the top of each level — and My words, where everything you save comes back on a spaced-repetition schedule in eight quiz styles.

What Indonesian actually costs a beginner

There is essentially one hard thing, and it is the letter e, which is either a quick uh or a clear eh with nothing in the spelling to say which — sepeda has one of each. The course handles it the only honest way, by teaching each word with its vowel and giving the rough guides that cover most cases. Below that: stress is a light lift on the second-to-last syllable, sliding to the last if that one holds a schwa; and ng is a single sound that Indonesian is happy to begin a word with, which English never does. All three are recorded.