Modern Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the official language of Indonesia and one of the working languages of East Timor. It is an Austronesian language that is related to most languages that are spoken in Oceania, the Philippines, and Malaysia. To a lesser extent, there is a relation to a number of languages of the mountain peoples in Vietnam, Cambodia, the original languages of Taiwan, and the Malagasy languages of Madagascar.

The greatest linguistic diversity

No country in the world has more linguistic diversity than Indonesia. Depending on how you count (language versus dialect), the total number of languages spoken in the world comes down to about 6,000 to 7,000. 1,000 of these are spoken in the Indonesian archipelago alone. Of course, the large number of inhabited islands (approximately 990) is a major reason for this.

Malay as a native language

After colonising the Indonesian archipelago, the Dutch decided not to introduce Dutch as the lingua franca (common communication language), but Malay, which already served as a trade language in South East Asia. This so-called Melayu Pasar (pasar means market) was supplemented with words from classical Malay, Javanese, and Dutch. This new variant of Malay formed the basis for present-day Bahasa Indonesia.

Mutual influence

Bahasa Indonesia has a large number of words that originate from Dutch, such as buku (book), wasbak (washbasin), handuk (towel), kopling (coupling), asbak (ashtray), and kantor pos (post office). Conversely, many Indonesian words have ended up in the Dutch language, and not just words relating to food. The word ‘pakkie-an’ from ‘dat is niet mijn pakkie-an’ is of Malaysian origin. ‘Pakkie-an’ comes from ‘bagian’, which means ‘concern’. In other words, ‘that is none of my concern’. According to De Nieuwe Taalgids by J. de Vries, ‘bagian’ was associated with the word for clothing for fun: ‘pakaian’).

In-country translators

We like working with in-country translators; in this case, Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) translators who live and work in Indonesia. After all, they have the best feel for their own language and culture, which is of great importance for an optimal translation. After all, a translation that does not connect to the target group often completely misses the mark.

Top quality

We are in possession of the highest achievable European quality standards for translation agencies, ISO 9001 and ISO 17100. These standards demand continuous top quality from us and the translators we work with. Of course, our lowest price guarantee and our 100% satisfaction guarantee also apply to all our translations. We are not satisfied until you are.