Learn how to spell Indonesian language

Phonology

The following are phonemes of modern Indonesian.
Vowels Front Central Back
Close iː uː
Close-mid e ə o
Open-mid (ɛ) (ɔ)
Open a

Indonesian also has the diphthongs /ai/, /au/, and /oi/. In closed syllables, such as air (water), however, the two vowels are not pronounced as a diphthong.
Consonants Labial Apical Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
ɲ ŋ
Plosive p b t d k ɡ ʔ
Affricate ʧ ʤ
Fricative (f) s (z) (ʃ) (x) h
Liquid l r
Approximant w j

Note: The vowels between parentheses are allophones while the consonants in parentheses are loan phonemes and as such only occur in loanwords.
[edit] Learning pronunciation

Here are a few useful tips for the English speaking learner:

* /k/, /p/, and /t/ are unaspirated like in Romance languages or in Finnish, i.e. they are not followed by a noticeable puff of air as they often are in English words.
* /t/ and /d/ are dental, rather than alveolar as in English.
* When /k/ is at the end of a syllable it becomes a glottal stop, which sounds like it is cut off sharply e.g. baik, bapak. This is similar to a number of English dialects where final /t/ is glottalized ("got", "what"). Only a few Indonesian words have this sound in the middle, e.g. bakso (meatballs), and it may be represented by an apostrophe in Arabic derived words such as Al Qur'an.
* The letter 'c' in a word is never pronounced as a 'k' or 's' e.g. kucing (meaning cat) is pronounced [ˈkuːtʃiːŋ].
* Stress is placed on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable of each base word. But if this syllable contains a schwa then the accent moves to the last syllable.

For more, and to listen to examples, see SEASite Guide to Pronunciation of Indonesian

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google
• Tumblr
• Pinterest