In Reply to: Balinese Language Site posted by Falco on Sunday, 2. January 2005 at 15:06 Bali Time:
how much English is spoken. They really put their long-term visitors to shame - myself included!
Here's just a few, everyone else will add heaps, and probably have to correct me!
The emphasis is always placed on the last syllable, c sounds like 'ch.'
Tidak = no
Bagus = good
anjing = dog
kuching= cat
jalan jalan is strange, because its both a verb and a noun, Jalan is street, but when people ask where you're goin, do you want transport,etc,etc, you can say 'jalan, jalan', meaning 'walking'
selamat pagi (hard g) =good morning
terimah kasih = thank you
I always thought that ma'af meant sorry, but my little language gadget says that it doesn't,, I'm sure ( I thought I was, anyway) that it meant sorry, maybe someone can help.
when you get sick of people selling you things, give them a big smile, they're usually lovely, and they're struggling to survive, anyway, and just say 'Saya tidak mau', which means 'I don't want".
ikan- fish
ayam-chicken
manis-sweet
susu-milk
tikus - rat, mouse
I attempt to learn more each time I go, but I am not a good linguist. I got local friends to teach me a sentance to say to people who asked me what I was doing.
It went
'Saya mau jalan jalan sambil ( & I think,) noberol'
This was supposed to mean, ' I am walking wilst talking'
hopefully it mad a bit of sense because people encouraged me, and nobody laughed too much!!
It's funny though, because after a few visits, even though you might not feel game enough to use what you know, you find yourself understanding parts of sentances, and getting a tiny gist of what might be being said sometimes. It's a funny thing, it must be how you learn.
Indonesian tends to be the noun first, then the description after. where we would say 'black dog', they say ' anjing hitam'
If you plan to return, or to stay for a reasonable time, I would recommend getting a small electronic language converter in Denpasar. I use mine HEAPS, even when on this site. Unfortunately it's a cheapy, so it doesn't do any swear words!
I don't know if this has been any help, I do hope so.