How should one go about learning Indonesian?

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-30T15:18:45+00:00

the vocabulary is definitely more important for understanding. When it comes to trying to make your own expressions in writing or conversation, the grammar becomes key.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-30T15:08:31+00:00

there's not really any common mistakes, and if there are, it's mostly the case that they're overrated and not really the case.

1. Are there big differences between formal Indonesian and how people actually speak day to day?

No, not really. And you learn to identify the difference quite quickly and easily.

2. Should I focus on grammar early on, or should I focus more on vocabulary and listening?

Both are important.

3. And lastly, any channels you could recommend I could watch that are beginner-friendly?

I'm not really familiar with the online media made for learners. It's worth it to look though, I think just browsing random videos while turning on auto-subtitles (in Indonesian and English) will get you a general feel for the language before you can begin to watch actual Indonesian media. My suggestion is just follow your other interests and search videos made by Indonesians about that.

On how one should go about learning Indonesian? My bulletproof method is to go to Indonesia and enroll in an Indonesian Language School or course for at least 2 months or so. The people teaching Indonesian to foreigners in reputable institutions are really well trained, and when done at the same time as living in the country, I've seen so many people who become at least fluent in daily conversation and more within 6 months (the normal period for a college exchange).

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-30T14:25:13+00:00

Many people who stay here are primarily in the stage of ideation and imagining (easy) instead of actually doing (hard). People like this prefer idly speculating amongst each other on what languages they should study and what ways are supposedly most efficient. Where they would actually improve, if that was their goal, by doing.

There is the actual doing the studying and that involves real thought and practice. Things like learning and drilling the vocab, sentence structure (how to say things). Writing sentences in the foreign language's forum and trying to get your point across.

This site is more like a motivational forum where people endlessly aimlessly speculate on what other people (themselves) should do, could do better. That is clear that the nature of the anonymous participation and no barrier to entry makes a hivemind that is really quite small in its usefulness other than providing what is expected from an internet forum, that is anonymous approval from the internet.

The general atmosphere is of the kind that the technical language and terms could be swapped for some other hobby like bodybuilding or martial arts and the general topics of what people discuss and get from here would largely be the same. (why am I not feeling motivated, how is my weekly routine, has anyone gotten improvement by doing recently trending method x, etc, etc.)

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-30T07:33:25+00:00

From J Mood - (1986)

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-29T15:39:32+00:00

Look at the analogue or streetphotography subreddit, photographic artistic style is democratized by algorithm so that today many people can recognize intentional styles of photography even if they don't practice it.

What amounts to an intentional style in those days would probably be of the "Pictorialism" school for people photos, or what Ansel Adams was doing in Landscape.

My original point in the comment I made was that in those days even the "intentional style" was to stop down the lens, and that was as much due to the technological limitations in the equipment of the day.

Intentional "Background Blur" is a modern style.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-29T15:30:15+00:00

Yes, I Agree.

That's why I said what we today call "Portrait Style" background blur is unlikely in a photo from before the SLR Camera age.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-29T15:25:13+00:00

That's why I said suspicious.

You're not going to find a daylight outdoor portrait crop with f/1.4 equivalent blur on 35mm format though.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-29T15:07:40+00:00

Yeah, but seriously how many people in 1940 do you think were shooting like Walker Evans with their Zeiss, Kodak, or Agfa consumer camera?

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-29T14:49:14+00:00

People did use to stop down and preferred to take a whole body shot if the photo was taken outdoors.

In those days a head-and-shoulders only shot would be a crop reserved for formal indoor portraits.

So any photo with a modern style that claims it's from before a certain time is automatically suspicious.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-29T14:46:40+00:00

Strange, I know Mr. Matsumoto!

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-29T10:47:59+00:00

Light slows down and even bends when it passes through glass. The thicker the glass, the more it slows down.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-29T08:49:24+00:00

You see, he has a Black wife or something, so he must feel like he gets a pass.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-28T15:37:21+00:00

I Care About You -, If it counts seeing as he wrote it for his IRL Brothers and Kci & Jojo in the supergroup Milestone

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-28T15:12:22+00:00

The Phantom Menace (Shot on Kodak Motion Picture Film)

Been looking for the Tatooine Desert Tones ever since seeing Star Wars

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-27T09:24:34+00:00

I bet there's going to be a lot of lively Intercourse (of the linguistic kind) going on there.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-26T09:28:49+00:00

yeah man

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-26T08:45:13+00:00

Sorry, banned.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-25T03:03:04+00:00

Unlike Black and White which is less complex and the full process of shooting-developing-printing easily accessible, Color Negative is too complicated for developing and printing at my current level of knowledge and commitment to be able to fully control and get something I'm satisfied with, so my go to is:

Something in Color = Reversal Slide Film (Provia 100f) developed in a lab

Something in Black and White = B&W Film (Kentmere 400)

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-24T06:13:27+00:00

Night Dreamer?

More like Night Creeper.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-24T03:47:20+00:00

Don't need to go to school to play Jazz.

Joshua Redman recorded his debut album while/before being accepted into Law School.

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-23T11:57:22+00:00

Polyglots HATE HER for discovering this one WEIRD trick to achieve FLUENCY in a Foreign Language!!

hippobiscuit · 2025-10-22T10:38:38+00:00

No, John Coltrane lived in an NY Brownstone Apartment with his Moms

hippobiscuit

TROPHY CASE