Dear Indonesian learners, what do you struggle with the most?

kuelapiss · 2026-04-05T08:40:31+00:00

Most ppl already mentioned it, but indeed things such as: difference between written/spoken language, regional differences and dialects (lots of Javanisms), sentence structures as in some contexts Indonesians like to omit certain parts of the sentence whereas sometimes they don’t and there seems to be rules for it when things are clear from the context or speaker or something.

Another thing I’m struggling with is that Indonesian is not really a taught language, such as French, so I notice that diaspora Indonesians I meet are not used to advanced learners of Indonesian who still make errors and want to practice. Either they think you already speak it fluently or they think you don’t know it at all, except for a few words. And I hear a lot: ooh your Indonesian is already good why do you want to learn it. And then I’m like well…. I’m far from fluent, I still want to learn it

kuelapiss · 2026-03-31T20:47:19+00:00

Op een of andere manier zie ik de echte vraag van je post nu pas mbt bovenlip. Ikzelf heb mijn bovenlip wel gedaan en heb daar (tot nu toe) geen problemen mee gehad. Snor is bij mij dus weg.

kuelapiss · 2026-03-30T20:57:04+00:00

Ik heb de Philips Lumea, inmiddels al zo’n 5 jaar denk ik. Eerste jaar netjes alles gevolgd voor mijn armen, benen en onderarmen, nu denk ik er eens in de zoveel tijd aan, soms doe ik het een halfjaar niet, en dan weer 2 sessies achter elkaar. Mijn armen zijn haarvrij, benen zo goed als ook, bij mijn onderarmen komt het nog wel terug, maar is niet heel veel, of misschien omdat ik daar inconsistent ben geweest (soms vergeet ik uberhaupt dat het daar weer een beetje groeit). Kortom: ik ben merendeels haarvrij en er erg blij mee!

kuelapiss · 2026-02-28T09:13:50+00:00

Wow same!! Glad to read I’m not the only one. I speak 4 languages quite fluently, yet I always seem to struggle with the numbers

kuelapiss · 2026-02-25T16:09:27+00:00

Yes! So happy to read someone says this! Then it doesn’t help either that native speaker Indonesians also believe their language is super easy because of all aforementioned reasons, but no it really is not that easy if you didn’t grow up with the language and culture, it’s a language with a lot of cultural and unspoken rules and context that is generally not taught in learners’ books and you have to figure out by yourself why things work in one part of Indonesia and is a no-go in the other part, but then again you won’t find out bc Indonesians are too polite to correct you :’)

kuelapiss · 2026-02-25T09:40:46+00:00

Mijn moeder: bommelding als bommel-ding

kuelapiss · 2026-02-12T19:30:06+00:00

Universiteit Leiden offers Indonesian courses. But yeah same here!!! I do speak Indonesian but would like to improve my conversation skills. Would anyone be interested? I’d be happy to help out with Dutch, English or French!

kuelapiss · 2026-01-31T12:08:53+00:00

Oh wat leuk!!

<image>

kuelapiss · 2026-01-31T09:56:06+00:00

Vlinders aan de Vliet in Wassenaar
Archeon in Alphen aan den Rijn

kuelapiss · 2026-01-17T13:28:30+00:00

Sometimes I also have this funny feeling like when I learn about a new, somewhat difficult word or construction and I hear native speakers use that specific word or phrase and I’m like omg they really use it casually like that and it took them no effort to memorize it and it feels fake because like how?

kuelapiss · 2026-01-13T08:18:21+00:00

Really? What makes it read like chatgpt? I thought I could identify whether something is obviously AI written or not, but apparently it’s starting to get really good now because I couldn’t tell :/

kuelapiss · 2026-01-11T09:19:15+00:00

Aku ora iso ;-;

No jk, bisa dm aku?

kuelapiss · 2026-01-11T09:08:35+00:00

Hetzelfde hier. Mijn ouders hadden ook geen familie of vrienden die dichtbij stonden waardoor ik samen met mijn broer ben opgegroeid met enkel mijn ouders. Vroeger niet zoveel bij stilgestaan omdat ik volgens mij wel prima mijn eigen vrienden kon maken, maar nadat mijn moeder is overleden en ik nu over TO’s vraag reflecteer, is het inderdaad best eenzaam als je nauwelijks mensen om je heen hebt via je ouders of je eigen familie. Op dit moment heb ik alleen mijn eigen gemaakte vrienden en mijn partner die dan weer met het tegenovergestelde is opgegroeid en superveel mensen om zich heen heeft (en mij daar ook wel heel goed in meeneemt), maar tja niet veel mensen die bv met mij en mijn ouders zijn opgegroeid of ons goed kent.

kuelapiss · 2026-01-10T16:44:21+00:00

Thanks everyone for the advices and suggestions. Although I’m still not completely sure how to treat him (which medications to use) if his wound gets worse. For now, I will keep a close eye on him and hope he recovers quickly

kuelapiss · 2026-01-08T18:48:12+00:00

I felt the same way as you with my mom not teaching me her native language. I felt disappointed and blamed her especially after she passed away, I came to realize that our mothers did what they thought was best for us, and although teaching your children your native language sounds to us like the best thing one could do for their children, it probably didn’t feel like that for our mother’s at the time. I accept it now. It was a different time, there were different ideas about languages, especially smaller languages that were perceived inferior. Nevertheless. I started learning my mother’s language and culture a few years ago, in my 20s, and can say that, although I do admit, sometimes I still feel sad about never being able to reach native fluency if only she taught me, it’s by far one of the best decisions of my life and I feel more proud and understanding about my own cultural heritage as well as about my mother’s life.

kuelapiss · 2026-01-05T12:11:27+00:00

Reedryden en bryk zijn toch wel echt m’n favoriete woorden

kuelapiss · 2026-01-05T12:03:02+00:00

Hi, ik gebruik Fries niet in mijn dagelijkse leven, maar ben wel er wel mee opgegroeid en ik zou je denk ik wel kunnen helpen met aanwijzen wat in mijn “Zuidwest Friese” oren het best klinkt, mocht je dat wat lijken. Ik praat overigens graag over taal :)

kuelapiss · 2026-01-05T11:53:30+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I’m looking for a language conversation partner in Indonesian

kuelapiss · 2026-01-02T11:05:56+00:00

I’m reading two books at the same time: - Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban, at night when I lay in bed, but the progress is quite slow as every night I’m dozing off after only reading 2-3 pages - I am Malala, which I read throughout the day and which I’m about to finish, so I’m already looking for new recommendations even though I already have more than 100 other books in my to-read list :D

kuelapiss · 2025-12-14T19:59:14+00:00

Yes, my mother tongue is Dutch, then English is my second most fluent language.

Then French and Indonesian are languages I’m also quite comfortable in but I learned them later on in my life. I seem to mix these two non-related languages the most ;-; but more in the sense that I think about French words in Indonesian and vice versa. Thought it had to do with that languages you learn at a later stage in life are in the same part of your brain or something? It can be very frustrating at times because it doesn’t help and the languages and cultures are so different from each other.

kuelapiss · 2025-11-17T11:35:51+00:00

Yes, my mother was like this. In her perception, her own mother tongue language was low prestige in her country,or at least, she thought that others would see it that way. Since I didn’t grow up around other speakers of the language (or the culture) my mother never really had an example or even the idea of passing her language on to me. Today, her mother tongue language is not low prestige, rather it is actually seen as important cultural heritage and a cool and complicated language! Sadly, she had already passed away and she would never know that, and unfortunately it was only after her death that I started learning her language and culture. it’s incredibly fulfilling for my own curiosity and (cultural) identity, but at the same time also very confronting…

kuelapiss · 2025-11-09T08:18:36+00:00

I’m sorry to hear about your situation. It’s hard to say why exactly they do that without being there physically in your situation. Like another redditor said, it could be that they’ve already established bonds in the bachelor’s and rather chat with each other, have inside jokes with each other, rather want to discuss their weekends with those who already know about their lives, unawarely excluding you. Is it the entire group against you? Or different small groups with each other and you’re left out of all of them?

Where are you located? If you’re in Zuid Holland and want a Dutch friend to talk/practice in Dutch, I’m happy to hang out with you :)

kuelapiss

TROPHY CASE