Nama saya Mez! ...and that's all I've got

[deird1]

I've been trying to learn Indonesian. It's really, really hard.

I wasn't expecting this. Indonesian's supposed to be comparatively easy - but out of all the languages I've learnt, this is by far the trickiest. Why, you ask? It's the vocab.


The thing is, I'm used to European languages (Sindarin and Auslan being the only non-European languages I've ever really paid attention to). In which...
Apple is Apfel.
Mother is mater.
Intelligent is intelligent.
Bed is Bett.

Even the words that aren't that simple tend to be understandable - like, in Latin, "fur", "ebrius", and "canes" become really easy to remember once you link them to "furtive", "inebriated", and "canine".

Indonesian, on the other hand, while having some of the simplest grammar I've ever encountered, has a vocabulary like nothing I've experienced before. I can understand the concepts - but I can't remember a single sentence.


Apparently I'm really good at weird grammars, as long as I recognise the words...

Comments

[immer_am_lesen]

Ah! Siapa nama anda? Nama Saya...

I remember a few sentences like that. And words for animals. And can count to 100, and sing some songs.

w00t for primary school language classes!

[mercredigirl]

Juga "tinggal di mana?" dan "apa khabar? khabar baik!" dan "umur saya 15 tahun" dan "selamat hari lahir!" ... Then I run out of words. :P *dim memories*

Haha, the vocabulary will start to become familiar, don't worry! :) And the very phonetic nature of the words is comforting!

[immer_am_lesen]

Oh gosh yes- Apa kabar? Kabar baik!...and all the boys would say 'kabar bicycle!' instead.... :-p
Selamat Hari Natal dan Tahun Baruuuuuu!

[deird1]

Heh.

All my primary school language lessons were German. Which, until I hit high school, meant I could say my name, count to ten, and play "Wie spät ist es, Herr Wolf?"