Halo
'Hello' in Indonesian
Photo by Harry Kessell
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Language
Indonesian
IND
IND
Indonesian, or Bahasa Indonesia, is an Austronesian language spoken by over 270 million people, primarily in Indonesia, and also in East Timor and parts of Malaysia. A standardized form of Malay, it uses the Latin alphabet and is known for its phonetic simplicity and lack of tones. Indonesian grammar is straightforward, with no grammatical gender, minimal verb conjugation, and a flexible word order (typically subject-verb-object). Reduplication is common for plurals and emphasis. Its vocabulary draws from Malay, with loanwords from Arabic, Dutch, Portuguese, and English due to trade and colonial history. As Indonesia’s official language and a unifying lingua franca across its diverse archipelago, Indonesian is vital to national identity, education, and media.