VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Voice of Indonesia presents “Let’s Speak Bahasa Indonesia,” a lesson in the Indonesian language on the radio, introducing some Indonesian vocabulary and tips on how to use it in a conversation. This segment is a joint initiative of Voice of Indonesia and the Language Development and Cultivation Agency at the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.  Today’s topic is  ‘Please come in’ or Silakan Masuk. 

Joko meets  Tony and Joko introduces his wife, Dinda to Tony. Tony invited Tony to drink coffee that has been served for him.

After the conversation, now I’ll introduce some vocabularies and idioms related to the topic today. I’ll say each word slowly, and twice and you can follow after me.

The word to invite others in Indonesian language is Silakan which means ‘please’.

For example:

Silakan minum kopinya     (please enjoy the coffee)

Silakan masuk                   (please, come in)

Silakan duduk                    (please take a seat)

When you are allowed to do something but you cannot do it, you have to refuse it politely.

For example :

Silakan masuk                     (please come in)

Maaf , di sini saja                 (I am just here.)

Saya hanya sebentar           (I am just for a moment.)

Silakan coba kuenya            (please enjoy the cake)

Maaf saya sedang puasa     (sorry, I am fasting.)