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 and Book Development Agency of the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.  Today’s topic is  Lama tinggal  or  ‘Length of stay’.

Next is a conversation about Lama tinggal or ‘Length of stay’. The conversation is between Kevin and Immigration official.  (Recorded)

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

In the conversation, you listened the expression Berapa lama Anda akan

tinggal di sini? Question phrase berapa lama in English ‘how long’ is

used to ask about duration.

For example : Berapa lama Anda akan tinggal di sini? In English ‘how

long will you stay here?’. In responding that question, you can mention the

length of time is used.

Let’s follow some other examples:

A :     Berapa lama transit di Bali? (2X which means) how long did you transit in Bali?

B :     Tiga jam (2X which means) three hours

A :              Berapa lama kamu berlibur di  Indonesia (2X which means) how long will you have vacation in Indonesia?

B :     Dua minggu  (2X which means) two weeks.

In Indonesian language, pronouns of the first person often used are saya and aku. The word saya can be used in various situations, both formal and informal situations. The word saya can also be used for person whom you talk to, such as someone you respect, elder people, person who you’ve just known, or people who are already close to you (friend). Meanwhile, pronouns aku is only used in informal situation with friends.

The pronouns of the second person  in Indonesian language are usually used anda or kamu. The word anda is usually used in formal situation or in correspondence. While, the word kamu is only used in informal situation, if you talk with friends or younger person.

That was “Let’s Speak Bhs Indonesia”, a lesson in bahasa Indonesia  or the Indonesian language on the radio. Hopefully, this edition can be useful for those who want to know more about Bahasa Indonesia.