VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Voice of Indonesia presents Let’s Speak Indonesian, a program that introduces the Indonesian vocabulary and guides you to speak in the language. “Mari Berbahasa Indonesia” or “Let’s Speak Indonesian”is a joint initiative of Voice of Indonesia and the Language Development Agency of the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology.  Today’s topic is about “Berbelanja” which means “Shopping”. 

Here is the conversation entitled “Boleh Kurang?” which means “Can You Lower the Price?”. This conversation happens between Kevin and a clerk. Kevin wants to buy a batik shirt. Let’s read to the conversation.

After reading to the conversation, now I am going to introduce some vocabulary and expressions related to the topic of the day.

In the conversation, you hear the expression Boleh kurang? (2x) which means Can you lower the price? You can use it when bargaining. You can also mention the amount of money you can spend to buy a product. For example, Tiga ratus ribu rupiah saja, ya? (2x) which means How about three hundred thousand rupiah? Then you will get a response from the seller whether he can give a lower price or not.

Other Examples

Let’s read to the other examples of bargaining.

“Batik ini harganya lima ratus ribu rupiah?” (2x) which means “This batik costs five hundred thousand rupiah?”

“Ada. Ini, Pak. Silahkan pilih” (2x) which means “Yes. Please choose one, Sir”

“Boleh kurang?” (2x) which means “Can you lower the price?”

“Boleh. Mau berapa?” (2x) which means “Yes, we can. How much do you want?”

“Batik ini harganya lima ratus ribu rupiah” (2x) which means “This batik costs five hundred thousand rupiah”

“Tiga ratus ribu rupiah saja, ya?” (2x) which means “How about three hundred thousand rupiah?”

“Maaf sudah harga pas” (2x) which means “Sorry it’s a fixed price”

That was “Let’s Speak Indonesian” for today. Hopefully, this edition can be useful for those of you who want to know more about Indonesian language.