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 and Culture. 

Listen to the conversation about “Bagaimana menurutmu?” which means “What Do You Think?”. This conversation is between Kevinand Boris. Boris is Kevin’s new neighbor. Kevin wants to know Boris’ opinion about his neighbourhood. Let’s listen to the conversation!

Having listened to the conversation, now I am going to introduce some vocabularies and expressions related to the topic of the day.

In the dialog, you listen to a question “Bagaimana menurutmu lingkungan di sini?” (2X) which means “What do you think about the neighbourhood here?”. In the question, there is an expressionbagaimana menurutmu?(2X) which means what do you think? The expression is used to ask an opinion. For example,Bagaimana menurutmu lingkungan di sini?  (2X) which means What do you think about the neighbourhood here?

Besides bagaimana menurutmu (2X) which means what do you think? Another expression to ask an opinion inIndonesian is bagaimana pendapatmu (2X) which means what is your opinion?

Examples:

-Bagaimana menurutmu lingkungan  di sini? (2X) which means what do you think about the neighbourhood here?

-Menurutku lingkungan di sini lebih nyaman daripada  di tempatku  yang lama  (2X) which means I think the neighbourhood here is more comfortable than in my old place

-Bagaimana  pendapatmu lingkungan  di sini? (2X) which means What is your opinion about the neighbourhood here?

-Menurutku di sini lingkungannya lebih nyaman daripada di tempatku yang lama (2X) which means In my opinion,  the neighbourhood here is more comfortable than in my old place

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. 

The Indonesian government is committed to continuing the Pre-Employment Card program which has been running for eleven batches in 2020. The registration for batch 12 was opened on Tuesday (23/2/2021). For the implementation this year, a budget of Rp 20 trillion has been prepared. This doubled the initial amount in the 2021 State budget which was worth Rp10 trillion. The Pre- Employment Card Program was opened for the first time on April 11, 2020. The government is targeting the number of participants who take part in the program to be 5.6 million people.

Initially, the government planned to provide an offline training for the program participants. They would receive free facilities and pocket money during the training. However, the Covid-19 pandemic changed everything. The government then used this program to become one of the social aids for the community, especially the victims of layoffs who were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The scheme and budget amount automatically changed. Part of the training cost budget was diverted for incentives to the participants in a larger amount than originally planned. Thus, the budget for the Pre-employment Card program has increased sharply.

After a year running, of course, there are points that need attention and to be improved regarding this program, starting from the matter of appointing training partners who were considered not transparent to the training materials that some said were too simple. However, as one of the economic recovery programs from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Pre- Employment Card program, of course, has its own benefits. The government says those who lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic will be targets of the Pre-Employment Card program. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many have enjoyed the benefits of this program. Unfortunately, the selection of the participants proved to be often inaccurate, so that many were not on target. Those who still have jobs managed to get assistance. While many of the unemployed have not been reached by this program.

It is hoped that this year, the Pre-Employment Card program can run with improvements so that it can be maximized and right on target. Thereby, there needs to be joint monitoring from the community.

The performance of the Indonesian economy continues to show a direction of recovery and is already on the right track. In 2021, the government of Indonesia will continue to focus on carrying out the National Economic Recovery program to support both households and the business sector, especially Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises. To encourage consumption and increase financing for the business world, Bank Indonesia as the Central Bank -BI harmonized monetary policy, including lowering the benchmark interest rate.

The meeting of the Board of Governors of BI on 17-18 February 2021 decided to lower the BI 7-day Reverse Repo Rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 3.5 percent. The Central Bank also lowered the interest rate for placement of rupiah funds by 2.75 percent and the rate for provision of rupiah funds by 4.25 percent. The decline in interest rates this time continues the trend that has been going on since early 2020, when BI cut its benchmark interest rate by 150 bps.

This decision is consistent with the forecast for low inflation and maintained stability of the rupiah exchange rate. This is also an effort to boost the momentum of national economic recovery.

The 25-bps cut back in the BI benchmark interest rate was also driven by the slow transmission of the BI benchmark interest rate to banking interest. Throughout 2020, bank lending rates only fell 83 bps to 9.7 percent, although in the same period, the BI benchmark interest rate had fallen by 125 basis points to a level of 3.75 percent.

Apart from easing interest rates, BI also took other steps as a follow-up to the synergy of the Financial System Stability Committee's policies. From March 1 to December 31, 2021, Bank Indonesia will relax the provision for down payment for credit or motor vehicle financing to a minimum of 0 percent for all types of new motorized vehicles. During the same period, BI will also relax the ratio of loans or financing to value for credit or property financing to a maximum of 100 percent. This policy applies to all types of property, from landed houses, flats, to shop houses or home offices.

All of these stimuli are expected to be able to encourage Indonesian economic recovery which has slowed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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 and Culture.  Today’s topic is Tetangga Baru. I’m going to present you a conversation entitled “Tetangga Baru” which means “New Neighbor”. Stay tuned.

Read to the conversation entitled “Tetangga Baru” which means “New Neighbor”. This conversation is between Kevin and his new neighbor.

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

In the dialog, you listen to the statement “Saya baru pindah hari ini” (2X) which means I just moved today. InIndonesian, the word baru (2X) which means just is used to state an event which just happened.To state the thing, the word baru is followed by a verb such as pindah (2X) which means move, pergi (2X) which means go and datang (2X) which means come. For example, Saya baru pindah hari ini (2X) which means I just moved today.

Another example

Another example of the word usage of baru (2X) which means just that shows an event which just happened can be found in this following dialog.

Ibu kamu  ada? (2X) which means Is your mother here?

Ada. Beliau baru datang (2X) which means Yes, she is. She just come.

Beliau baru pergi (2X) which means She just left.

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.