· 7 min read
How to Learn Indonesian Fast: An Honest Plan
By Language Lab editorial team
How to learn Indonesian fast: use its regular spelling, learn polite phrases first, build sentences from a few frames, ask people for words and speak daily.
Indonesian, Bahasa Indonesia, is one of the more approachable Asian languages for an English speaker. The US State Department lists it in Category II, with German and Swahili, at about 36 weeks or 828 class hours, well below the 44 weeks it gives for Thai or Vietnamese. Its spelling is regular: most letters have only one pronunciation. So a fast start is realistic. Learn the sound of each letter in your first days, learn the polite phrases before anything else, and then build your own sentences from a handful of frames such as Saya mau, I want. A beginner's course hosted by Northern Illinois University packs this into seven days of word lists with audio. After that, test yourself, space your reviews and ask every Indonesian speaker you meet for new words.
The scale of the task
| Language | State Department category | Class time |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish, French | Category I | 30 weeks |
| Indonesian, Malay, German, Swahili | Category II | About 36 weeks (828 class hours) |
| Thai, Vietnamese, Hindi | Category III | About 44 weeks (1,012 class hours) |
| Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic | Category IV | 88 weeks (2,200 class hours) |
The State Department's figures are the time usually expected to reach a speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale, and it notes that actual time varies with ability, prior language-learning experience and time in the classroom. It describes a typical week as 23 hours in class and 17 hours of self-study. At 10 hours a week, 828 hours is about 83 weeks. The Department previously published this list under the name Foreign Service Institute (FSI); an archived version of the page gives identical class-hour totals to the current one.
1. Learn the sound of each letter
The pronunciation guide in Learning Indonesian in 7 Days, a beginner's course hosted on Northern Illinois University's Southeast Asia site, starts from a helpful fact: most letters have only one pronunciation. A handful of rules covers the rest.
- The letter a is always long, as in father.
- The letter c is always pronounced like ch in check.
- The letter e is the only one with two distinct pronunciations: usually like the a in sofa, sometimes like the a in make.
- A k at the end of a word is a glottal stop, not a full k.
- The pair ng sounds as in singer; ngg sounds as in finger.
- The r is softly trilled.
- Stress is light and falls on the last or next-to-last syllable. When in doubt, the guide advises saying the word evenly: no emphasis is better than a wrong one.
The guide also warns against one habit: pronouncing Indonesian words the way they might sound in French, Spanish or German. Keep it simple and follow the letters.
2. Learn the polite phrases first
Day 1 of the course is called Being Polite, and it explains why: the first priority in Indonesia is being polite, and even a few polite words return much appreciation.
| Indonesian | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Terima kasih | Thank you |
| Kembali | You're welcome |
| Apa kabar? | How are you? |
| Tidak | No |
| Saya tidak bisa bahasa Indonesia | I don't speak Indonesian |
| Berapa? | How much? How many? |
Greetings change with the time of day. Selamat is followed by pagi in the morning, siang in the middle of the day, sore in the afternoon and malam in the evening: Selamat pagi is good morning.
3. Build sentences from frames
Day 5 gives sentence frames into which you drop a noun or a verb. Saya mau is I want: Saya mau minum, I want to drink. Saya minta kopi is I would like some coffee. Ada, followed by a noun, asks do you have any. The course's instruction is to learn at least five new nouns and five new verbs that are useful to you, write them down and give yourself a quiz. A few frames and a growing list of words produce a large number of usable sentences.
4. Use the words you already know
Many foreign, especially English, words are commonly used by Indonesians. The course lists hotel, taxi, film, bank, photo and restaurant among those likely to be understood, and gives a longer table of similar words that includes airport, computer, doctor, museum, music, police and telephone. Look for them on signs and in advertisements; it is an easy way to add vocabulary.
5. Ask people for words
Day 6 teaches the question that makes every conversation a lesson: Apa ini? What is this? You can also ask what an English word is in Indonesian. The course's point is that you learn words much faster if you use the Indonesian speakers around you as teachers.
6. Test yourself and space it out
A 2013 review of ten learning techniques, led by John Dunlosky, rated two as high utility: practice testing and distributed practice. Rereading and highlighting were rated low. A 2006 meta-analysis of 317 experiments on distributed practice found that the best gap between study sessions grows with how long you need to remember the material.
- Cover the Indonesian and say it from the English.
- Quiz yourself on today's five nouns and five verbs before you go out.
- Begin each session by recalling the last one.
- Return to each list after a day, a week and a month.
A first week that works
- Day 1: polite phrases. Day 2: words for taking a taxi. Day 3: more politeness.
- Day 4: numbers.
- Day 5: simple sentences from frames.
- Day 6: asking questions.
- Day 7: what the course calls leftovers, plus the pronunciation guide in its appendix.
That is the order of the seven-day course, whose word lists have audio for each word. It describes itself as a way to get through your first week while you plan more extensive language training, so treat it as a launch, not a course. For classes, the same university site notes the textbooks used in its own Indonesian courses. Language Lab's Indonesian course is built around voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor, so you can practise speaking between lessons.
Frequently asked
What is the fastest way to learn Indonesian?
Learn the sound of each letter, then the polite phrases, then build sentences from a few frames such as Saya mau, I want. Ask people for words, test yourself and speak every day.
How long does it take to learn Indonesian?
The US State Department allows about 36 weeks, or 828 class hours, for English speakers to reach a speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale. At 10 hours a week that is about 83 weeks.
Is Indonesian easy for English speakers?
The US State Department places it in Category II, below the Category III group that contains Thai, Vietnamese and Hindi. Its spelling is regular: most letters have only one pronunciation.
How do you say thank you in Indonesian?
Terima kasih. The reply, you're welcome, is Kembali.
How is the letter c pronounced in Indonesian?
Always like ch in check.
Can I really learn Indonesian in 7 days?
No. The seven-day course gives the most useful words and phrases for a first week. The State Department's figure for English speakers is about 36 weeks of full-time classes.
Sources: US Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Foreign Language Training; Northern Illinois University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, SEAsite Indonesian: Learning Indonesian in 7 Days (Introduction, Day 1, Day 5, Day 6 and Appendix 1, Guide to Pronunciation); Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013; Cepeda et al., Psychological Bulletin, 2006. Checked on 13 October 2026. Photo: Mount Batok seen from Bromo volcano, Java, Jakub Hałun / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
