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About the Indonesian language

Indonesian is a member of the Austronesian family of languages and is the official language of Indonesia. It is essentially the same language as Malay, the two having been standardised in 1972, although there are some differences in pronunciation and vocabulary.

Although there are a number of regional languages spoken in the Indonesian archipelago, the majority of Indonesians now speak the official language, making it one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world with over 150 million speakers.

It is written in the Latin script.

So why learn Indonesian?

Business
Indonesia's economy is the largest of the South East Asian economies and is growing rapidly. A knowledge of the language can only be of benefit in business dealings with Indonesian companies.

Tourism
Indonesia is a much visited country, especially by cruise lines, because of its natural beauty, bio-diversity and cultural heritage. The language is relatively easy to pronounce and your efforts to learn to speak Indonesian will be rewarded with happy smiles.

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