It is a few hundred the Malay language or dialect in Indonesia, is it really true?

Question caused by Dolphin Lover8-88: Is it really true there are a few hundred Malay languages or dialects in Indonesia?

The country must have a very rich and long civilization, then?

And which time of the year is best for visiting and observing interesting festivals?

Just curious about the culture and thanks for your inputs! )

That is certainly all about Is it really true there are a few hundred Malay languages or dialects in Indonesia? that you may must have to resolve conditions by themselves. Eventually this element helps in lots of ways: and then make yourself far better. With the expectation all about Is it really true there are a few hundred Malay languages or dialects in Indonesia? can certainly be a response someday.

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Answer by aisha s

Malay languange is malaysian language, which is similar in terms of vocabulary. but it has its differences. their accents differs too.

indonesians speak indonesian language. its the national language.

but in different cities/province, you will find people speaking different languages. there are hundreds of different language spoken in indonesia. the most common is indonesian, sundanese, javanese.

im not sure when there are festivals. because every province has different festivals and events. but there are no particular huge events. except independence day ( 17 august) or maybe new years.

so id say come around august. there are interesting events and games on the independence day.

hope that helps!

Answer by tuscanyid

Indonesian speaks Bahasa Indonesia not Malay, it is the language of the Malayan (Malaysia, Brunei). There are only one Bahasa Indonesia, but since Indonesia consists of many different cultures, the language usually mixed up with the local languages both in vocabulary and dialects. So perhaps as comparison it is like we have British English, American English and Australian English and the dialects would be like Indian dialects in speaking English and Chinese dialects in speaking English.

Maybe you talk about the local traditional languages in Indonesia, in this case, yeah Indonesia has hundreds of local languages with different types and dialects one to another even in one specific region just like chinese language where they have mandarin, cantonese etc.

Best time to visit mainly during the dry season between June to August, many festivals held all across the country but be prepare for the heat.

Answer by uni-verse

Indonesia is a vast group of Islands and has only been brought together in recent times by the power of Java , to unite them after the Dutch left at the end of the second world war.

So even Java has its own language and culture, Borneo Island has more than 125 languages in Kalimantan alone . The only form of communication in Indonesia was sailing ships and boats .

Think of North America , where there was over 500 tribal languages in the Native population . This is the norm for all areas of the earth , as people could not travel as they do today in developed countries.

Answer by the_reid_factor

My source below reports 726 languages, of which 247 are in West Papua/Irian Jaya. The number of islands (approx 17 000) and mountainous terrain have contributed to this.

While now the world’s most populous Muslim country, it also has many Buddhist and Hindu temples e.g. the World Heritage-listed Borobodur and Prambanan.

Most of the festivals (e.g Baliem Valley, the many in Bali) tend to be in the dry season which matches the Northern Hemisphere’s Summer.

Answer by Canang Sari

Malay (including Bahasa Indonesia) belongs to the Austronesian/Malayo-Polynesian group of languages, and is widely distributed throughout maritime Southeast Asia and Pacific – as far north as Taiwan and south as New Zealand (Maori), and even as far west as Madagascar and east as Hawaii. The languages of the Philippine islands also belong to this group.

Dialects evolve because of isolation (islands, mountains, forests), of which Indonesia has an estimated 17,000 islands.

Bahasa Indonesia is a Malay dialect, believed to have originated from Sumatra.

“Indonesia” as a united political entity is a relatively recent phenomenon that was a direct result of Dutch colonialism (called the “Dutch East Indies” for administrative reasons), which itself lasted only a mere blink of an eye (150 years). The modern republic of Indonesia was only founded in 1945 (?), so the cultures/ethnicitities of this area obviously did not sprout up overnight from that point.

The first major kingdom of the area was the Srivijaya Empire in the 7th century, with its Buddhist and Hindu influences. Several others followed, rose and fell. But archaeological evidence suggests that the first waves of migration came around 2000BC from northern Asia to merge with indigenous populations of much earlier. “Java Man” was carbon dated to 500,000 years.

‘Indonesia’ has been described as the world’s most populous Muslim nation, but humans being rather short sighted, forget that Islam is the ‘new kid on the block’ in this region, established only around the 18th century.

Mysticism, animism and paganism are still very practiced alongside Islam, in that graceful seamlessness of the Indonesian people. Saw it with my own eyes when I spent a week with a local family in Yogya, central Java, learning massage.

Best time to visit? Gosh, you ask the impossible as the cultures and ethnic groups are so diverse!

Pick up a Lonely Planet Indonesia which has an overview map of the larger islands’ highlights, to begin with.

I’m off to north Sumatra myself this week and have been dreaming of the other islands for years now… like Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluka, Flores, Lombok, Sumba, Sumbawa, Timor, Irian Jaya, Komodo… etc.

Answer by red-5

Well, Indonesia have a lot of languages. Indonesian language and Malay language are different, but in sumatra, some of people speak with Malay accent merely. But in other province, they are different language, but only Indonesian language is national and the most polite in Indonesia.

Yes, Indonesia is such a big country. 4th populous country in the world. So it must be have a very rich and long civilizations as you said.

Interesting festival? Well, it must be always at August 17. But it sometimes for moslems enjoy their own fest at special time..

Answer by Rieke

We speak Bahasa Indonesia here in Indonesia which is different from Malay although for non-speaker they sound similar.

There are around 300 ethnic groups in Indonesia and each ethnic group is divided into several sub ethnic groups, for example: The largest ethnic group in Indonesia is the Javanese, which is divided into Central Javanese, East Javanese and Jogja.The central javanese is divided again by their living region and also by their social status. These community group each has different language. With over 23 million speakers spread over the archipelago and 140 million second languages influencing the language it’s not surprising that Bahasa Indonesia has hundreds maybe thousands of different dialects.

The nation of Indonesia has quite a rich and long civilization. The proof of the first kingdom here are seven stone pillars dated around 350 AD. You can learn many things about Indonesia in wikipedia.

The people in Indonesia just love ceremonies and festival, and when there’s no schedule for any annual festival, they will make up a reason for that; it can range from a wedding, an engagement, a baby shower, a graduation to a housewarming, celebration of a new position, honoring the death of loved ones, etc, etc.

It’s hard to understand the culture just by browsing in the internet, you have to experience it yourself. Come to Indonesia and enjoy our culture.

PS: I you want to come here, just contact me and I’ll show you Indonesia.

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It is a few hundred the Malay language or dialect in Indonesia, is it really true?