Bahasa means language, and Bahasa Indonesia is the lingua franca or common language of the archipelago. There are over 350 native languages currently in use throughout Indonesia. We have decided to learn as much Indonesian as we can as a first step to transitioning from tourists to locals.
Its nice to try to speak one of the local languages and seems to be met with smiles and new words in Indonesian to encourage us. So far we have more or less mastered:
Terima Kasih - Thank you
Selamat pagi - good morning
selamat siang - good early afternoon
selamat sore - good late afternoon
selamat malam - good evening
selamat tinggal - good bye
