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Lesson: The Indonesian Alphabet

Twenty six Latin characters are used to represent the modern Indonesian alphabet. Obviously, these are the same letters used in the English alphabet; however, a noticable difference between the two languages is how each letter is pronounced when reciting the alphabet. The table below gives the equivalent American-English sound for each Indonesian letter as each is spoken.

A

ah

G

gé

M

em

S

es

Y

yé

B

bé

H

ha

N

en

T

té

Z

set

C

ché

I

ee

O

oh

U

oo

D

dé

J

jé

P

pé

V

fé

E

é

K

ka

Q

ki

W

wé

F

ef

L

el

R

air

X

iks

Here's your chance to listen to a native Indonesian speaker recite the letters of the alphabet. This application lets you hear how each letter is spoken as a standalone symbol, not how is should be pronounced when used in a word. We have other lessons and tools dedicated to Indonesian pronunciations.

There aren’t many Q words. Most of them are pure Arabic words referring to the Islamic faith. V words are mostly borrowed from Western languages. X words are extremely rare. My largest dictionary had a single entry only. Y words are somewhat sparse although there are few that are critical to the language. Z words are rare and mostly borrowed as well.

Play around with the flash program above to learn new words. Click on a letter or press shuffle to view more words. If you don't have flash then you can download it for free here.