Sedang vs. Lagi One of the most useful, but also most confusing, words in the Indonesian language is lagi. This is largely because it has multiple meanings and uses, some of which are extremely common in colloquial Indonesian but rarely covered in formal ”learn Indonesian books”. This post aims to clear up the difference between…
During the time I lived in Indonesia, it traded in a band of between 8,500 and 10,000 rupiah, hovering around the 9,000 rupiah mark for much of the time. It was broadly stable during these years from 2005 to 2012, meaning that your Indonesian salary held its value reasonably well. The main threat was inflation,…
Iya..cuma ganti nama, tapi sebenernya RB dan LaB sama. Anak saya sudah kurang lebih 7 bulan les disini. Waktu itu saya membayar 3,5jt untuk 7 bulan (1 anak dan boleh pilih bahasa apa saja, sebanyak2nya sesuai jadwal). Jumlah itu sudah didiskon ini itu, yang memang sebelumnya mereka kasih harga belasan juta. Mungkin karena tertarik diskon…
We now have more clarity from Manpower Minister, Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri. Dhakiri has announced that proficiency in the Indonesian language will be a requirement for both existing expatriates in Indonesia and prospective foreign workers. Hanif said his ministry was planning to establish some kind of online Indonesian language proficiency test for expat workers. Actually, he…
What did you make of the decision to appoint Nunu Pratama as manager at TBI Kelapa Gading in 2012? You had previously been his manager at TBI Kuningan. Well, I thought it was a highly risky decision because he had said to be many times, “I am lazy. I just want to be teach my…
Seperti and Sepertinya Two words that you will often encounter in Indonesia are seperti and sepertinya. Although they have a related meaning, they are not the same. The first means ‘like’ in the the sense of ‘resembling’. Here are a couple of examples I found online: 1) Rumah artis Bollywood itu seperti istana India. The…
In this post, I interview again a former TBI Kuningan manager who was instrumental in revealing TBI’s long history of illegal labor scams and also Luke Preece’s history of rigging interview panels and job appointments in favor of his cronies. In this interview, I ask him about his views on latest developments at TBI and…
With the authorities in Indonesia planning to introduce a Bahasa Indonesia test in 2015 (an issue this blog has been following closely), I have been reminded of my own early days in Indonesia and my struggle to understand and speak Indonesian. As a result, I have decided to devote one blog post a week to…
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris said recently that starting next year foreigners wanting to work or study in Indonesia would be required to pass an Indonesian language proficiency test and to learn Indonesian culture to help them develop better communications with their local environment. The Minister of Manpower announcing that expats in Indonesia…
It is interesting to see that even Bloomberg News has gotten into the act of criticizing the regulators of the Indonesian TEFL industry. A syndicated article about the sheer madness of the DIKNAS regulations has now made it from New York all the way to Bangkok and Jakarta. However, the key points will not be…
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