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Mark Moxon's Travel Writing

Indonesia: Learning Bahasa Indonesia

Local men in Senaru
Learning the local language is a great bonus; I met these guys in Senaru, not far from Gunung Rinjani in Lombok, and they became my instant friends

I'm learning a new language while in Indonesia, and it's making travelling here so much more rewarding. Bahasa Indonesia (bahasa means 'language' in Indonesian) is a whole lot easier to pick up than English, and it doesn't take long to become proficiently fluent (by which I mean able to travel without having to resort to screaming loudly and slowly in your native tongue).

What do you call someone who can speak three languages?
A polyglot.

What do you call someone who can speak two languages?
Bilingual.

And what do you call someone who can only speak one language?
English.

Ha bloody ha.