Slang is a very informal language that commonly used in the daily conversations. Almost every language have their own slang words, both spoken and written. They are sometimes hard to be learned by new learners of the language due to its ambiguities and its complete difference with the formal language. Especially when you learn Indonesian, there are many slang words that are unique and weird.
They mostly have no correlation with the formal Indonesian language order and rules. And more importantly, slang words are growing. Indonesian people are creative in creating new slang words. The innovations usually depend on the current trending culture/topics of the younger generation. There are also times where these slang words might become no longer relevant or out dated. Let’s learn more about Indonesian Simple Phrases
These slang words sometimes differ from a region to another. They are not taught in any formal education, but rather being used massively in the daily discourse and to some extent used in pop media, social media, and teen-based publications/posts/magazines. Therefore, we are going to share about these slang words, or usually called as “bahasa gaul”.
Specifically, words that you may use in written such as in chats and message texts. They are usually more simple and mostly prone to abbreviations because people are more lazy to write in complete words and sentences during chats. We usually shorten a word by eliminating the vowels. However, it is discouraged to use slang words during formal chats and messages addressed to someone older or with a higher position than us. Let’s learn more about Indonesian Slang in Internet Chatting
Slang words in chats
Let’s learn about Indonesian slang words in internet chatting:
- Assalamualaikum/Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh : formal greeting (mostly for/by muslims). It became slang and informal when shortened to : Ass, Asslmlkm, Samlekum, Salam, A.W.W, AWW
- Waalaikumsalam/Waalaikumsalam Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh : formal answer of the above greeting (mostly for/by muslims). It became slang and informal when shortened to : Wass, Waalaikumslm, Walekumsalam, Salam, W.W.W, WWW
- Selamat pagi : general formal greeting. It became slang and informal when shortened to : Pagi, Slmt pagi
- Selamat siang : general formal greeting. It became slang and informal when shortened to : Siang, Slmt siang
- Selamat sore : general formal greeting. It became slang and informal when shortened to : Sore, Slmt sore
- Selamat malam : general formal greeting. It became slang and informal when shortened to : Malem, mlm, Slmt mlm
- Aku : Me/I (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Aq, ak
- Saya : Me/I (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Sy
- Kamu : You (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Km, kmu
- Gue/Gua : Me/I (informal/Jakarta language). It became slang when shortened to : Gw
- Lu/Lo : You (informal/Jakarta language). (formal).
- Kita : Us (formal). Let’s learn more about Javanese Slang Words
- Kata : Say ((formal). It became slang when shortened to : Kt
- Apa kabar? : how are you? (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Pkbr?, Pa kbr?, Ap kbr?, Kbr?
- Apa : What? (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Ap
- Baik : Good. It became slang when shortended to : Bk
- Bagaimana : How? (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Gmn?, Bgmn?
- Kenapa : Why? (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Knp
- Dimana : Where? (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Dmn?, Mn?
- Kapan : When? (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Kpn?
- Berapa : How much?/How many? (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Brp?
- Iya : Yes (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Y, Iy
- Tidak : No (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Tdk, nggak, ngga, gk, ga, g
- Bisa : Can (able to do something) (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Bs
- Jadi : So (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Jd
- Terus : And then (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Trs
- Harus : Must (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Hrs
- Makan : Eat (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Mkn
- Sekarang : Now (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Skrg
- Besok : Tomorrow ((formal). It became slang when shortened to : Bsk
- Kemarin : Yesterday (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Kmrn
- Hati-hati : Be careful (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Hati2
- Tidak apa-apa : It’s ok (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Tidak apa2, ga apa2, gpp
- Sampai : Until (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Sampe, Smpe
- Begitu : that way/like that (formal). It became slang when shortened to : Bgitu, Gt
If you notice, most of the abbreviated words are by removing the vowels/vocal letters. So you may try to refer to the similar words with vowels if someday you found other abbreviated words. You may also notice that repetitive words (such as “hati-hati”) are shortened and written with only 1 word and number 2 (“hati2”) to indicate that they are repetitions. Let’s learn more about List of Indonesian Slang Words
There are also additional affixes such as :
- Dong
- Eh
- Lah
- Kok
- Sih
Example of chat conversation using slang words
A : Good morning, how are you?
Pagi, pkbr lu?
B : Morning, I’m fine. And you?
Pagi, gue baik kok. Lu gmn?
A : I’m ok. When can we meet again?
Gue baik2 aja. Kpn kita bs kita ktemu lg?
B : Tomorrow perhaps?
Bsk mungkin?
A : Ok. At what time are you available?
Ok. Lu bsnya kpn?
B : I’m available any time.
Gue bs kpn aj
A : Great. What can I bring for you?
Bagus2. Lu mau gue bawain apa?
B : Oh please don’t bother 🙂
Ga usah repot2 🙂
A : Ok. See you 🙂
Okee sampe ketemu 🙂
That’s all for today’s lesson about Indonesian slang words in internet chatting. We hope it’s useful for you! Let’s learn more about Indonesian Simple Phrases