Indonesia and The Philippines are both Southeast Asian countries consisting of many different islands. Indonesians and Filipinos both speak very diverse languages (how many languages are there in Indonesia?), but most of them are from the Austronesian family language, language group widely spoken among Southease Asians. The Indonesians have Bahasa Indonesia as their official language while the Filipinos use the Tagalog. You’ve probably learned about word formation as well as morphology of Indonesian language, and how to learn Indonesian words easily. But, is there any Indonesian words similar to Tagalog?
However, there are also Indonesian words similar to other languages. For example, there are Indonesian loanwords similar to English. Aside from that, there are also words similar to Tagalog. The very close distance between the two countries cause some similarities in their languages. The difference is that the Filipinos are more influenced by their Spanish colonizers while Indonesians, by the Dutch, but still, there are words from both languages that are alike.
Here are a few examples, starting from the Indonesian word (with pronunciation) followed by the Filipino word.
- Aku/Akó (uh-koo) – “I”
Example in Indonesian
Aku pergi ke pasar (I go to the market)
- Anak (uh-nuck) – “child”
Example in Indonesian
Ia mempunyai dua anak (She has two children)
- Balot/Balut (bah-loot) – “to wrap”
Example in Indonesian
Ibu membalut luka di lututku (Mom wraps the wound on my knee)
- Laláki/Lelaki (le-luh-kee) – “male/man”
Example in Indonesian
Lelaki berbaju putih itu adalah ayahku (The man in the white t-shirt is my father)
- Kambing (cum-beeng) – “goat”
Example in Indonesian
Keluarga kami suka makan sup kambing (Our family loves eating goat soup)
- Lima (lee-ma) – “five”
Example in Indonesian
Ia memiliki lima anjing peliharaan (She owns five pet dogs)
- Bangsa/Bansá (bung-suh) – “country/nation”
Example in Indonesian
Bangsa Belanda adalah salah satu penjajah Indonesia (The Dutch nation is one of the colonizers of Indonesia)
- Lamok/Nyamuk (nyuh-mook) – “mosquito”
Example in Indonesian
Nyamuk di genangan air harus dibasmi (Mosquitoes in water puddles should be killed)
- Takut/Takot (tuh-koot) – “fear”
Example in Indonesian
Anak itu takut petir (The kid fears lightning)
- Sarap/Sedap (se-dup) – “delicious”
Example in Indonesian
Masakan ini sangat sedap (This meal is very delicious)
There are many other Indonesian words similar to Tagalog. Perhaps that’s why Filipino friends don’t require too much time mastering Indonesian language. The similarities in both these language allow us to appreciate the close relationship between the language and culture of both Indonesia and The Philippines.
(Also check this article to learn untranslatable Indonesian words with no English equivalent which cannot be found in other languages!)