We’ll pretend for the sake of this blog that our hero’s location is one of the thousands of Indonesian island (a small one, clearly, and one without people). So if he discovers anyone, these words may be useful. Sorta. (‘C’ is pronounced ‘ch’ and ‘r’ is slightly rolled, and voila! You speak Indonesian.)
Food:
apel – apple
stroberi – strawberry
tomat – tomato
es krim – ice cream
es – ice
kecap – any kind of sauce
mi goreng – fried noodles (mi is noodles, goreng is fried) – it’s an Indonesian product.
teh – tea
kopi – coffee
rambutan/rambut – hairy fruit/hair
durian/duri – thorny fruit/thorn
Getting around:
taksi – taxi (possibly my favourite example of Indonesian spelling)
bis/bus – bus
passpor – passport
Religion:
Islam – Islam/a Muslim
Kristen – Christianity/a Christian
Protestan – Protestantism/a Protestant
Katolik – Catholicism/a Catholic
Budha – Buddhism/a Buddhist
Hindu – Hinduism/a Hindu
Other useful words:
buku – book
marbel – marble (also a yummy lollie; the lovechild of mentos and skittles)
demokrasi – democracy
guru – teacher (at school)
oranghutan – oranghutan (orang – person, hutan – forest)
Timor Timur – East Timor (ie Timur is East)
Botol – bottle
See? You’re practically fluent.