Book Review - Practical Balinese
TITLE: Practical Balinese
AUTHOR: Gunter Spitzing
PAGES: 138
PUBLISHER: Periplus Editions
ISBN: 962-593-068-X
It is said that if you learn just a few simple and useful phrases of the country's language you are travelling to, then, it certainly opens doors and makes your travel experience that much more enjoyable. I totally agree with this and wherever I have travelled, I have always endeavoured to learn some of the language.
These days Indonesia has its own national language &345; Bahasa Indonesia. I was fascinated to find a copy of Practical Balinese when I was in the Gramedia bookshop amidst all the language books on the national language and, thought I would give it a try. It was a tad scary at first because it looked so complicated whereas in fact its not if you apply yourself.
As in most miniature phrasebooks, it is broken down into the various sections with a guide to pronunciation. But, with Bahasa Bali there are different levels of the language and those being Everyday Balinese and High Balinese. With learning Bahasa Indonesia it was one easy level!.
What I liked about this phrasebook was the inclusion of Grammar sections and the English/Balinese Glossary which included both the levels of the Balinese language. The one thing I didn’t find clear enough was the pronunciation guide. For those already learning or have learnt a reasonable amount of Bahasa Indonesia, you will notice the pronunciation of the letters is the same for Bahasa Bali and will find it easy.
For those people not familiar with the pronunciation of the letters in the Indonesian language, just go to the article I wrote a while back on the BaliBlog - Ya Gotta Know how to Pronounce It.
It is a gem of a book once the reader gets his or her tongue around the pronunciation and I can see a lot of fun can be had from learning a new language and especially if you travel to the remoter parts of Bali. Selemat Belajar! (Happy Learning).
By Sean | Permalink
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Another excellent book is :
Everyday Indonesian
Phrasebook & Dictionary
Thomas G. Oey, Ph.D.