Indonesian
Language combinations for translations involving Indonesian:
Eisenmann Übersetzungsteam provides technical translations by native speakers of Indonesian into and from Indonesian for all subject areas: economics, law, technology, medicine, advertising, IT etc.
Our subject areas range from finance to law, from technology to advertising, websites, certificates and references.
All texts are translated by experienced specialist translators of Indonesian into their mother tongues (Indonesian or German), as per the native speaker principle.
The Spread of Indonesian
The Indonesian language is the official and national language of Indonesia. It is spoken as a mother tongue by approximately 160 million people, and is a form of Malay which has been the commercial language of the archipelago for centuries. Both languages are individual languages due mostly to their differences in vocabulary, but also to the influences of different colonial rulers.
Indonesian and Malay belong to the Austronesian language family, and are often called the West Malayo-Polynesian languages.
This language family consists of approximately 700 different languages between Madagascar and the Easter Islands. In the Indonesian archipelago alone there are between 200 and 350 regional languages. The largest of these are Javanese, Sundanese and Madurese Mandouriya.
Outside of Indonesia, Indonesian is mainly spoken in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the Netherlands and the USA.
The History of Indonesian
Indonesian has been shaped by numerous influences over the course of its development; 2000 years ago by Sanskrit, in the 13th Century by Arabic and from the 16th Century onwards by various European languages. At the beginning of the Netherlands’ colonial rule in the 19th Century a number of Dutch terms were adopted into Indonesian, and the Latin alphabet was introduced. After the end of colonial rule, even more words from the regional languages entered into the Indonesian vocabulary, especially from Javanese.
This is the main difference between Indonesian and Malay: Malay was exposed to many influences from India and was characterised more by Arabic. From the 14th Century, it was even mostly written in Arabic characters.
In 1945, Indonesian officially became the national language of Indonesia. It must be said, however, that Indonesian is actually the second language of the majority of Indonesians, with one of the many regional languages being the mother tongue. In schools, Indonesian was for a long time simply a compulsory subject while all other classes were taught in a regional language. Today, all education in Indonesian schools is carried out in Indonesian, although at home and in everyday life the regional languages are still usually the languages of choice.
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Updated November 2022
