Language and Culture Notes

1. As indicated in this advertisement for Tiger Balm, a common treatment for a headache in Indonesia is to rub a balm on one’s temples.
2. In question number 4 in Section B of the Sinonim page, you will note that enak is given as the synonym of the word nyaman. You probably already know that enak means delicious in the context of food. For example, Makanan ini enak, (This food is delicious). In this lesson, however, nyaman and enak are used to describe a feeling of comfort or ‘comfortable’. For example, Kursi ini enak sekali, (This chair is very comfortable). Finally, enak in the context of health means ‘good’. For example, Badan saya tidak enak, (I don’t feel good).
3. In the video on the Kosakata page of this lesson, the two friends use the informal words aku and kamu instead of the more formal terms saya and Anda. When learning Indonesian, it is important to learn how to distinguish between formal and informal contexts that demand different word choices. The two close friends use an informal register which, for them, results in a strong influence from Javanese. They use aku for ‘I’ and its abbreviated form, ku, as a verbal prefix and a pronominal suffix meaning ‘I’ and ‘my’, respectively. For example, Bobby says, "Oh, kemarin aku jatuh dan tanganku sekarang sakit." This informal register is not appropriate for someone new to the community since it takes time to develop close relationships.