Talking the talk

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<hr>Is there any places in Indonesian that find it offensive to speak in Bahasa Indonesia??<hr></blockquote>No.
Even the Acehnese or the Papuans don't mind it.

The concept of a single national language has been much more accepted in Indonesia than in say, the Philippines.

I might add that of course speaking the local language (as opposed to Indonesian) of any area you visit would be enormously appreciated by the people there.
But this obviously takes much more effort than most foreigners, even those staying long in Indonesia, make.
If keen, you could always try and learn a few key words/phrases though.

And while no one finds Indonesian offensive, a few old village people just can't speak it well, even in Bali.
But they are becoming something of a rarity.

I don't think it's a stupid question. I've had the very same problem, not in Indonesia though.

I do second Laszlo's posts. People in Indonesia appreciate a lot when you approach them in bahasa Indonesia, but no one expects you to know the local language.

Great that you are learning some basic bahasa. I guess in Bali it's not a major problem getting around without (but then I've never been there), but in less touristic areas you can for sure not rely on finding somebody around who knows a bit of English...

Enjoy!!

Thanks a lot for that,

Yeah I was hoping that was the case. Although a slightly different situation, when I was in Portugal I found that speaking Spanish was of offense to one or two people and even though it was much better than they're English they would rather speak in English. Similarly in Utila on Honduras I was told that people take it to offensive being spoken to in Spanish as their language is English.

I was just hoping I wasn't learning some in vain as I wouldn't be using it anyway :)

No one will object to you speaking Bahasa Indonesia, unless you speak it very badly and thus they prefer to speak to you in English.

Be aware that in some parts of Indonesia, some of the local people cannot speak Bahasa Indonesia at all. When I spoke to a census collector in Bulakumba in Southern Suluwesi, he told me that 30% of the people there were illiterate ie had never even been to Primary School and thus never learnt Bahasa Indonesia. His comments explained the looks of incomprehension when I tried to speak to the older people in the countryside.

Sometimes, it is wiser not to speak Bahasa Indonesia. When a policeman at the gates told me in Bahasa Indonesia that I could not enter the passenger dock at Tanjung Priok without a ticket, I feigned that I did not speak Bahasa Indonesia. He gave up and I went up to the ship and tried to book a passage. They directed back outside the gates to the ticket office.

They'll appreciate you for trying, as opposed to the rebuke I got in Iloilo, Panay, RP when I aired my tiny amount of Tagalog, and got back, "Speak English. We don't use that pig language." Too bad for the Filipinos, who could certainly benefit from a little national reconciliation and unity.

Karlo, I actually like the regional patriotism of Filipinos! ;-)
But then I come from multilingual Europe.

And despite their preference to keep using their own regional tongues instead of Tagalog, I found there was more national unity in the Philippines than in Indonesia - I was there when the Cordillera voted against regional autonomy offered to them by the central government. Only the Muslims of Mindanao pose anything like threat to national unity, and then not on lingustic grounds either.

You simply tried to use your Tagalog in the wrong area - but English used in Quebec might get a similar reaction, no?
Next time arm yourself with a Hiligaynon/Ilonggo book for Panay - or stick to English indeed.

hmm generally yes but some people look down on Bahasa Indonesia (certain Jakartan women, some tionghoa businessmesn, those impatient with bules) spoken by foreigners and others dont like if you pick up some more of the Jakarta slang. Its an ongoing process, dont be like many of my colleagues and just pick up several words and then use them to sound hip rather than spending the time to learn the lanuage.

#7 that may happen in Jakarta but not in Flores, they certain;ly appreciate you trying to speak Bahasa Indonesia or the local language. As #5 says, if they speak English and you are sruggling to het any words together in Indonesian, they might prefer to spesak to you in ENglish. On a slightly fdifferent note. I was in East Timor in 2003, despite the bad memories of the Idnoensian occupation, the East Timorese were hapy to communicate to you in Idonesian, more so thanortuguese.

In case you are interested here some phrasesI learnt in some of teh local langauges of FLores

Nazan dzao... = my name is... in Ngadha (bajawa)
Ngere EMba? = how are you? in Lio (Kelimutu)
Mbana emba? = where are you going? in the same language
Najan aku... = My name is in... Lio