Consonants

Archive for the ‘Consonants’ Category

June 25th, 2009

c	g	j	r
It is pronounced like the English /ch/ in ‘cheese’ and never as the /c/ in ‘car	It is pronounced like the English /g/ in ‘god’; ‘golf’, and never the /g/ in ‘giraffe’	It is pronounced like the English /j/ in ‘Jill’; not the /j/ in ‘John’	This is the rolled or trilled /r/ like the Italian or Spanish in ’signora’; ’senora’
cuci – wash	gigi – tooth/teeth	juga – also	rasa – taste
cari – look for	guru – teacher	jari – finger	drama – drama
cucu – grandchild	gajah – elephant	jujur – honest	kabar – news

H in initial position	H in medial position flanked by the same vowels	H in medial position flanked by 2 different vowels	‘H’ in final position
/h/ is pronounced clearly. In daily conversation is optionally audible	/h/ is pronounced clearly.	/h/ is optionally audible.	/h/ must be pronounced clearly otherwise the meaning changes.
hujan – rain	mohon – request	lihat – see/look	darah – blood
hari – day	leher – neck	lahir – born	basah – wet
handuk – towel	sihir – witchcraft	pahit – bitter	susah – difficult

ng	ng + g = ngg	ny	sy	kh
It is pronounced like the English /ng/ in ’sing’; ‘king’.	It is pronounced like the English /ng/ in ‘tango’; ‘finger’.	It is pronounced like the English ‘ny’ in ‘canyon’.	It is pronounced like the English ’sh’ in ’shark’; ’she’.	It is pronounced like the Scottish ‘ch’ in ‘loch’. The words are mostly of Arabic origin.
ngantuk – sleepy	panggil – call	banyak – many	syarat – requirement	akhir – end
tangan – hand	tunggu – wait	nyamuk – mosquito	syair – verse	khayal – imagination
datang – arrive	enggak – no (informal)	nyanyi – sing	syukur – thank God	khusus – special

How Letter ‘C’, ‘G’, ‘J’ and ‘R’ are Pronounced