Syllables

In the previous post I gave you a short explanation on how Indonesian language alphabets are look like. But where are Indonesian words, you asked? Be patient, pal! Right now I will give you some of them. Here they are:
kamu (you),
saya (I, me),
kantor (office),
jangan (do not),
hanya (only),
khusus (special),
asyik (absorbed, eager).

In order to read the words, all you have to do is to separate them first into their syllables. In this case:
kamu becomes ka-mu (separation before the next consonant)
saya becomes sa-ya (separation before the next consonant)
kantor becomes kan-tor (separation in between the two consonants)
jangan becomes ja-ngan (ng is counted as a single letter and separation before the
next consonant)
hanya becomes ha-nya (ny is counted as a single letter and separation before the
next consonant)
khusus becomes khu-sus (kh is counted as a single letter and separation before the next consonant)

asyik becomes a-syik (sy is counted as a single letter and separation before the next consonant)

But then, how to pronounce these words?

ka-mu:  car – moo
sa-ya: sounds like you say soya
kan-tor: kan sounds like the first syllable of conscious, and tor sounds like the last of the word motor but with a clear and strong r.
ng sounds like the last sound of the word sing.
ny, sounds like the middle of the word onion.
kh, it is difficult to find English word that contains similar sound with kh, but you can simply say it k like in that in the word comic
and sy sounds like sh in shoe.

I think these will be too much for you, so that I stop for the moment. If you are still interested in, then I will continue in the next post.

Regards,

Ika