Indonesian

Here is some trivia about the Indonesian language, or Bahasa Indonesia.

George Bernard Shaw (or was it Winston Churchill?) once said that Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language. The same could be said of Malaysia and Indonesia which each have their own versions of Bahasa. Although the languages are very similar there are differences in spelling, pronunciation and vocabulary which can sometimes lead to misunderstanding.  Bahasa Indonesia retains some words introduced by the Dutch during the colonial period. Thus a post office, which in Malaysia is pejabat pos, is known in Indonesia as kantor pos, from the Dutch word for office - kantoor. 

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