Indonesia

To which language should you translate to localize in Indonesia?

As one of the largest multilingual countries in the world, the linguistic landscape in Indonesia is extremely diverse and complex with many languages coexisting and influencing one another. Thus the existence of “Bahasa Indonesia” (which literally means “Indonesian language”) that serves as a unifying force for the country. It is estimated that around 85-90% of the population speaks Indonesian. It is used as the official language in education, government, and media.

But when it comes to how many Indonesians speak Bahasa Indonesia as their first language, the answer would be only less than a quarter of the population speak Indonesian as their primary language. It’s quite hard to give an exact percentage of language usage in Indonesia, since it’s a vast country and the language usage can vary greatly from region to region. In some areas, local languages are widely spoken, while in other areas, they may be used primarily in the home or in certain social contexts. And yet, most people speak their local languages as their mother tongue. In other words, many Indonesians are trilingual.

Official language

Bahasa Indonesia – Variant of the Malay language (12.1%)

Actual languages

Javanese (39.4%), Sunda (15.8%), Malay (12.1%), Madura (4.3%), Bugi (2.2%), Batak (2.1%), Banja (1.8%), Minangkabau (1.7%), Balinesian (1.4%), Chinese (0.4%), Papuan languages (0.1%), other (18.7%).

What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in Indonesia

(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)

• 67/150 localize by translating into Bahasa Indonesia
• 1/150 localizes by translating into Bahasa Indonesia and Simplified Chinese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into Bahasa Indonesia, Simplified Chinese, Hakka, Sindhi, Teochew and Indonesian Sign Language
• 1/150 localizes by translating into Bahasa Indonesia, French and Simplified Chinese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into Bahasa Indonesia, French, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, German, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish, Russian Japanese, Thai and Ukrainian
• 1/150 localizes by translating into both French and Simplified Chinese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into Simplified Chinese