Basically, there are 26 letters that exist in bahasa Indonesia. But we have 27 ways of pronouncing them. The additional variation comes from the fifth letter - letter ‘e’. If you have heard Englinesian podcast about this topic, you might have understood it. But if you still have question on the topic explained, feel free to ask Englinesian through email or its social media.
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Pronouncing alphabet is crucial point in learning any foreign language - including the learning of Bahasa Indonesia. By familiarizing yourself with the sound of each letter, you are expected to be able to pronounce all words in Bahasa Indonesia. What makes Bahasa Indonesia easier to learn is because you can easily guess the pronunciation of any word you want to say only by combining the pronunciation of each letter forming the word - only that simple.
Bahasa Indonesia is different with English in terms of how words are pronounced. Again, to pronounce any word in Bahasa Indonesia, you can simply combine the sound of all letters forming the word. However, be aware of letter ‘e’ as it has two sounds. To train yourself, try to read the following illustration.
| Letter | Pronounced like in |
|---|---|
| A | arm |
| B | belt |
| C | cheque |
| D | delta |
| E | extra |
| E | earth |
| F | effort |
| G | get |
| H | half |
| I | either |
| J | jealous |
| K | car |
| L | elevator |
| M | empty |
| N | end |
| O | oh |
| P | pen |
| Q | keep |
| R | (Like ‘hard sound’ of “R” in Spanish - “erradicar” |
| S | estimation |
| T | ten |
| U | oops |
| V | ventilation |
| W | went or wet |
| X | “x” like in English |
| Y | yelling |
| Z | zetta |
