Writing loanwords in Indonesian: part 1

In addition to its own vocabulary, Indonesian has borrowed words from other languages, including Javanese, Sundanese and Minang, and foreign languages like English, Arabic and Dutch.

Borrowed words in Indonesian have 2 rules:

1. These are foreign words that have not yet been fully incorporated into the Indonesian language. These words are still pronounced and written in their original form, although they are used in Indonesian contexts.

(force majeur, de facto, de jure)

2. Foreign words whose spelling and pronunciation are adapted to Indonesian rules. This adaptation changes the spelling where necessary so that the Indonesian form is still recognisable with the original form.
   (accomodation – akomodasi, taqwa (تقوى) – takwa)

Here are the rules for writing common borrowed words in Indonesian:

The long or short /a/ (Arabic) sound turn into a.

For example:

‘Ain (ﻉ Arabic) at the beginning of a syllable becomes a, i, atau u.

For example:

‘Ain (ﻉ Arabic) at the end of a syllable becomes k.

For example:

Hamzah (ء Arab) which is read as a vowel becomes a, i, atau u.

For example:

aa (Dutch) becomes a.

For example:

A combination of the letter ae that varies with e becomes e.

For example:

An unchanged combination of ae and e remains ae.

For example:

Combined letters ai remains ai.

For example:

The combined letter au remains au.

For example:

The combined letters bl remain bl.

For example:

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