A friend of mine asked for help on facebook. He wanted to know which of the below mentioned words is the most popular in Bali these days:
A) Mahal (expensive) or B) Habis (out of stock, or, as the Indonesians say: We don’t have…)
The answers were hilarious, so many words I remember from my travels and I can tell you: You hear them a million times every day! They so reflect a big part of their culture and they’re thinking. It’s typical for Asians (I know, I’m half Asian myself). If not today, then some other time. And anyway, there’s no rush and ANYWAY, I don’t know AND ANYWAY, TOMORROW’S ANOTHER DAY! Don’t worry, be happy and take it easy.
And thus, foreigners who live and work in Bali might get a hysterical fit if they hear those words one more time unless they adopted the Asian easy going way of thinking, which by the way, can be strenuous but let’s be honest: It does good to most Westeners to let go a bit and see life from a brighter and happier side! AND TO BE MORE PATIENT! (I can say that, I never had to work with Balinese together as an employer, so I can say crap like that, hahahaha).
So, here’s a little list of words, you can see where it goes:
Tidak tahu (I don’t know)
Belum (not yet)
Mungking (maybe)
Tidak bisa (not possible, can’t do it)
Kosong (which is the same as „habis“ – out of stock)
Lupa (forgot)
Tungu Tungu (wait wait as in please be patient)
Tidak boleh (not allowed as in not possible or you can’t do it)
Maaf (sorry)
Besok (tomorrow)
Ohhhhhhh gitu (ahhhhhhh it’s like that) (accompanied by a vigorous nod of the head)
Habis pak, maaf, coba besok mungkin (It’s out of stock Sir, sorry, maybe you try it again tomorrow?)
Kim Faraway 
Hinterlasse einen Kommentar