LESSON NOTES

Survival Phrases S1 #6
Where Is The Bathroom in
Indonesia?

CONTENTS
2 Indonesian
2 English
2 Vocabulary
2 Sample Sentences
2 Grammar
3 Cultural Insight

# 6
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 INDONESIAN

1. Kamar kecil dimana?

2. Dimana kamar kecil?

ENGLISH

1. The bathroom, where is it?

2. Where is the bathroom?

VOCABULARY

Indone sian English C lass

kamar kecil bathroom noun

Bathroom, acronym of British

WC water closet. noun

Kamar kecil dimana? "The bathroom, where is it?"

Dimana kamar kecil? "Where is the bathroom?"

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Kamar kecil dimana? Di beberapa wc umum di Bali, sangat

kotor tetapi tetap diminta bayaran untuk
"Where is the bathroom?"
memakainya.

"Some public lavatories in Bali are very

dirty but a fee is still required to use them."

GRAMMAR
INDONESIANPOD101.COM SURVIVAL PHRASES S1 #6 - WHERE IS THE BATHROOM IN INDONESIA? 2
In today's lesson we'll cover an extremely important phrase, "Where is the bathroom?"

In Indonesian "Where is the bathroom?" is Kamar kecil dimana?.

Let's take a look at the components. The first word kamar means "room." This is followed by
kecil, which in Indonesian is "small" or "little." So to recap here, we have kamar kecil. Literally
this means "the small room" or "bathroom." One small note: typographic [c] in Indonesian is
always pronounced "ch" as in "chicken." Now, let's take a look at the final word dimana which
means "where?"

So altogether we have Kamar kecil dimana?. Literally this means "The bathroom, where is it?"

There is another way of asking "Where is the bathroom?" which is Dimana kamar kecil?

Since we already have learned the first way of asking "Where is the bathroom?" which is
Kamar kecil dimana? this phrase is simply a reordering of the words for "bathroom" kamar
kecil and "where?" dimana. This time, we say Dimana kamar kecil? Literally this means
"Where is the bathroom?"

What's the difference between the two phrases, you may ask? Well, for our purposes here, not
much. In fact, in most situations, you can use either. It's just that the first expression Kamar
kecil dimana? is slightly more frequent, but just slightly.

There's also another word for bathroom, which is WC. This is actually the Indonesian
pronunciation of the British acronym "WC," or "water closet." This is used quite often, and can
substitute kamar kecil in any phrase we've learned so far.

Now when you finally get to the bathroom there may be one last hurdle. Sometimes, only the
words for "men" and "women" are printed on the doors, and in Indonesian, there are two
versions for each. The words for "men" are laki-laki or pria. The words for women are
perempuan or wanita. Just remember: laki-laki always occurs with perempuan, while pria
always occurs with wanita.

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Quick Tip #1

Most of the toilets in Indonesia are of the Western sit-down style nowadays, but there are still

INDONESIANPOD101.COM SURVIVAL PHRASES S1 #6 - WHERE IS THE BATHROOM IN INDONESIA? 3

many non-Western toilets, i.e. these are of the squat type, or in other cases, simply a hole in
the ground. You simply squat over the toilet or hole in these cases.

When you are finished, if there is no flushing mechanism, you should take a dipper (gayung)
that should be near or next to a large basin of water known as a bak and fill it with water.
Then, you simply flush the toilet by pouring water from the dipper. Also, the plumbing in these
toilets usually cannot handle toilet paper, so used toilet paper should be disposed of in a
small garbage bin that should be in the room.

Quick Tip #2

In Indonesia, only the more exclusive resorts or restaurants are guaranteed to have toilet
paper in the bathrooms. So, be sure to bring a small roll or package of toilet paper whenever
you need to use the bathroom. Also, if you consider yourself a purist, always use your left
hand to handle and use toilet paper since this hand is traditionally used to clean yourself.
(That's also why there's a strong taboo for using your left hand for just about everything else.)

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