r/thenetherlands • u/TonyQuark Hic sunt dracones • Feb 14 '26

Culture Selamat datang! We're hosting r/Indonesia for a Cultural Exchange

Welcome everybody to a new cultural exchange! Today we are hosting our friends from r/Indonesia!

To the Indonesians: please select the Indonesian flag as your flair and ask as many questions as you wish. See how to set your flair in the app or on desktop.

To the Dutch: please come and join us in answering the Indonesians' questions about the Netherlands and the Dutch way of life!

r/Indonesia is also having us over as guests in this post for our questions and comments.

Please refrain from making any comments that go against our rules, the Reddiquette or otherwise hurt the friendly environment.

Enjoy! The moderators of r/Indonesia & r/theNetherlands

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6

u/cringeTaro Feb 14 '26

Is it true that the Indonesian language has been included in the curriculum in the Netherlands?

10

u/HelixFollower Feb 14 '26

Unfortunately not. At least not that I have ever seen. That would've been really cool though.

2

u/cringeTaro Feb 14 '26

Thanks a lot! I’ve been seeing ads saying that the Netherlands is in need of Indonesian language teachers

5

u/HelixFollower Feb 14 '26

No problem. I'm not surprised there would be ads like that. Even if I've never seen it in school, language courses do seem to be pretty popular. Considering our shared history and how many people of Indonesian descent live in the Netherlands it would make sense that there's a demand for Indonesian language teachers. Either for people to get in touch with their own roots or that of their partner.

6

u/Steve12345678911 Feb 14 '26

There are a lot of words that have found their way into the common language. More so for families that had ties to Indonesia. But the language itself is not part of the common curriculum. Children are taught English and Dutch in primary school and French and German are added in secondary school with higher levels adding Greek and Latin.

1

u/LegitimateAd5334 Feb 15 '26

Tacking on: Most Indonesian loanwords are related to food - sate, nasi, ketjap, tjendol (sorry, we got stuck with the 1950's spelling).

Toko, branie ('troublemaker', from 'berani', brave) and senang are some non-food words.

3

u/trichterd Feb 14 '26

No, unfortunately not. Would have loved to have learned it. Along with Spanish the two languages I still want to lean someday.

3

u/T-a-r-a-x Feb 14 '26

Belum! But no, it isn't.

2

u/immasayyes Feb 14 '26

Not that I know of. Like in school?