Learn Indonesian With Raditya Dika's Comic

Halo semuanya, apa kabar kalian? Baik-baik aja dong? (Hello, all. How are you guys doing? You guys are alright, aren't you?)

This time, we're gonna learn a comic. This comic is from Raditya Dika's tweet on his Twitter account. Let's see the comics down below.

If you have any questions regarding the Indonesian language, you can ask me directly. You can see how to do that on my About Me page. 

If you are a beginner in the Indonesian language, you can learn step by step with My Lesson Here.

Okay, let's dive in then.

Comic Transcript

This comic is talking about a girl, her name is Nita. It talks about her experience in love. The very first time she fell in love, she quickly accepts when a guy says, "Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

But then, she caught him cheating with another woman behind her back. Her heart gets broken, and then she learns from her experience. So, the next time a guy express his feeling, she doesn't quickly accept him. This time, she wanted to take it slow.

So, the comic transcript with English translation is as follows.

Boy: Nita, aku udah lama suka sama kamu, kamu mau nggak jadi pacarku? (Nita, I have had a crush on you for so long. Do you wanna be my girlfriend?) 

Nita: Mau, aku mau… (Yes, I do!) 

Beberapa bulan setelah jadian. (A couple of months after being a lover.) 

Nita: Grrr… Dasar buaya!! Emang semua cowok sama aja, ngga ada yang setia. (Arrrghh… You crocodile! Every boy is the same, no boys is loyal to his partner.) 

Beberapa bulan setelah putus. (A couple of months after the breakup.) 

Boy: Nita, aku udah lama suka sama kamu, kamu mau nggak jadi pacarku? (Nita, I have had a crush on you for so long. Do you wanna be my girlfriend?) 

Nita: Emm… Kita kan baru deket. Mending kita temenan dulu aja ya? Btw, makasih ya bunganya. (Hmm. We only knew each other for a while. We better just be a friend for now. Btw, thanks for the flower.) 

Boy: Gitu, ya? (That's what you think? Okay then.) 

Kadang orang lupa bahwa cinta adalah guru terbaik. Setiap patah hati akan membuatmu lebih waspada lain waktu. (Sometimes people forget that love is the best teacher. Every time your heart gets broken, it will make you more aware the next time.) 

Tamat (The end.)

Next, let's break it down scene by scene. Let's look at the first scene.

Scene 1-1

First, we look at the box on the left. In this scene, a boy express his feeling to Nita. He said this,

Nita, aku udah lama suka sama kamu. (Nita, I have had a crush on you for so long.)

In this sentence, the boy confesses that he has a crush on Nita. He expresses his feeling here. So, if you want to express your feeling to a girl, or a boy, you can say this sentence.

Aku suka sama kamu. (I have a crush on you.)

And then, the boy asks her to be his girlfriend. We call this situation as [nembak] in Bahasa Indonesia. I have an article about this word [nembak]. You can read in this article, Meaning of Nembak in Bahasa Indonesia.

The boy said this to Nita.

Kamu mau nggak jadi pacarku? (Do you want to be my girlfriend?)

So, if you want to express your feeling and ask somebody to be your girlfriend or boyfriend, you can say this sentence.

And then Nita answered it with,

Mau, aku mau. (Yes, I do.)

As you can see, Nita quickly accept him as her boyfriend.

Vocabulary that we can learn from this scene
Aku = I
Udah is short for [sudah]. In daily conversation, we usually shorten [sudah] into [udah]. Udah = already.
Suka = like.
Sama = with.
Kamu = you.
Udah lama = this phrase to indicate a long period of time.

Next, let's look at the right side of the box.

Scene 1-2

In this scene, they have become a lover, and then one day, Nita caught her boyfriend cheating on her. It is marked by the sentence.

Beberapa bulan setelah jadian. (A couple of months after being a lover.)

Bulan = month
Beberapa = A couple of.
Setelah = after.
Jadian = being a lover. Actually, we say [jadian] when a woman accepts a man as her boyfriend. The minute she accepts him, we call it [jadian].

Nita said these sentences.

Dasar buaya!! Emang semua cowok sama aja. Ngga ada yang setia. (Arrrghh… You crocodile! Every boy is the same, no one is loyal to his partner.) 

Let's first see this.

Dasar buaya!! (Arrrghh... You crocodile!)

Buaya = crocodile.
Dasar = basic, but in here, you can't translate [dasar] into [basic] because, in this case, [dasar] use to swearing someone.
So, [dasar buaya] is a phrase that is used to say to a person who is a playboy. [Buaya] here refers to a man who is a playboy.
I really don't know how to translate this into English, if you know the exact word to translate this into English, please let me know.

Next, let's see this sentence.

Emang semua cowok sama aja. (Every boy is the same.)

Emang is short for [emang] = indeed, certainly, surely.
Semua = all.
Cowok = men.
Sama = same.
Aja is short for [saja] = only.

Next, let's see this sentence.

Ngga ada yang setia. (No boys is loyal to his partner.)

Ngga is informal for [tidak] = no.
Ngga ada = nothing, nobody, no one.
Setia = loyal.

After the incident, they broke up. Next, let's see this second scene.

Scene 2-1

Let's see at the box on the left side.
Beberapa bulan setelah putus. (A couple of months after the breakup.)
Setelah = after.
Putus = breakup.

So, after Nita broke up with her last boyfriend, she gets close to a guy. That guy seems to like her. He expresses his feeling to her by saying.

Nita, aku udah lama suka sama kamu. Kamu mau nggak jadi pacar aku? (Nita, I have had a crush on you for so long. Do you wanna be my girlfriend?) 

Next, let's see the box on the right side.

Scene 2-2

This time, because of her past experiences, Nita doesn't want to accept that guy easily. So, right now, she is saying.

Emm... Kita kan baru deket. Mending kita temenan dulu aja ya. Btw, makasih ya bunganya. (Hmm. We only knew each other for a while. We better just be a friend for now. By the way, thanks for the flower.)

Emm... is kind of like filler word when someone is thinking.

Next, let's see this sentence.

Kita kan baru deket. (We only knew each other for a while.)

Kita = we.
Kan here is just to emphasize the word before it. So, [kan] here emphasize the word [kita].
Baru = new.
Deket is informal for [dekat] = close.
Kita kan baru deket if translated word for word, the translation is.
We just got close.

Next sentence,

Mending kita temenan dulu aja ya. (We better just be a friend for now.)

Mending = better.
Temenan is informal for [temanan]. = be a friend.
Ya, here is like asking for approval.

Next sentence,

Btw, makasih ya bunganya. (By the way, thanks for the flower.)

Btw is from the English word, but we usually pronounce it as betewe.
Makasih = thanks.
Ya here is to emphasize the word before, which is [makasih].
Bunganya = the flower.

Next, the guy said this.

Gitu, ya? (That's what you think? Okay then.)

The literal translation for this is,

Is that so?

But, just to make it clear, I paraphrase it into this.

That's what you think? Okay then.

And here's the moral part of the comic.

Kadang orang lupa bahwa cinta adalah guru terbaik. Setiap patah hari akan membuatmu lebih waspada lain waktu. (Sometimes people forget that love is the best teacher. Every time your heart gets broken, it will make you more aware the next time.) 

Let's see the first sentence.

Kadang orang lupa bahwa cinta adalah guru terbaik. (Sometimes people forget that love is the best teacher.)

Kadang = sometimes.
Orang = people
Lupa = forget.
Cinta = love.
Guru = teacher.
Terbaik = the best.

And the last sentence.

Setiap patah hati akan membuatmu lebih waspada lain waktu. (Every time your heart gets broken, it will make you more aware the next time.)

Setiap = every.
Patah hati = heartbroken.
Akan membuat = will make.
Lebih waspada = more aware.
Lain waktu = the next time.

How to Pronounce It

I have recorded my voice reading this comic, so you will know how to pronounce each word and phrase in this comic.


I think that's all for now. If you have any questions regarding this topic, you can just type it in the comment section, and I 'll be happy to answer it. Good-bye now.