In Reply to: Just wondering posted by Colleen on Saturday, 2. September 2006 at 01:57 Bali Time:
The indonesian language as spoken on the islands its called Bahasa indonesia and is derived from the old pasar malaya
this is the malay language as spoken by the old market traders, sailors in the asia region.
So the language are almost the same there only are small differences, comparable with the differnces between dutch and belgium language. Or in a more global style like english and american english. You can speak to each other you will understand, but will notice that your (language)background is different.
ON the island however different dialects are spoken (about 3000!) who can differ a lot from the bahasa, even on bali there are 3 sorts of balinese language spoken. The normal balinese language used between common people, the middle language is spoken to somebody from a higher caste then yourself (or if you do not know the caste of the person you talk to), the highest language is used for talking to people like the king and his family, the priests and other high ranking people.
So don't worry to speak bahasa indonesia, the people love it when you try and will correct you if you are saying something wrong, but they will do that with a big smile.
René