Talking the lingo in Rio: Chatting with your new Indonesian speaking friends about swimming

This article is a series of language learning posts by ParaSport News. The goal is to provide sport fans some very basic sport and Paralympic vocabulary so you can talk with the world about disability sport at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio.
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia and is the native language of 43 million people, and spoken by another 155 million people world wide. The language is spoken by people in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia. The language has a lot of loan words from other languages including Sanskrit, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, and Dutch. You might be able to figure out a few words because of that. As a Paralympic power, Indonesia is near the middle of the pack. They have won 17 medals in their history, all at the Summer Paralympic Games.
Swimming specific words:
- Gaya punggung – Backstroke
- Gaya dada – Breaststroke
- Gaya kupu-kupu – Butterfly
- Gaya anjing – Doggy paddle
- Gaya bebas – Forward crawl
- Gaya Medley – Medley
- Sidestroke – Sidestroke
- Snorkeling – Snorkeling
- Berenang – Swimming
- Injak-injak air – Treading water
Leave a comment