Private tuition
Online Indonesian lessons with Vicki
One-to-one Bahasa Indonesia lessons with a private Indonesian tutor, taught online and built around what you actually need to say. Suitable for complete beginners through to people already living in Indonesia who want their Indonesian to catch up with their life there.
What the lessons are
One-to-one Indonesian lessons, held online, with a private Indonesian tutor rather than a class. There is no fixed course to work through and no set of levels to pass. Vicki teaches Bahasa Indonesia, and what a given lesson contains depends on what you are trying to do with it.
In practice that means the material follows your situation. A person preparing to move to Yogyakarta and a person who wants to talk to their partner’s parents need different vocabulary, different registers, and a different order of grammar. Private lessons are the only format where that is straightforward.
If you want the background on the language itself before you start, the guide to learning Indonesian covers how the language works, what makes it approachable, and what gets harder later.
Learner profiles
Reasons people learn Indonesian
People come to Indonesian for a specific reason far more often than out of general interest, and the reason changes what a lesson should contain.
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Total beginners
You start with pronunciation and a handful of sentence patterns you can use the same week, rather than a vocabulary list you will forget.
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Learners who have stalled
You studied on your own, learned a lot of words, and still freeze in a real conversation. It is a common place to get stuck.
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People moving to Indonesia
Work through the situations you will meet first: housing, paperwork, shopping, transport, introducing yourself to neighbours.
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Expats already living in Indonesia
Push past the fixed phrases that get you through the day and into conversations that go somewhere.
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Partners and family members
Talk to your partner’s family directly. Family Indonesian is informal, fast, and full of address terms that textbooks skip.
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Professionals working with Indonesia
Follow a meeting, read a message thread, write something that lands at the right level of formality.
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Travellers
Enough Indonesian to order, ask, negotiate and be understood, which changes how people respond to you.
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Heritage learners
You grew up hearing Indonesian and understand more than you can say. Lessons start from what is already there.
How online lessons work
Lessons are held online, one to one, at a time you agree with Vicki directly. Because everything is remote, where you live only matters for working out a time that suits you both.
Getting started
- Message Vicki on WhatsApp and say roughly where you are with Indonesian and what you want to be able to do with it.
- She replies with the practical details: how lessons run, how long they are, when she is available, and what they cost.
- You agree a first lesson and a starting point.
That first message does not need to be detailed. “I am moving to Jakarta in March and I know nothing” is enough to work from.
What a lesson tends to involve
Speaking, listening, and the grammar that explains what you have just heard yourself say. Whether you want the explanation up front or would rather talk first and pick the rules up as they become necessary, both work. It is worth saying which you prefer early.
One thing worth knowing before you start: written Indonesian and everyday spoken Indonesian differ enough that learners who only study the formal register often cannot follow a normal conversation. Lessons cover both registers, because you need to understand one and produce the other.
Practical details
Lesson length, scheduling, availability and pricing are confirmed with Vicki directly rather than published here, so that what you are told is current. A message on WhatsApp gets you all of it in one reply.
Before you get in touch
Questions about online Indonesian lessons
Do I need to know any Indonesian to start?
No. Lessons can begin from nothing at all. The first sessions usually cover pronunciation, a small set of sentence patterns, and enough vocabulary to build your own sentences rather than repeat memorised ones.
How are lessons arranged?
Message Vicki on WhatsApp. She will reply with the practical details, including timing, and suggest a starting point.
Where do lessons take place?
Lessons are online, so you can join from anywhere in the world. The only practical constraint is finding a time that works across your time zone and Vicki’s.
Is this a class, or a private tutor?
A private tutor. Group Indonesian classes online run to one timetable and one syllabus for everyone in the room; a private Indonesian tutor works to yours. That is what makes it possible to spend a lesson on the conversation you have coming up on Friday.
Will lessons be in Indonesian or in English?
That depends on your level and what you are comfortable with, and it is one of the first things to agree with Vicki when you get in touch.
Can lessons focus on conversational Indonesian rather than grammar?
Yes. Conversational Indonesian can be the whole of it, with grammar introduced only where it unblocks something you are trying to say. The reverse also works if you would rather understand the system first.
Start with a message
Tell Vicki what you want to be able to say in Indonesian and roughly where you are now. She will reply with how lessons run and what to do next.