Language in Bali works on more than one level. The national language, Indonesian, ties the island to the rest of the country and is what you will see on official signs and hear in schools and business. Underneath it, the Balinese speak their own language, Basa Bali, at home and in the village, a language quite different from Indonesian and marked by levels of politeness. On top of both, in the tourist areas, English is very widely spoken, so most visitors manage easily.
For a traveller the practical upshot is simple: English carries you through the south and Ubud, while a few words of Indonesian are welcomed everywhere and start to earn their keep in the quieter corners. Below you will find how the three languages fit together, and a short list of Indonesian worth carrying in your pocket.
Indonesian, the national language
Indonesian, or Bahasa Indonesia, is the official language of the whole country and the glue that holds a nation of hundreds of ethnic groups together. It grew out of a trading language of the region and was adopted as a unifying national tongue in the twentieth century. Today every Indonesian learns it at school, and it is the language of government, media, business and communication between people from different islands.
For visitors, Indonesian has one great advantage: its basics are among the easier ones to pick up. It uses the familiar Latin alphabet, spelling is regular, and the grammar has no genders, no verb conjugations and no complicated tenses. This means a handful of words and simple phrases will take you a long way, and even a modest effort is warmly received. When people in Bali speak to visitors or to Indonesians from elsewhere, Indonesian is the language they use.
Balinese, the language of the island
Balinese, or Basa Bali, is the mother tongue of the Balinese people and quite distinct from Indonesian, with its own vocabulary and structure. It is the language of the home, the village and the temple, and it carries the culture in a way the national language does not. Most Balinese are effectively bilingual, moving between Balinese among themselves and Indonesian with outsiders.
Its most striking feature is its speech levels. Balinese has different registers used according to the status of the person you are addressing or speaking about: a familiar level among equals and close family, and more refined, respectful levels for elders, priests and people of higher caste. Choosing correctly is a real social skill, and getting it wrong can seem rude. The language also has its own traditional script, still used for religious texts and seen on some street signs, though everyday writing uses the Latin alphabet.
English in the tourist areas
In the south and in Ubud, where tourism is the main business, English is very widely spoken. Hotel staff, drivers, restaurant workers, shopkeepers and guides generally speak it well enough for anything a visitor needs, and menus and signs are commonly in English too. This is why so many people travel in Bali without learning any Indonesian at all and rarely hit a language barrier.
The picture changes as you move away from the tourist centres. In villages, the north around Munduk and the east around Amed, English is far less common, and a few words of Indonesian become genuinely helpful. The same is true at local markets and warungs, the small family eateries, where prices are discussed in Indonesian. A little effort here is both practical and appreciated.
A short list of useful Indonesian
A few words cover most everyday needs. For greetings, selamat pagi is good morning, selamat siang good day, and selamat malam good evening. Terima kasih is thank you, and the reply is sama-sama. Ya is yes and tidak is no. Please, when asking, is tolong; excuse me is permisi. At a market, berapa means how much, and mahal means expensive, useful when bargaining politely.
Numbers help too: satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima are one to five, and ribu means thousand, so prices in the thousands of rupiah are easy to follow. Bagus means good, enak means tasty, and air putih is drinking water. None of this is essential in the tourist south, but carried in your pocket it smooths the way, especially off the beaten track. To go further, see our pages on the people and Balinese food, where many of these words come into their own.