Practical Balinese: Learning Basa Bali

This morning at Cafe Seminyak outside Bintang supermarket, the skies opened and down came the rain. Usually this is straight down, but the 40kmh winds that accompanied it made walking with an umbrella a losing battle. I took refuge inside Bintang and browsed the book store. One book stuck out, ‘Practical Balinese’ by Gunter Spitzing (Periplus) for 29,000rp.

Bahasa Bali, or Basa Bali, as the Balinese call it is the native language of Bali. In this modern Basa Bali has 3 levels( low or kasar, middle or madia and high or alus), which tend to fit the caste system. A Balinese person of low caste will speak in middle or high Basa Bali when addressing a person of higher caste or at a religous event. A high caste Balinese will address a person of low caste in Basa Bali kasar, but use Basa Bali alus at religious events.
The kasar (low) form of Balinese originates from the island itself and the early inhabitants. Higher forms share some words, but also contain Sanskrit, a clue that Javanese Hindus had a lot to do with the development of Balinese culture.
Basa Bali is different enough from Indonesian and Javanese that Ika cannot understand them if they are using pure Balinese words.