Greetings
Monggo
MONG-goh
'Please / after you / go ahead.' The single most Yogyakarta word there is, used constantly and for almost everything polite.
Nuwun sewu
NOO-woon SUH-woo
'A thousand pardons' — the Javanese excuse-me, used before interrupting, passing, or asking anything. Far softer than the Indonesian 'permisi'.
Matur nuwun
MAH-toor NOO-woon
Thank you, in Javanese. Saying it rather than 'terima kasih' will change how a shopkeeper talks to you.
Social
Krama / ngoko
KRAH-moh / NGOH-koh
The high and plain registers of Javanese. Yogyakarta is a courtly city and uses krama far more than Surabaya does — the two cities sound like different languages to each other.
Daily life
Sultan Ground (SG)
SOOL-tan grownd
Land held by the Sultanate as a legal entity under the province's special-status law. A great deal of Yogyakarta sits on it, and it is occupied by permit rather than owned.
Serat kekancingan
suh-RAT kuh-kan-CHING-an
The palace-issued permit to occupy Sultan Ground. It is a permission with a term, not a title deed — and it is what you are really buying if a 'house sale' involves SG.
Hak Pakai vs Hak Milik
hak PAH-kai / hak MEE-lik
Right of use versus freehold. A foreigner may hold the first and never the second, anywhere in Indonesia — this is the single most important sentence about Indonesian property.
SKTT
ess-kah-tay-TAY
Your residence certificate, issued by the civil registry of the city or regency you live in — Yogyakarta city, Sleman or Bantul are three different offices.
Food
Angkringan
ang-KRING-an
The cart-and-mat street stalls that are the city's social institution — tiny rice parcels, skewers, and tea, for the price of nothing.
Gudeg
GOO-deg
Young jackfruit slow-cooked for hours in palm sugar and coconut milk until it is dark and sweet. Yogyakarta's defining dish, and eaten at breakfast.
Emergency
Tulung! / Awas!
TOO-loong / AH-was
Help! / Look out! — 'tulung' is the Javanese form you will hear locally; 'tolong' is the Indonesian.
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