# Indonesian/Malay: ya



## WannaBFluent

Selamat,

Can someone explains the meaning of the ya repeated at the end of each sentences in the following lines :

Beberapa tahun belakangan ini ya, Islam berkembang pesat di Amerika, ya. Jumlah warga Muslim yang sebenarnya memang susah dipastikan ya, tapi menurut berbagai penelitian ya, diperkirakan 5-7 juta, ya. Disamping itu Islam juga agama yang sering disalahpahami, ya. Misalnya, beberapa orang masih menganggap bahwa Islam identik dengan terorisme,  ya. Nah, karena itulah warga Muslim di Amerika menghadapi tantangan tersendiri ya, terutama bagi kaum Muslimah yang ingin menegaskan atribut keislaman mereka, ya.

In the past several years, the Islamic religion has grown rapidly in America. The total number of Muslims is hard to confirm, but, according to different surveys there are approximately five to seven million. In addition, Islam is often misunderstood. For example, some people equate Islam with terrorism. Well, because of that, Muslims in America face their own challenges, especially Muslim women who want to emphasize their Islamic identity.

Is the ya here just to accentuate the veracity of the afirmation?

Terima kasih.


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## Marcopiove

Ya means yes and it's used to emphasize the meaning of what is being said. It's used in spoken language anyway, it would be quite weird to read something like this.


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## Cenzontle

This raises another question:  
Is it just a coincidence that the *Dutch *for "yes" is "ja", pronounced the same, and—before the spelling reform—even written the same?


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## Rani_Author

WannaBFluent said:


> Can someone explains the meaning of the ya repeated at the end of each sentences in the following lines :
> 
> Beberapa tahun belakangan ini ya, Islam berkembang pesat di Amerika, ya. Jumlah warga Muslim yang sebenarnya memang susah dipastikan ya, tapi menurut berbagai penelitian ya, diperkirakan 5-7 juta, ya. Disamping itu Islam juga agama yang sering disalahpahami, ya. Misalnya, beberapa orang masih menganggap bahwa Islam identik dengan terorisme,  ya. Nah, karena itulah warga Muslim di Amerika menghadapi tantangan tersendiri ya, terutama bagi kaum Muslimah yang ingin menegaskan atribut keislaman mereka, ya.
> 
> Is the ya here just to accentuate the veracity of the afirmation?
> 
> Terima kasih.



Bonjour!

[Off-topic comments removed by moderator]

"Ya" is "oui". It's true.

Also could use for "thinking if the speakers don't know the exact fact", like "environ". Like in this sentence: "Tapi, menurut berbagai penelitian ya... diperkirakan 5-7 juta".

Also could use for "..., n'est-ce pas?". You were right. That's just to accentuate the veracity of the afirmation.

But, actually, not that much of "ya" like in the text above. I agreed with Marcopiove in this point. "It would be quite weird...." I don't know you got the translations from which kind of place.

I hope, my answer is still useful for you.

Merci beaucoup à apprendre ma langue maternelle.


Cenzontle said:


> This raises another question:
> Is it just a coincidence that the *Dutch *for "yes" is "ja", pronounced the same, and—before the spelling reform—even written the same?



Indonesian adopted and adapted Dutch in some vocabularies. The reason is simple. Netherlands colonized Indonesia during 350 years.


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## Cenzontle

So, was there another way to say "yes" in precolonial times?


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## Rani_Author

No. Indonesian was compiled in 1928. In colonial time. 

Too long time Netherlands colonized Indonesia. So, a lot of local languages here also adapted "ja". Javanese: ya (pronounced: yo), Maduranese: ye. Etc.


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## vincentdev

WannaBFluent said:


> Selamat,
> 
> Can someone explains the meaning of the ya repeated at the end of each sentences in the following lines :
> 
> Beberapa tahun belakangan ini ya, Islam berkembang pesat di Amerika, ya. Jumlah warga Muslim yang sebenarnya memang susah dipastikan ya, tapi menurut berbagai penelitian ya, diperkirakan 5-7 juta, ya. Disamping itu Islam juga agama yang sering disalahpahami, ya. Misalnya, beberapa orang masih menganggap bahwa Islam identik dengan terorisme,  ya. Nah, karena itulah warga Muslim di Amerika menghadapi tantangan tersendiri ya, terutama bagi kaum Muslimah yang ingin menegaskan atribut keislaman mereka, ya.
> 
> In the past several years, the Islamic religion has grown rapidly in America. The total number of Muslims is hard to confirm, but, according to different surveys there are approximately five to seven million. In addition, Islam is often misunderstood. For example, some people equate Islam with terrorism. Well, because of that, Muslims in America face their own challenges, especially Muslim women who want to emphasize their Islamic identity.
> 
> Is the ya here just to accentuate the veracity of the afirmation?
> 
> Terima kasih.




Salut, vu que t'es français, je vais te repondre en français.
Ce texte me parait bizzare meme pour moi un indonesien. Il y a simplement trop de "ya" c'est marrant.   en general, "ya" veut dire "oui". "iya" c'est une autre façon de le dire. mais si le "ya" est au debut d'une phrase, et si c'est longue, par exemple "yaa... boleh aja." pour moi c'est exactment comme le "ben" français. "bein.. oui pourquoi pas.." 

ou sinon comme le "quoi" français. 

"ya.. tinggal di telpon"
"(ben) tu n'as qu'a téléphoner, quoi."

mais dans le texte, franchement je ne vois pas l'interet d'utiliser autant de ya. surtout ceux à la fin des phrases.

Hope this helps


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