Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Setelah konferensi, beberapa pelajar mendekati dosen untuk bertanya tentang karier di bidang robotika. - After the conference, several students approach the lecturer to ask about careers in robotics.

Indonesian word order is fairly flexible. Starting with Setelah konferensi emphasizes the time when the action happened, similar to English “After the conference, …”.

You can also say:

Beberapa pelajar mendekati dosen untuk bertanya tentang karier di bidang robotika setelah konferensi.

Meaning stays the same. The version with Setelah konferensi at the beginning feels a bit more formal and nicely structured, but both are correct.

What exactly does beberapa pelajar mean? Is it like “students” in general?

Beberapa pelajar literally means several / some students.

beberapa = several, some
pelajar = student (often used for middle/high-school students, but can be broader in context)

Nuances:

pelajar – tends to refer to school‑age students (non‑university), though context can stretch it.
mahasiswa – university/college student.
murid – pupil, student (any level), but often for school pupils or someone under a teacher’s guidance.

If these are university students talking to a dosen (lecturer), many speakers would say:

Beberapa mahasiswa mendekati dosen…

What does dosen mean? Is it just “teacher”?

Dosen is not a general word for “teacher”. It specifically means:

dosen = lecturer, professor, or teaching staff at a university / college.

For other educational levels:

guru – teacher (elementary, junior high, high school, sometimes general “teacher”).

So:

dosen ≈ university lecturer
guru ≈ school teacher

How does mendekati work grammatically? What’s the base word and what does the me– … –i pattern do?

The base word is dekat = near, close.

With affixes:

mendekat (meN- + dekat)
- intransitive verb: to come closer / to approach
- e.g. Pelajar itu mendekat. = The student came closer.
mendekati (meN- + dekat + -i)
- transitive verb: to approach (someone/something)
- it takes a direct object:
  - Pelajar itu mendekati dosen. = The student approached the lecturer.

In your sentence:

mendekati dosen = approached the lecturer (lecturer is the object).

So me-…-i often turns an adjective or root into a verb that does something to an object (here: making oneself close to someone).

Could I say mendekat ke dosen instead of mendekati dosen?

Yes, you can:

Beberapa pelajar mendekati dosen…
Beberapa pelajar mendekat ke dosen…

Both are acceptable and mean “approached the lecturer”.

Nuance:

mendekati dosen sounds a bit more compact and slightly more formal.
mendekat ke dosen is more clearly “move closer to the lecturer”, focusing more on the movement.

In many contexts, they’re interchangeable, and your original mendekati dosen is very natural.

Why do we need untuk before bertanya? Could I just say mendekati dosen bertanya?

Untuk here introduces a purpose: “in order to / to (do something)”.

mendekati dosen untuk bertanya
= approached the lecturer to ask / in order to ask

Without untuk, the sentence becomes awkward and unclear. Mendekati dosen bertanya sounds like two verbs with no clear link and is not natural.

Common pattern:

mendekati dosen untuk bertanya – approached the lecturer to ask
datang ke sini untuk belajar – came here to study
bekerja keras untuk sukses – work hard to succeed

What’s the difference between bertanya and menanyakan? Could I say untuk menanyakan karier?

Both come from tanya (to ask), but they’re used differently.

bertanya = to ask (intransitive; focuses on the act of asking)
- bertanya kepada dosen – ask the lecturer
- bertanya tentang karier – ask about a career
menanyakan = to ask (something), to inquire about (transitive; takes an object)
- menanyakan karier di bidang robotika kepada dosen
  = ask the lecturer about a career in robotics

So you can say:

… mendekati dosen untuk bertanya tentang karier di bidang robotika.
… mendekati dosen untuk menanyakan karier di bidang robotika.

Both are correct. The original with bertanya tentang is a very common and natural pattern.

What does tentang mean here, and how is it different from mengenai?

Tentang means about / regarding.

bertanya tentang karier = ask about a career

Mengenai also means about / regarding, often a bit more formal:

bertanya mengenai karier di bidang robotika

In most cases you can switch them:

tentang – very common, neutral
mengenai – slightly more formal, often in writing or formal speech

Your sentence is perfectly natural with tentang.

What does karier di bidang robotika literally mean? Why use di bidang?

Breakdown:

karier = career
bidang = field, area (of work, study, expertise)
di = in / at / on (preposition)

So:

di bidang robotika = in the field of robotics

This is a very common fixed expression:

karier di bidang kedokteran – a career in medicine
bekerja di bidang pendidikan – work in the field of education
penelitian di bidang AI – research in the field of AI

You can also sometimes hear dalam bidang, but di bidang is extremely common and natural.

Could I say karier sebagai ahli robotika instead of karier di bidang robotika?

Yes, but it changes the nuance slightly.

karier di bidang robotika
= a career in the field of robotics (broad: many possible roles in robotics)
karier sebagai ahli robotika
= a career as a robotics expert (more specific: one particular role)

So:

Original: asking generally about careers related to robotics.
With sebagai ahli robotika: asking about becoming a robotics specialist/expert specifically.

Both are correct; choose based on how broad you want the idea to be.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would it sound natural in conversation?

The sentence is neutral to slightly formal, but still very natural in spoken Indonesian, especially in academic or semi‑formal contexts.

Reasons:

Vocabulary like konferensi, pelajar, dosen, karier, bidang, robotika is more academic.
The structure is clean and standard.

In casual spoken Indonesian, people might adjust vocabulary a bit, for example:

Habis konferensi, beberapa mahasiswa ngehampirin dosen buat nanya soal karier di bidang robotika.

But your original sentence is excellent for textbooks, written Indonesian, and polite conversation.