Menurut saya, aksen bahasa Indonesia dia terdengar natural.

In my opinion, his/her Indonesian accent sounds natural.

Breakdown of Menurut saya, aksen bahasa Indonesia dia terdengar natural.

• saya: I
• bahasa Indonesia: the Indonesian language
• dia: his/her
• menurut: according to
• terdengar: to sound
• aksen: the accent
• natural: natural

Questions & Answers about Menurut saya, aksen bahasa Indonesia dia terdengar natural.

In menurut saya, what does menurut literally mean, and how is this phrase different from saya pikir or saya rasa?

Menurut literally means “according to”. So menurut saya = “according to me / in my opinion”.

Differences in nuance:

• menurut saya

  • Neutral, slightly formal.
  • Sounds like you’re presenting a personal viewpoint, often in a careful or polite way.
  • Common in both spoken and written Indonesian.

• saya pikir (I think)

  • More like giving your judgment or conclusion.
  • Slightly more direct, often used in conversation.
  • Closer to English “I think…”.

• saya rasa (I feel / I have the impression)

  • Softer, can sound more tentative or subjective.
  • Often used for opinions based on feeling or personal impression.

All three can introduce an opinion, but menurut saya fits very well when giving a polite, somewhat neutral assessment like someone’s accent.

Is the comma after menurut saya necessary, or can I write the sentence without it?

In actual usage, you’ll see both:

• Menurut saya, aksen bahasa Indonesia dia terdengar natural.
• Menurut saya aksen bahasa Indonesia dia terdengar natural.

The comma is:

• Recommended in careful or formal writing, because menurut saya is an introductory phrase.
• Optional in informal writing and totally optional in speech, where a small pause usually replaces the comma.

So you won’t be wrong without it, but in more formal contexts the comma looks better.

Why is it aksen bahasa Indonesia dia and not aksen dia bahasa Indonesia? What is the normal word order?

In Indonesian noun phrases, the usual order is:

[head noun] + [descriptors / modifiers] + [possessor]

In this sentence:

• aksen = head noun (accent)
• bahasa Indonesia = modifier (of the Indonesian language)
• dia = possessor (his/her)

So aksen bahasa Indonesia dia literally feels like “accent (of) Indonesian language (of) him/her”.

Aksen dia bahasa Indonesia is not natural, because bahasa Indonesia is describing aksen, not dia. You want “Indonesian-language accent of him/her,” not “his/her Indonesian language” as a separate idea.

More standard / common options would be:

• aksen bahasa Indonesianya terdengar natural
• aksen bahasa Indonesia dia terdengar natural (colloquial but used)

Would aksen bahasa Indonesianya terdengar natural be better than aksen bahasa Indonesia dia?

Many native speakers would find aksen bahasa Indonesianya terdengar natural more natural in standard Indonesian.

Differences:

• aksen bahasa Indonesia dia

  • Feels a bit more colloquial / speech-like.
  • Still understandable and used, especially in spoken language.

• aksen bahasa Indonesianya

  • Uses the enclitic -nya, which here marks possession: “his/her Indonesian accent”.
  • Sounds more compact and smooth, very common in both speech and writing.

So you could rewrite the sentence as:

• Menurut saya, aksen bahasa Indonesianya terdengar natural.

This would be an excellent, natural-sounding version.

What exactly does terdengar mean, and how is it different from kedengaran?

Both come from the root dengar (to hear) and both can mean “to be heard / to sound”.

• terdengar

  • Slightly more formal / neutral.
  • Common in writing and in careful speech.
  • E.g. Musiknya terdengar pelan. – “The music sounds quiet.”

• kedengaran

  • More colloquial / informal.
  • Very common in everyday spoken Indonesian.
  • E.g. Musiknya kedengaran pelan.

In your sentence, you could say:

• …aksen bahasa Indonesianya terdengar natural. (neutral / slightly formal)
• …aksen bahasa Indonesianya kedengaran natural. (more casual)

Both are correct; the choice is about register and style.

Why is the English loanword natural used instead of the Indonesian word alami?

Both natural and alami exist in Indonesian, but they’re not always interchangeable:

• natural (loan from English)

  • Very common in informal and semi-formal speech.
  • Often used for things like accent, make-up, acting, etc.
  • In this sentence, terdengar natural is exactly how many speakers would naturally say “sounds natural.”

• alami

  • Means “natural” in the sense of coming from nature / not artificial.
  • In the context of accent, terdengar alami is not wrong, but it sounds a bit more literary or unusual in casual speech.
  • More common for things like lingkungan alami (natural environment), bahan alami (natural ingredients).

So:

• …aksennya terdengar natural. → most idiomatic in casual speech.
• …aksennya terdengar alami. → understandable, but a bit more marked / less everyday for this context.

Why do we say bahasa Indonesia and not bahasa Indonesian like in English?

In Indonesian:

• bahasa = language
• Indonesia = the name of the country
• bahasa Indonesia = “the Indonesian language”

Indonesian does not typically add -an here. The pattern is usually:

• bahasa Inggris (English)
• bahasa Jepang (Japanese)
• bahasa Jerman (German)
• bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)

So bahasa Indonesian would be incorrect; the correct phrase is bahasa Indonesia.

Could I say aksen Indonesia instead of aksen bahasa Indonesia?

You can say aksen Indonesia, but it usually suggests something slightly different:

• aksen bahasa Indonesia

  • Focuses on the way someone speaks the Indonesian language.
  • Good when you mean: their Indonesian (as a second language) sounds natural.

• aksen Indonesia

  • More likely to be understood as “an Indonesian accent” in general:
    
    • The accent of people from Indonesia when they speak any language (e.g., English with an Indonesian accent).
  • Or sometimes loosely used in the same sense, but it’s less precise.

In most learning/linguistic contexts, to say someone’s Indonesian language accent sounds natural, aksen bahasa Indonesia is clearer and more standard.

Is dia absolutely necessary here, or can Indonesian drop the subject like in some other sentences?

Indonesian can and often does drop pronouns when they are clear from context, especially in conversation.

In your sentence:

• Menurut saya, aksen bahasa Indonesia dia terdengar natural.
• You could say, in the right context:
  Menurut saya, aksen bahasa Indonesianya terdengar natural.

Here, -nya already encodes a third-person possessor (his/her/their), so if the context is clear, you don’t need to mention dia again.

But if you remove dia and -nya, like:

• Menurut saya, aksen bahasa Indonesia terdengar natural.

this becomes more generic, like “In my opinion, Indonesian accents sound natural.” (not specifically his/her accent). So:

• If you want to focus on that particular person, keep dia or use -nya.
• If the person is already clear and you use -nya, you can omit the explicit dia.

Why doesn’t terdengar change form to show past or present, like “sounded” vs “sounds”?

Indonesian verbs generally do not conjugate for tense. The verb form terdengar stays the same for past, present, and future. Time is expressed by:

• context, or
• time words / particles, like:
  • tadi (earlier / a short while ago)
  • kemarin (yesterday)
  • sudah / telah (already)
  • akan (will)

Examples:

• Menurut saya, aksennya tadi terdengar natural.
  “In my opinion, his/her accent sounded natural earlier.”

• Menurut saya, aksennya akan terdengar natural.
  “In my opinion, his/her accent will sound natural.”

Without extra markers, terdengar is usually understood as present/general: “sounds.”

Do we need yang before terdengar natural, like aksen bahasa Indonesia dia yang terdengar natural?

You don’t need yang here, and adding it slightly changes the nuance.

• …aksen bahasa Indonesia dia terdengar natural.
  = “His/her Indonesian accent sounds natural.”
  (simple statement about that accent)

• …aksen bahasa Indonesia dia yang terdengar natural.
  = more like “It’s his/her Indonesian accent that sounds natural.”
  or “The Indonesian accent of his/hers is the one that sounds natural (as opposed to something else).”

Yang often introduces a relative clause or adds focus/contrast. In your original sentence, you are giving a straightforward opinion, so no yang is more natural.

Is there any difference in politeness or tone between menurut saya and something like sepertinya in this sentence?

Yes, there is a nuance:

• menurut saya, aksen bahasa Indonesianya terdengar natural.

  • Clearly marked as your personal opinion.
  • Slightly more deliberate and polite, especially in discussions, feedback, or formal-ish contexts.

• sepertinya aksen bahasa Indonesianya terdengar natural.

  • sepertinya ≈ “it seems / it looks like”.
  • Sounds a bit more tentative or impressionistic, as if you’re guessing from what you hear.
  • More casual and less explicitly “this is my opinion”.

Both are fine, but menurut saya is a nice choice when giving feedback about someone’s accent in a respectful, clear way.