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“ Thanks before.”

Spend enough time in Indonesia, and chances are you’ll hear those exact words spoken by a well-meaning person. You won’t laugh because you’re polite and respect the person’s effort to speak English when it’s not their primary language, but you’ll go ahead and add it to your growing library of “Fascinating Indonesian-English Phrases That Earned a Chuckle.”

“Thanks before” is in fact a literal translation of “terima kasih sebelumnya,” which is often said as a sign of additional appreciation to someone who is about to help you before the deed is actually done.

Broken English has long been a part of everyday life, and not just in Indonesia. The many amusing by-products of shoddy translations can result in comical moments, like when you’re driving under a “ply over” — or when that phrase is “corrected” into “ply ofer.” Perhaps a panic-induced giggle came out of the street billboard directing you to “hide drug,” which is actually an advisement to stay away from substances.

There are a variety of reasons for these droll gaffes when translating Bahasa Indonesia terms into English. No matter how prevalent English may be in Indonesian pop culture, it is still a language learned yet rarely practiced.

There are also intrinsic structural differences in how Bahasa and English sentences are formed and spoken.

“There’s a fundamental difference between the languages,” said Nathan Sartain, a native English speaker and teacher at the EF English First language learning center.

Sartain said Bahasa is essentially a “baby language,” meaning that sentences can be made through the use of solely descriptive words. According to Sartain, this accounts for the often-literal and childlike translations of Bahasa to English, such as “red pretty.”

Sartain, who has also lived and taught English in other Asian countries, said that Indonesians fare much better in their English translations than do people in countries with languages that are not derived from a Roman alphabet.

Odd translations can often be the result of certain words simply not having a Bahasa equivalent, which results in a loss of context.

“Often there are [English] words that have heavily detailed and specific meanings,” Sartain said.

Even the best English-speaking Indonesians, according to Sartain, would not be able to speak the language perfectly if they did not live in a country where English is the native language because they would lack context.

“It’s the same thing if I were to speak perfect Indonesian without living here,” Sartain said.

He used the American novel and film “Eat, Pray, Love,” which featured Bali as a location, as an example. Despite its local popularity and connection to the country, most Indonesians didn’t see the story as anything more than a film about a tourist in Indonesia.

“A lot of people [here] have read it, but would not truly understand the emotion and context of the protagonist’s travels without living her life,” he said.

Sartain also referred to the English-language profiles of DJs from a popular club in Jakarta as another example.

One read: “Start DJing in 1994, former as Rapper and DJ, his talents become a massive skill of DJ and start following some DJ competition and win some of it. Moving to the Jakarta while doing some study, he start doing DJ in Campus Event in University.”

Less than perfect translations aside, some linguistic experts consider the prevalence of broken English in Indonesia to be a by-product of the current multilingual generation.

“One of the most difficult challenges is when kids, who are supposed to learn active English, have not even perfected their Bahasa,” said Kathrien Karnadi, a pre-school teacher at Gymboree, an American franchise pre-school at which lessons are taught in English.

Still, according to Kathrien, multilingual children tend to absorb lessons quicker, and are generally more inclined to take an active part in class.

“The mixed-up language [of Bahasa and English used together in sentences] is probably also due to today’s children owning gadgets that allow them access to social media and the Internet, where they can learn new words, but not how to use them correctly,” Kathrien said.

Sometimes the comedic results of jumbling Bahasa and English words are used for commercial purposes, said Rendy Alimudin, a copywriter at an advertising agency in Jakarta.

More than a few local advertisements are proof of this.

Though he is reluctant to name clients who have agreed to campaigns featuring broken or altered English, Rendy said that the style is so popular that it is frequently brought up during brainstorming sessions.

“It’s a matter of coming up with something that is not only instantly memorable, but also sticks in your head and won’t let go,” Rendy said.

Sartain concurs, saying that he is convinced many Indonesian companies use English-hybrid slogans on purpose, and as a result indirectly popularize the use of broken, or pun-filled, Indonesian-English.

A good example is an old advertisement campaign for a mobile provider that made liberal use of the running theme of “forever.” The campaign contained puns such as “Forever Aktifnya, Forever Murahnya,” which translated roughly to: “It’s activeness forever, it’s cheap forever.”

Eka Annash, an art director at a Jakarta-based advertising company, said the amalgamations of Bahasa-English are most often used in campaigns that target modern urbanites on medium or upper incomes.

This is why advertising agencies and their clients don’t feel any guilt over popularizing the usage of incorrect English, Eka said.

“Most of the people who fall into the advertisements’ target groups already know the correct use of the English words in the ads anyway,” he said, adding that some words or phrases could even be incorporated into a modern language of sorts, like “Singlish,” the English-based blended language found in Singapore.

It remains likely that broken Indonesian-English, whether intentional or not, will live a long and healthy life in Indonesia — but whether it continues to induce guffaws remains to be seen.

What is clear is that for many Indonesians, it isn’t something to be proud of.

“It’s kind of embarrassing when a friend from abroad comes to visit and nobody speaks English,” Rima Anjaini, a university student, said in perfect English.

“The worst is when we visit a place, like a mall or a restaurant, and nobody speaks English. And then you realize, every single word on the menu is completely wrong.”