Hello! I am Indonesian literature student and now I am learning semantics.

As I know, -arti- is the shallowest meaning of word, then -makna- has deeper meaning.

All of the definitions basically is depend on the context both the speaker and the listener.

For example, -arti- from word -buah- or fruit is something which contains water. So if we make a sentence,

Saya suka buah. I love fruit. -^ artinya adalah we love something which contains water.

BUT

Compare with this sentence,

Dia adalah buah hati saya.

Here, buah hati is a phrase that means child.

The conclusion is makna has deeper meaning that arti.Because we can find arti in the dictionary, but we can understand makna by learning and experience.

Happy learning bahasa Indonesia!

Triadhi,  saya punya kamus dari Cornell University Press; buku bahasa Indonesia saya banyak.  Dalam kamus ini tertulis:  arti, 1. meaning, 2. sense, 3. significance, importance + artinya, searti, berarti, keberartian, ngarti (Jkt), mengartikan, artian, pengartian, setiap kata dengan artiannya.  Juga, kata makna:  1. meaning, 2. purpose, sense + bermakna, memaknakan dan permaknaan, setiap kata dengan artiannya juga.

Tidak mudah untuk saya... =(     Maaf!

I thought the same thing, but you know, sometimes a feel like asking this type of questions about Spanish language to non-native speakers in order to teach hard and tricky things of the language.  

So far I am figuring out that arti refers to meaning, like translating a word to another language, and that makna is a more conceptual or inherent meaning, whatever that is; but am not sure.  Still I am confused.  Hoping Triadhi clears up that doubt.