Bahasa Indonesia

Do we learn English as a second language or as a foreign language? Despite the fact that the topic is still debatable, I would say that English is still considered to be a foreign language. The number of Indonesians eloquent in English is growing, but yet when compared to neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, or the Philippines, English does not receive much exposure in our country.

Indeed, its popularity grows amazingly each year. Many schools have proudly introduced their bilingual programs, including the international based curriculums. These phenomena refer to the same thing: the acknowledgement of English as the global tool to communicate. The role of English should be more than a foreign language. In order to compete with the rapidly growing world, English should be leveled as a second language.

However, I was puzzled by the fact that the second language position has been reserved for another language; that is our national language, Indonesian. For most Indonesians, Indonesian, apparently, is not their first language. Their first language is their mother tongues, be it Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, Madurese, Bataknese, etc. Indonesian, which was a variety of Malay, spoken in Riau-Johor kingdom, can still be considered as a new language. It was used as the lingua franca of the archipelago, as the one language to unite the whole nation, which was very linguistically and culturally diverse. During the first years of the nation, Indonesian was only spoken by less than five percent of the whole population, but nowadays, almost 95 percent of the whole nations can speak Indonesian.

I grew up in a small town in East Java, and Javanese was introduced to me as my mother tongue. My parents talked to me in Javanese, and I only learned Indonesian in school, starting when I entered kindergarten, when I was four years old. Five years later, I learned English in my fourth grade of elementary school. This means that English, the global language, is a third language for me. Meanwhile, Indonesian is my second language, and Javanese, consequently, is my first language.

I know that most of friends who grew up together with me are in this similar position. Javanese is the language of our thought and expressions, and as a result, we speak Indonesian or any other later acquired language in heavy Javanese accents. We never cared about this, until the world of the radio and television attack our life since early 90s. The media has started becoming important, and whatever being portrayed there is consumed by the society. Most TV series, “sinetron”, and reality shows are delivered in Indonesian. Since the stories are mostly set in Jakarta, the Indonesians used there is in Jakarta accent.

Then in my hometown, Javanese is no longer perceived as cool, and in order to look “gaul”, we suddenly need to speak Indonesian with no Javanese accents. It would be even better if we can imitate Jakarta accent. To speak with heavy Javanese accents, will only make you look out of date and old fashioned. I was once working as a radio broadcaster in Malang, and I have to admit that I was not so popular, presumably because of my accents and my difficulties in saying gue, or elo.

Every time I had the chance to visit Jakarta, I was always amazed by the way people recognized me as an “outsider”. I am not one of them because I speak Indonesian in such heavy Javanese accent. Such prejudices have most of the time come before me. When I lived in Singapore, my friends would train me to speak Indonesian “properly”, only because they were afraid that people would think I was an Indonesian migrant worker, working illegally there.

I am currently living in the States, but still I meet some Indonesians who would tease me for the way I speak. They told me, “You’ve been living here for years, but why do you still have that accent?” Well, I cannot, I do not have the intention, and will never try to erase my Javanese accent. This accent makes up the way I am. It reflects the way my parents talked to me when I grew up. In fact, it has become a matter of pride for me when I speak Indonesian or English with this heavy Javanese accent. It proves that I can speak more than one language, and it shows that I am eloquent in multi languages. That is why I am never ashamed of my accents.

There is said to be around 550 local languages in Indonesia, spoken from Sabang to Merauke. One tenth of the world languages are spoken in our own country, owned by our diverse cultures. Therefore, Indonesian is our global language, the one that allows us to tie our bond as one whole nation, one people in unity. And if English should only come after that, being only a foreign language, so be it. It does not mean that we are an out dated nation after all.