It points out that:

… the mechanism created for monitoring and controlling one’s language preference via legislation often results in deteriorating effects rather than beneficial ones.

The static nature of the law could in fact destroy the very essence of language, which is dynamic, creative, personal, and fluid, evolving over time as a result of language contact and interaction among people and groups in relation to politics, history and economics.

The implications are crystal clear. The language one prefers and uses in fulfilling their diverse needs cannot be controlled, nor even restricted by the language law, which is inherently static, fixed and legally binding.

The article further argued that law on language could become a tool for “language manipulation, coercion, propaganda and even language colonization by those in power …”.

It should be noted that the bill that it was responding to was proposed by the Language Center of the Ministry of National Education, which the article infers has proposed legal measures out of frustration at its own failings at establishing a language policy.

The points made in the article are valid, and raise a number of interesting questions. Attempts to strengthen Indonesian language policy that were motivated by this fear of increased infiltration were usually not well received, and not particularly sensible. Unfortunately, the first example that came to my mind is of ‘Pondok Indah Mall’ having to change its name to ‘Mal Pondok Indah’ then backtracked, but I digress.

With the world becoming increasingly interconnected, cross-cultural and cross-lingual interactions are inevitable. Indonesian is not the only language dealing with the impact of foreign vocabulary and terms. The ‘infiltration’ is also not always in one direction. English has picked up a number of words, like amok, from Malay.

As argued in the article, forcing a hard-line law on resisting foreign influence is impractical and unreasonable. What is truly necessary, however, is the creation of standards on how foreign terms are adopted and integrated into Indonesian.

This would logically be the responsibility of the Language Center, and I think the next few postings here will be dedicated to their current role and status in Indonesia. A few questions arise of the top of my head:

• How are the structured and who do they comprise of?
• What do they believe are their roles? How well do they meet them?
• What is and has been their approach to foreign terms? What have instigated changes to this approach?

Any thoughts on this would be welcomed.

However, the entries on Indonesian, both in Wikipedia English and Indonesian, provide useful background information.

The Wikipedia (EN) entry lacks the historical timeline included in Wikipedia (ID). The Introduction to this Course in Conversational Indonesian, however, provides a general outline.

An interesting passage in the timeline:

Kongres Bahasa Indonesia VI di Jakarta pada tanggal 28 Oktober s.d. 2 November 1993. Pesertanya sebanyak 770 pakar bahasa dari Indonesia dan 53 peserta tamu dari mancanegara meliputi Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Jerman, Hongkong, India, Italia, Jepang, Rusia, Singapura, Korea Selatan, dan Amerika Serikat. Kongres mengusulkan agar Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa ditingkatkan statusnya menjadi Lembaga Bahasa Indonesia, serta mengusulkan disusunnya Undang-Undang Bahasa Indonesia.

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Indonesian Language Congress VI in Jakarta on 28 October to 2 November 1993. Participants included 770 language experts from Indonesia 53 multinational guests covering Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States. The Congress recommended that the Center for Language Development is increased in status to an Indonesian Language Institution, and recommended the drafting of an Indonesian Language Act.

Important recommendations, but does anyone know if they were ever carried out? Definitely a topic worthy of many future posts.

From what is included in the preview, this could be a useful background reading to anyone interested in the discussions in this blog.

Thus, to be worried about the future status of Bahasa Indonesia due to the widespread use of foreign terminology, like English, in Indonesia should not be exaggerated. On the contrary, the flexibility shown by the language will only help it to survive the waves of globalization.

According to Pak Fatih Syuhud, the blogger, the original article “gives a good socio-historical evidence that a language will survive and flourish if it has flexibility to absorb other influences”.

If anyone finds a working link to Pak Ahmad Qisai’s article, could you please post it here? It could be a worthy read, and on an interesting topic.

UPDATE: Pak Fatih Syuhud has kindly uploaded the original article onto his blog article, which is linked above. Will write up comments after I have read it thoroughly. Thank you Pak Fatih!

What do you think is the best way for handling foreign terminologies in Indonesian?

Walaupun yang paling efektif merubah citra adalah merubah realitas, namun peran budaya dan bahasa Indonesia dalam diplomasi sangat krusial. Tingginya minat orang asing belajar bahasa dan budaya Indonesia harus disambut positif. Kalau perlu Indonesia menambah Pusat Kebudayaan Indonesia di sejumlah negara, guna membangun saling pengertian dan perbaiki citra .

Sudut pandang yang menarik, mungkin yang perlu ada bukan hanya badan standarisasi nasional yang bertanggung jawab atas penggunaan bahasa Indonesia di Indonesia, tetapi pusat kebudayaan seperti Goethe Institut atau British Council untuk menyebarkan berita mengenai perkembangan dari badan standarisasi tersebut ke negara lain?

***

An interesting perspective – maybe what is necessary is not just a national standardization body that is responsible for the use of Indonesian in Indonesian, but also cultural institutions like the Goethe or British Council to spread news and developments from the body to other countries?

Dibawah ini ada beberapa kutipan.

***

As the first article used the example of the use of varieties of saying Czech in Indonesian, the article “Langsung apa Live” discussed how different TV stations signals a live broadcast. There are also some interesting comments on the article.

Below are some excerpts

From the article:

Setahu saya, stasiun televisi yang mencantumkan kata ‘Langsung’ antara lain RCTI, SCTV, TVRI...sedangkan ANTV, Trans TV, Trans 7, mencantumkan kata ‘Live’. Sebenarnya yang baku itu mana? ‘Langsung’ atau ‘Live’? mengingat keduanya mempunyai arti yang sama. Tapi ‘Live’ sendiri mempunyai makna ganda, bisa hidup atau tinggal, ataupun dalam dunia pertelevisian mungkin diartikan dengan sesuatu yang langsung, hidup dan tayang saat kejadian. Barangkali demikian makna yang tersirat didalamnya.

Namun sebagaimana bahasa lainnya, yang ‘berkuasa’ adalah bahasa Inggris sehingga mau tidak mau serapannya harus ditelan meski dirubahlafal atau ubaheja, tapi penting untuk melihat siapa saja pemirsanya. Kalau pemirsanya dari kalangan berpendidikan dan menengah keatas mungkin tahu maksudnya. Bagaimana dengan pangsa pemirsa dari kalangan bawah? apakah mereka akan langsung mengerti jika misalnya dicekoki kata ‘konstipasi’ (mengacu pada iklan susu Nesvita), sementara mereka hanya tahu kata ‘sembelit dan susah BAB? Tapi pastinya susu ini hanya khusus bagi kalangan berduit, sementara yang lain cukup LAXING yang diiklankan Kris Dayanti..hehehehe.

Nah, barangkali akan lebih enak jika semuanya dituliskan dengan kata ‘Langsung’ atau ‘siaran langsung’, karena akan lebih mengena dimasyarakat daripada ‘LIVE’ yang jelasnya dari bahasa asing. Kalau memang ada padanan yang pas dalam bahasa sendiri, kenapa itu tidak dipakai, setidaknya dalam bahasa resmi. Karena sekali lagi, bahasa sehari-hari sifatnya cair dan serap sana sini, kalau bahasa resmi bisa dibuat dengan menyerap banyak kata-kata dari bahasa sendiri atau daerah.

A comment:

aku fikir semua stesyen TV di Indonesia menggunakan kata LIVE kerana seingat aku RCTI pernah menggunakannya waktu dulu. Kalau sekarang mereka memakai kata LANGSUNG, ini mungkin sesuatu yang baik yang diambil dari Malaysia.

An interesting observation:

Sebenarnya penggunaan kata langsung juga kurang tepat karena ambigu. Langsung apanya? Lawan katanya biasanya “siaran tunda”. Jadi seharusnya mungkin “siaran seketika”, atau kata lain yang bermakna sama.

From “Letters: Bahasa Indonesia immaturity?”

I looked at the article titled “Bahasa Indonesia is immature” (The Jakarta Post, Feb. 5, p. 4) hoping for an interesting read, as I do think that Bahasa Indonesia would benefit from a better language planning policy and the introduction of a well-developed and widely used style guide.

The deterioration in the way our language is used in the local media is worrying and I think it is partly caused by the lack of such a guide. That Hendropriyono had to resort to citing a number of online dictionaries before the KBBI (the Great Indonesian Dictionary) serves as an example of its lack of authority as a reference.

A comment on that page:

It is of great interest that the forefathers/mothers of Indonesia first tackled the problem of establishing a national language some twenty years before the actual formation of the Republic of Indonesia. In essence, the creation (or adaptation) of Bahasa Indonesia was the first true manifestation of unificasi.

Another “Language Congress” may well be needed to standardize how Bahasa Indonesia can best be used for translating international languages like English, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. The great difficulty involved is not so much grammatical and syntactical, but one of translating the “mentality”, or mind set that accompanies not only a language like English, but the logic used in presenting and developing ideas peculiar to the language at hand.

It is the thought process itself that is at question here.

As per the English language and for those with internet access: For an Indonesian already versed in English but who wishes to better capture the essence of the Western thought process, I suggest reading and studying the editorials and opinion pieces written by pundits as published in such newspapers as the New York Times. (Internet access to the Times is free) This newspaper features about a dozen op-ed writers every week, and a careful study of their writing styles and opinions will reveal how it is a native speaker and trained writer of English knowledgeable in current events, politics, economics, and cultural dynamics actually goes about creating a thesis and supporting their ideas. These writers are for the most part highly skilled in projecting well-developed ideas and opinions in less than a thousand words.

However important stylistics and accurate translation are, they are only foundational. In terms of non-fiction, the next level involves knowing how to write- that is, how to clearly present an idea or point of view, and develop it cogently.

Finally, learning what makes the mind and heart tick behind the words and ideas so developed is taking it to the next level- and that leap has to be made in order to truly write well in English. One has to be a student of culture- and I do mean the International Culture- not just the English-speaking world.

This is not to say an Indonesian, for instance, needs to substitute foreign values for their own. It is only to say that in adapting English’s “culture of written expression” an Indonesian will be able to more clearly and persuasively communicate to any reader of the English language, no matter their nationality of language. What is communicated can still retain its idiosyncratic roots- however personal and/or culturally Indonesian.

None of this is easy to achieve, and requires guidance and practice.

Indonesians will make great strides in this regard if they devote more time to reading. The reading habit in Indonesia is not yet well-established- even amongst the so-called intelligentsia- and in my experience, it is the missing part of this puzzle.

The same should be said for any language, including Bahasa Indonesia.

The page can be found here.

Dari kejadian inilah, ide untuk blog ini timbul, dengan harapan untuk menyediakan sebuah tempat untuk mengumpulkan berbagai bacaan mengenai bahasa Indonesia serta mendorong diskusi yang berkelanjutan. Agar diskusinya dapat terbuka kepada kelompok yang lebih luas, artikel yang dikumpulkan akan dalam bahasa Indonesia dan Inggris, dan apabila ada cukup waktu, komentar dari moderator akan dalam kedua bahasa ini juga. Semoga bisa bermanfaat dan anda akan tertarik berdiskusi disini!

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For almost two weeks, an article titled “Bahasa Indonesia is Immature” written by a doctoral candidate at Virginia Tech University was the most commented article on the Jakarta Post website. In the midst of articles on the global economic crisis, candidates for the 2009 general elections or the Australian Open, 39 people had such strong opinions on an article about the Indonesian language that they wanted to leave a comment.

From this occurrence, the idea for this blog emerged, with the hopes of providing a venue to collect reading materials on the Indonesian language and encourage an ongoing discussion. For the discussion to be open to a wider audience, the articles collected will be in Indonesian and English, and time permitting, comments from the moderator will be in both languages. Hopefully you find it useful and would like to join the discussion!