Say what? How much English is too much English<\/p>\n
Krabbe K.E. Piting, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Bali, December 2003. I was having a delightfully cheap sushi
\ndinner with a friend at the back of a popular Japanese restaurant
\n(owned by the Yakuza, if you believe the rumors).<\/p>\n
There were only two other groups in our section of the
\nrestaurant: a couple in their late teens and a pack of raucous
\nJapanese tourists. It only seemed natural to assume that my
\nfriend and I were the only Indonesian patrons there, as
\nconversations in Japanese and English alternately infiltrated our
\nbooth.<\/p>\n
That is until a mobile phone rang and one half of the couple
\nanswered in perfect colloquial Bahasa Indonesia. A few minutes
\nlater, her partner ordered more beer in -- surprise, surprise --
\nIndonesian.<\/p>\n
In case you haven't noticed (because you are too busy speaking
\nEnglish), Indonesians love to speak English, Jakartans in
\nparticular. We speak English to English-speaking people. We speak
\nEnglish to other Indonesians. Did I mention that Indonesians love
\nto speak English?<\/p>\n
I've been in countless meetings where everybody converses in
\nEnglish, and nary an expat is in sight. I've received memos in
\nEnglish from Indonesian colleagues. A radio station conducts
\ntheir programs almost entirely in English and even christened
\ntheir DJs with English names.<\/p>\n
Watch local TV and you'll see and hear plenty of English being
\nused: \"More than you expect, gals,\" \"The power to do more,\"
\n\"Yesterday is gone\" Eh?<\/p>\n
Most bewildering of all probably came from a leading telecom
\ncompany with its \"Committed 2U\" slogan. U presumably means users
\nacross the archipelago, from \"sk8ter bois\" to the Timorese cloth
\nweavers, all fluent English speakers, no doubt. Can somebody from
\ntheir ad agency explain this to me, please?<\/p>\n
But the best experience so far was when I went to an
\nIndonesian student gathering abroad and everybody spoke English
\nto one another. Silly me for expecting to converse in our mother
\ntongue at such occasions. Was I too naive in thinking that every
\nsingle student would eagerly seize the moment to speak a familiar
\nlanguage among fellow countrymen?<\/p>\n
Without sounding too much like a Frenchman, I see this as a
\ndisease. Although I am very much aware of such a problem also
\naffecting many non-English speaking countries, it still hurts
\nwhen it hits so close to home. The whole phenomenon is
\nembarrassing and tiresome.<\/p>\n
It was not as prevalent five years ago. How did things get so
\nsour so quickly? Should I blame the Internet? The flood of cheap
\npirated DVDs? The influx of magazine franchises that can't be
\nbothered to translate some of their content into Bahasa
\nIndonesia?<\/p>\n
No, I blame the people.<\/p>\n
Some say that English is the lingua franca of the world today.
\nFine, but that does not mean I have to talk about the weather
\nwith my Javanese colleague in English. I should, however, use it
\non a regional meeting where people with several nationalities are
\nin attendance or when I travel abroad and have no knowledge
\nwhatsoever of the local language. Anything else seems
\nsuperfluous.<\/p>\n
Others say that English is used to reach a broader audience.
\nPlease hold me before I fall to the floor laughing. Fresno and
\nAmsterdam are cities chock-full of Indonesians, and do you see
\nsignboards or ads in Bahasa Indonesia?<\/p>\n
It all boils down to snobbery. Most people equate
\ncommunicating in a foreign language with a higher social caste, a
\nhigher notch in the cool meter. Speaking English means you are a
\nlearned fellow (probably foreign educated) who vacations abroad.
\nSpeaking English means you're da man!<\/p>\n
Maybe I am being too paranoid. Maybe the couple in the
\nJapanese restaurant was talking in English to make up for the
\nlack of foreign tourists during the supposedly high season. What-
\nevuh. Anyway, what's the point of speaking English when we have
\nIndonesian, one of the easiest languages in the world?<\/p>",
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