Bilingual books advantageous for locals
Bilingual books advantageous for locals
JAKARTA (JP): As the English language is increasingly emerging
as a second language in Indonesia, and there are now many
international schools operating in the country, there is likely
to be a growing demand on bilingual literature.
Such literature will help Indonesians learn English as well as
assisting foreigners improve their Indonesian.
"Although we are an English-speaking school, we do have
students studying Bahasa Indonesia for whom the books are of
great value," said Paige Summers of North Jakarta International
School.
The Balai Pustaka publishing house has brought out 17
bilingual book titles, all of them folk tales from different
regions of Indonesia, mainly Java.
"Some of the books still need some revision to suit the
English language abilities of elementary students," Elvis
Iskandar from the marketing department at Balai Pustaka
explained.
"By promoting books that the children can relate to, we
believe that English can be introduced in elementary schools more
easily," he said.
One of the latest books is Si Bungsu Katak (The Youngest Frog)
by Murti Bunanta, founder of Kelompok Pecinta Bacaan Anak (the
Society for the Advancement of Children's Literature). The book
received the honorary award from the Janusz Korczak International
Literature Prize for promoting "literary values of the folk story
which teaches us to accept and understand the 'odd and small',"
according to the award itself.
Balai Pustaka is planning to continue publishing bilingual
books even though the sales are slow. Since June 1998 the company
has sold less than 1,000 books, mainly to schools and libraries.
PT Grasindo, which has launched a series of eight books
written by Pavan Kapoor, sold a little bit more than this over
the past year.
"The product still needs some time to get going, so we are
working on new marketing strategies," Subagya, head of the
company's marketing division, said.
More publishing companies are planning to follow suit. PT Elex
Media Komputindo, for example, is planning to introduce a 15-
title series of bilingual folk tale books to the market. (Lena
Rosenthal)