Dutch language lessons a challenge for Indonesians

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"Oom, minta duit buat karcis bioskopnya dong," (Uncle, please give me the money for tickets to the cinema) said a teenager to his uncle during a family gathering at a plush mall.

In just one simple sentence of seven words, four of those words originated from the Dutch language: Oom for uncle -- the proper Indonesian word paman is rarely used at all -- duit (money) from duit, which actually means a penny and is pronounced differently in the two languages; karcis (ticket) from kaartjes; and bioskop (cinema) from bioskoop.

Sixty years after independence, the presence of Dutch words in Indonesian vocabulary, particularly the slang, remains strong.

Verboden, which in Dutch means forbidden, is used to refer to a traffic sign that forbids vehicles from entering a road, and sekrup (bolt) is actually the local pronunciation for schroef -- many Indonesian have difficulty pronouncing 'f' or 'v' and change them to 'p'.

"I have fun pointing these words out when I read Dutch," said Imelda, who learnt the language for three months before she went to study for a year in the Netherlands.

"It makes it somewhat easier to learn the language," said the 27-year old.

The close historical ties between Indonesia and the Netherlands, which colonized the archipelago for some 350 years, makes the language interesting for many to learn.

The Erasmus Language Center in Erasmus Huis, the country's cultural center in Kuningan, Central Jakarta, is one of the few places that provides Dutch language courses.

As Indonesian law is based mostly on the Dutch-Indies law applied earlier here, and history before the 1950s was mostly documented in Dutch, students of law and history learn the language to be able to read old manuscripts, said Kees Groeneboer, a language counselor at the center.

Another segment are people planning to study in the Netherlands, despite the fact that most people under 30 years of age there speak fluent English.

"You'll get entrance to people's hearts if you speak the language to some extent," said Groeneboer.

Dutch is currently spoken by some 21 million people in the Netherlands, parts of Belgium and Suriname.

"Dutch knowledge is an added value in your CV (curriculum vitae) if you want to apply for jobs with Dutch or Belgium-based companies," said Groene.

For most people learning Dutch, the grammar is the biggest challenge of all. "There are lots of rules and lots of exceptions," said Groeneboer.

Dutch is structured rigidly based on time frames and verbs used, whereas Indonesian points out time by context or a specific time reference and uses verbs more freely.

"Sometimes you have to throw the verb way to the end of the sentence. The 'not' for a negative statement is also placed at the end, so you really have to listen for the whole sentence to get the meaning," said Imelda.

Aside from that, there are also the definite articles de and het, and how the forms of adjectives are affected by their use. "They also change depending if they are plural or singular. It's mindboggling at times," said Imelda.

Despite the difficulties, the Erasmus still teaches some 1,500 students a year -- a figure that has been somewhat steady for the past decade. As long as Indonesians still say "Daaaah" to say goodbye, which also comes from Dutch, there will always be the interest in learning the language.