English difficult to master for many locals

English difficult to master for many locals

Tony Ryanto, Contributor/Jakarta

Travelling in Paris in the late 1970s, an Indonesian journalist friend boarded a taxi and felt very lucky because the driver told him he was one of just three who could communicate in English.

In Japan, travelers who do not speak Japanese will have difficulty every time they need a piece of information, even a simple thing like "How much is the train fare from Shinjuku to Shibuya?"

The question that arises is: Why are most Japanese and Frenchmen reluctant to converse in a language other than their native tongue? At least in the l970s, the answer could be one of these two: They do not feel the need to study English because domestically their native tongue enables them to graduate from primary school to higher education level. There are no problems even for those wishing to get a Master's or Doctorate degree.

At this stage, Indonesian or Bahasa Indonesia, too, has reached this cherished level of maturity. This means that without having to write or speak English proficiently one can get any degree he or she wants, be it a Bachelor's, Master's or PhD.

This has been corroborated by senior lecturer Harsiti as she said that on one hand, it is heartening to know that Bahasa Indonesia has developed tremendously during the past decade.

"But on the other hand, academicians have to bear in mind that in the current era of globalization they have to be proficient in English," she added.

Unfortunately, one semester, or 14 one-hundred-minute sessions of English at most universities is definitely inadequate. At the most, students can only acquire a little bit of reading skill.

Why not increase the number of semesters to two or four? The answer is: Impossible because students have to bestow most of their time on key subjects in their respective disciplines. A medical student has to concentrate on medicine and a student of architecture has to pay attention to architectural sciences.

There might be a solution, though. Another lecturer Gunawan Suryoputro, currently studying for a doctorate at Atma Jaya University's LTBI (Applied Linguistics, English), came up with two alternatives.

"First is introducing what is known as non-semester English, but one gets no credits for this, which might be between two and eight semesters. Most universities go for the four-non-semester ones, which might comprise reading, listening, conversing and writing skills," he said.

"Second is to introduce a language center where students and lecturers of a university can improve their knowledge of English in a self-access learning process."

Surjoputro said that at least three institutions -- the University of Indonesia (UI), the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Surabaya Institute of Technology (ITS) -- had been cooperating with the British Council for years.

Both options require a considerable amount of funds. And this, accordingly, might be a turn-off for most universities. If students spend too much time on English, how could they focus on their major?

The number of private English schools in Indonesia has been mushrooming over the last ten years or so but sadly, they do not contribute effectively to academicians wishing to further their study of the language, according to Dr Harsiti.

"Some of my fellow lecturers have tried everything. They attended a number of courses and had private tuition, but to no avail. They still can't communicate well in English.

"One effective way is to take a course in an English speaking country for a couple of weeks or months and simultaneously practice the language from day to day."

In the l970s a friend of mine, a father of two, found it extremely hard to buy story books in Bahasa Indonesia. If he were lucky he could find one or two titles a week. Paperbacks and fairy tales were in English. Now the situation has completely changed.

English books are rare because they are fairly hard to sell.

All the best-selling paperbacks, fiction and non-fiction, have been translated into Indonesian and are sold at prices lower than their original. Comics of various countries of origin have their Indonesian versions and so have periodicals -- from Cosmopolitan to The Reader's Digest.

Understandably, some teenagers are averse to English books, dailies, periodicals, comics or news weeklies because not only are they hard to understand but also very expensive.

Not surprisingly, English books and magazines here are high- priced because their rate of exchange is much higher than the official one.

Meanwhile, for quite some time now, there are a number of special schools that are oriented to English speaking countries. Children are subjected to a learning system using English as the medium of instruction. Books are those used in countries after which the schools are modeled.

Of course only well-to-do people can afford to send their kids to such places because the cost can be quite high. But when the children graduate, they will be proficient in English.

One thing that Dr Harsiti finds discouraging at home is this: "Once you have acquired an adequate knowledge of English, you will tend to lose it because you don't have much opportunity to practice it. And if you don't write English on a regular basis, the skill is difficult to retain."