English first? Spanish gains ground among young Indonesians

English first? Spanish gains ground among young Indonesians

Mar Centenera, Contributor, Jakarta

"Where do you come from?" When the answer is Spain, the response
is, almost always, the same here: The quick mention of at least
one famous soccer player or Spanish team, the title of a popular
South American telenovela aired on local TV or an entertainer.

Yet apart from pop culture icons like Antonio Banderas and
Real Madrid, some Indonesians also seem interested in learning a
bit more about Hispanic language and culture. In the last three
years, universities like Atma Jaya, the University of Indonesia
and Trisakti University as well as private language schools, such
as Language Corner and Inlingua, have added Spanish language
lessons to their class rosters.

Also coming on board is Aula Cervantes, the Spanish cultural
center, which opened last March at Trisakti, and provides
guidance for teaching Spanish as a second language.

Nevertheless, because of historical and cultural reasons,
Spanish has always come behind other languages, such as Dutch in
the past and English today, for study.

"The highest priority is English, everybody wants to speak it,
then French or German," Kukuh Sanyoto, vice president of Circulo
Latinoamericano (CLA), a group for promoting relations between
Latin Americans and Indonesians, said.

"For example, students of technical or scientific subjects
want to continue their studies in Germany because university fees
are free. Then, you have those students that think they should
study Japanese or Korean to work in certain companies, or
Mandarin for business. Then you have Arabic for those that go to
work in the Middle East. At the end of the list, we would find
Spanish and Portuguese."

Almost all teachers and students interviewed agreed that the
profile of the typical Spanish language student is someone who
already has a high knowledge of English and, often, a third
language. They recognize that Spanish proficiency may stand them
in good stead for their future, particularly for exploring
business options in South America.

Intan, who holds a bachelor's in economics and has studied
Spanish for a few months, said she wanted to apply for a job at
the United Nations, where Spanish is one of the required
languages.

Another student, Rafi, said he wished to travel in Latin
America one day, and eventually open a trading company with
countries in the region.

The unstoppable growth of Spanish in the U.S. is one of the
most cited reasons to explain the growth in interest. Trisakti
University rector Thoby Muthis said in his speech at the opening
of Aula Cervantes that the idea of a joint venture with the
Spanish institution came from Trisakti's students in the United
States.

There are many other reasons to study the language of Quixote:
interest in Hispanic cinema and music, or because it is easy to
learn, having the same alphabet as Indonesian and being
pronounced as written. There is, of course, also interest in
knowing about popular song lyrics, the beauty of Latinos or
because it is considered a "sexy" language.

The majority of teachers of Spanish in Jakarta have not
received specific training to teach a second language. Anwar
Luthan, a teacher at Trisakti Language Center, was at the
Indonesian Embassy in Buenos Aires for 15 years.

He returned home after the monetary crisis struck in the late
1990s, applying for a job as an English teacher but asked to
teach Spanish classes instead. It led to other jobs, including
translating the soaps from Mexico and Latin America that became
popular in the last few years.

Other teachers came upon their jobs by accident, such as
accompanying their spouses who have been relocated here.

Administrators of the institutions say that a lack of previous
training does not stop the teachers from being good at their job.
Aula Cervantes is organizing training courses for teachers of
Spanish as a second language and arranging the official exam of
excellence in Spanish as a foreign language (DELE), equivalent to
the TOEFL.

Advent Tambun, who is enrolled in the training classes, said
he was learning strategies to offer more active and participative
classes focused on conversation. He also noted the difference in
the teaching approach from the traditional rote learning of
languages in the Indonesian education system.

"I like motivating my students, I want them to enjoy the
class, imagining real situations for them to speak in. I want
them to understand grammar little by little. I think in Indonesia
we put too much emphasis on grammar, and it happens that the
students know all the grammar but they simply can't speak
(well)."

Outside classes, teachers often invite their students to
meetings to practice their language skills. CLA and El Club
Latino de Mujeres (Latin Women's Club), both clubs that promote
cultural and social interchange between Latin Americans and
Indonesians, meet once a month.

CLA often manages to gather more than 150 people that attend a
dinner and dance to Latin music.

Claudia de la Vega, a member of the Latin Women's Club and a
teacher at the University of Indonesia, tries to maintain
communication with her students via e-mail so that they do not
lose what they have learned, and also facilitates contact with
Spanish-language speakers.

Six of her students from the advanced level have already been
invited to receptions given by the Chilean Embassy. It's an
indication, perhaps, that those willing to go out of the
mainstream of language learning stand to gain attention -- and
rewards -- down the line.

-- Circulo Latinoamericano (CLA) http://www.cla-indonesia.org/