Envoys urged to promote Indonesian abroad

Envoys urged to promote Indonesian abroad

JAKARTA (JP): A congress discussing the teaching of the
Indonesian language to foreigners concluded yesterday with a call
to Indonesian embassies abroad to open centers to teach the
language to the local people.

Achadiati Ikram, dean of the school of letters of the
University of Indonesia, said Indonesian is taught as an optional
subject in schools and universities abroad.

She added that, in teaching the language, a cooperation
network among educational institutions is needed because there
are so many teaching methods and materials available in relation
to the language.

The three-day congress, held at the University of Indonesia
campus, stressed the importance of cooperation among institutions
to develop teaching materials, methods, research, higher
education for both teachers and students, and teachers exchange
programs.

Congress participants, including dozens of foreigners who
teach the language, agreed that they should meet every five years
to exchange experiences and ideas.

The congress reviewed common problems in the teaching of
Indonesian to foreigners. About 200 people, representing
77 institutions from 23 countries, took part in the congress.

David Reeve of the University of New South Wales, told The
Jakarta Post that Australia, realizing the importance of
Indonesia as its closest neighbor, has encouraged the teaching of
Indonesian in schools and universities.

The Indonesian language is now taught at 26 of 38 universities
in Australia, Reeve said. "In the next few years, at least four
more universities will teach the Indonesian language."

However, Indonesian, which ranked as the third-most-popular
foreign language in Australia in 1972, has been relegated to
seventh place because of the increasing popularity of the
Japanese and Chinese languages, Reeve said.

He attributed the decline in popularity to economic factors,
including employment. "It's not clear yet, when you study the
Indonesian language, what kind of job will you get," he said.

Most Australian students who have studied the Indonesian
language have become teachers, journalists or diplomats, he said.

For Indonesian language teachers, increasing the number of
students is getting harder because it is not a compulsory
subject, he added.

"We really need Indonesian TV materials and so far we haven't
been able to get access to them," he said.

Students need audio-visual materials, such as advertising and
video clips, Reeve said. "If students could look things from TV,
it would teach them, not only about cultural aspects of
Indonesia, but also about the body language."

According to Reeve, the dominant method in Australian schools
is communicative teaching, where teachers talk for 20 percent of
the available time and the rest is used by students. "The
important thing is to build up their confidence first," he said.

Anton Moeliono, an Indonesian language professor, said
separately that, given the growing interest among foreigners in
learning the language, the government should open Indonesian
cultural centers, which would offer language instruction, abroad.

"Ideally the government should exploit this growing interest
by running language courses in the embassies," he said.

Now is the right moment for the government to export
Indonesian language experts to teach the language to foreigners,
he added. (05)