Indonesia lags behind in mastery of English

Indonesia lags behind in mastery of English

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta looks as good as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur
and Manila as a metropolitan city. It has many high-rise
buildings, luxury shopping malls and other modern facilities. But
it lags behind in at least one area: mastery of English.

English is the official language of Singapore, the second
language in Malaysia and the Philippines. But you will not hear
locals speaking English on the street in Jakarta, let alone in
the rest of the country.

The national language here is Indonesian, but even this is a
second language. At home, most Indonesians speak their mother
tongue of one of 580 languages and dialects of the 400 ethnic
groups populating the archipelago.

Awareness of the importance of English is increasing in line
with development. It is a must for job seekers and those pursuing
higher education overseas. Fluency in spoken English can also
help get new friends, especially foreigners.

Long lists of English courses in the Yellow Pages proves this
is a lucrative business as more people try to improve their
skills.

The Jakarta Post talked to several students about their
reasons for taking a course.

Eka Nurrahma, 17, a high school student: I have studied
English at LIA Language Institute for about a year. I am now at
the Intermediate I level. About 10 of my 48 classmates also take
the course. Of course, we study English at school, but at LIA we
learn more. I think my English is getting better. I got a better
grade at school and I can easily understand the lesson.

I pay Rp 265,000 for one term lasting four months. It is only
once a week for four hours. My teacher is an Indonesian. I would
like to have a native speaker as my teacher, but I am not
disappointed. My (Indonesian) teacher is good, she is energetic
and she makes us speak English in class.

I think the lesson would be more interesting if they provided
us with more video shows.

Anyway, I believe English is important for my future career. I
want to be either a diplomat or journalist.

Maxi Yudhi Stevanus, 17, a high school student: My English
course started only last month. I joined ELP (English Language
Program) at my friend's recommendation. I am still at the basic
level. My teacher is Norwegian. Why Norwegian? I don't know, I
wonder why they don't give us a native speaker teacher. But I
don't mind. We are forced to speak English in class because the
teacher is a foreigner who doesn't understand Indonesian. If the
teacher were an Indonesian, we would tend to speak Indonesian
during classes.

We have two sessions a week, lasting two hours each. But once
every two weeks, we have an additional session for another two
hours. The course fee is Rp 400,000/term. But if the teacher is
Indonesian, the fee is only Rp 275,000.

Tuti, an employee of Manggala Group in her 30s: My employer
has the franchise from the America-based ELS (English Language
School). Everyone in my office has the opportunity to take a free
course at the school for three months. It is not an obligation,
but once you sign up, you have to be serious. They say you will
be dismissed from work if you fail the exam. I took a class on
business earlier this year, along with about 30 other employees.
Thank God, everybody passed. But we have yet to receive our
certificates.

Debby Tobing, 29, teaching staff at the School of Social and
Political Science, University of Indonesia: I started to take an
English course when I was in my first year of junior high school.
At that time, everybody in my class was crazy about penpals and
it was really cool to have penfriends from overseas. We studied
English at school but my English was not good enough for
correspondence.

What's more, my elder sister had some foreign friends who
often came to our place. So, I took an English course. I stopped
about three years later because I had to prepare for the final
exam (in junior high school). I joined the course again in my
senior year at high school. I took a break for the final exam.

When I was a student at the University of Indonesia, and even
after I got a job here, I continued my English course, but I
still took some breaks in between. Now I am taking a break. I
still want to take an English course, but not the regular class.
I want to improve my writing skill -- I mean academic writing
skill -- but the problem is that not many English schools offer
the subject. I also plan to take a course on teaching English.

English is important to me, especially because many of my
textbooks are in English, and also you need it when you are
abroad. In 1994 I got a chance to study about gender in the
Netherlands for three months. It also helps a lot when you surf
the Internet.

Ferdinand, 32, an employee of a national private bank: I used
to work for a big developer and spoke English quite often. But
now I don't use English that often in my office. We don't have
many foreign clients and all of the documents are written in
Indonesian. I joined an English club to sharpen my English. But
it is only once a week.

I am also taking a course. Since early this year, I have been
taking a class on "Trend and Technique in the Teaching of
English". I pay Rp 3 million for the year-long program. I don't
mind spending that much money because I believe that English is a
valuable asset. At the moment, I don't have any intention to
teach English, but English helps you in socializing. You can
easily mingle with foreigners if you know English. (sim)