Most practical language

Most practical language

After reading Ambassador Olsa finds it easy to study Bahasa
(The Jakarta Post, Sept. 25, 1994) I am tempted to add a few
comments of my own.

I believe the Indonesian language is the most practical one in
the world. I remember my Chinese friend, who came to Indonesia as
a teenager, saying: "I think Bahasa Indonesia is a very practical
language. After a year's stay, I can make myself understood and
can read and write into the bargain." I have to add, what he means
by 'read and write' is, of course, simple memos to wholesalers
and retailers. My friend is a busy businessman, and a
businessman, on the whole, has no time to devote to literary
studies.

He added philosophically, "This cannot be said of the Chinese
language; it takes a lifetime to learn by heart 3000 to 4000
characters. There are people who have said ancient China was
behind in modern technology compared to western countries,
because people used too much of their time learning the
characters."

Bahasa does not bother whether a noun is male, female or
neuter gender, as we find in the German language. I vividly
remember, as a secondary school student, in the so-called
'colonial' days, coming home from school and immediately started
reciting der, des, dem, den, die, der, die... etc.

In comparison with the Japanese language, which has three
different letters, namely Kanji, Hirakana, Katakana (and a Kanji
can have many pronunciations), Bahasa is a godsend. When I told a
non-Japanese speaking friend of mine that sometimes a Japanese
has difficulty or is unable to read the name of his fellow
countryman, he thought naturally that I was nuts. To prove how
difficult the Japanese language is, allow me to you an anecdote:
One day a teacher from a prestigious Japanese University came to
lecture in our Japanese language class about history. He wanted
to write the word yaseru (meaning thin, or to become thin). Think
as he might, the Kanji would not come to mind. One of students
stepped forward and wrote the word correctly.

Bahasa is practical. I cannot discriminate the difference when
an Australian says: "I came here today" and " I came here to
die." A friend of mine, who has great difficulty in mastering
English, said to me one day: "My goodness, do you have to learn
more than 100 irregular verbs by heart?" We do not have
irregular verbs in Bahasa.

With regards to the pronunciation of Bahasa, it seems to me it
is easy for other Asian countries nationals to master it. My
Philippine friend said Bahasa resembles his Tagalog and an Indian
has no difficulty at all speaking Indonesian without a trace of
foreign accent.

It seems to me that Esperanto, as a world language, has become
a failure and not many people know of its existence. Perhaps one
day -- and this might be a wishful thinking on my part -- Bahasa
Indonesia might replace Esperanto. It is altogether not a bad
idea.

A. DJUANA

Jakarta