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