Soepomo paved way in language lessons
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Any discussion of language centers in Yogyakarta inevitably means reference to Soepomo Poedjosoedarmo, a linguistics professor who, even in his childhood, dreamed of becoming a teacher.
Born in Wonosari, a rural area south of Yogyakarta, on Nov. 25, 1934, Soepomo started to realize his dream by going to a teaching school in Yogyakarta. His ambition emerged when he passed his exams there and started to teach at the school, before he left for the Sanata Dharma Teaching Institute (IKIP) to take a doctoral degree in English, which he duly completed in 1964.
His path to teaching Indonesian to foreigners took a circuitous route.
"My life was just like a feather blowing in the wind," he says of his past.
"Before I completed my studies at Sanata Dharma, an American professor named Cohen asked me to continue my studies at Cornell University. The day after graduating at Sanata Dharma, I flew to Cornell to take up a postgraduate degree in linguistics."
There were many students from various nationalities and cultural backgrounds in Cornell, located in Ithaca, New York State. Those who were taking postgraduate programs were obliged to study two foreign languages.
"Those taking Asian studies, especially those specializing in Southeast Asia, chose Bahasa Indonesia as a second language, arguing that Indonesian politics was pivotal to the region. Some of the students also took Javanese.
He also taught as a teaching assistant for three years and the additional income helped him to afford his tuition.
"I was awarded a full scholarship in 1967. But I was asked to teach these two languages. "
Beginning in 1967, he taught Bahasa Indonesia and Javanese at two universities: Cornell and Yale, the latter being one of the prestigious Ivy League schools, located in New Haven, Connecticut.
In 1970, he finished his doctoral degree with a thesis on Austronesian language and flew back to Yogyakarta to start his job as a lecturer at Sanata Dharma.
"Sanata Dharma had financial problems at that time. To solve the problem, I proposed that they open an English department for locals and an Indonesian and Javanese department for foreigners," he said.
The rector of Sanata Dharma welcomed his proposal and an English Department was duly established, though Indonesian and Javanese languages were not given priority.
In the meantime, Satya Wacana University in Salatiga, Central Java, wished to open an Indonesian language department because of the interest from foreign students to study the language. The rector asked Soepomo for advice.
"Many Australian students were asked by their professors to go to Indonesia to learn Bahasa Indonesia during their vacation," said Soepomo. "They went to Yogya, Bandung, Manado and other cities to learn Bahasa Indonesia."
Later the same year, Sanata Dharma introduced Indonesian language courses. Following his return to Yogyakarta in 1970, many foreign students studying in Yogyakarta had asked Soepomo to teach Bahasa Indonesia. This led Soepomo, assisted by his American wife Gloria, to run private courses at his residence on Jl. Kaliurang.
As he was busy with his position as the dean of the English School at Sanata Dharma, Gloria managed the course and recruited local teachers, including Erma Haryati (the owner of the Colorado Language Institute). Unfortunately, the course closed in the early 1980s.
Methods
Soepomo, who was accorded his professorship in 1986, said he used two methods when teaching Indonesian. The first is the traditional method, consisting of a focus on the understanding of grammar and tenses, the second is audio-lingual, or practicing the language in actual situations.
"The second method is also called the direct method," he said, saying it was the method he used to teach his students in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1981.
"The method often makes many students frustrated. But within only one semester students are able to write in Bahasa Indonesia."
The father of three (one of his children teaches at the University of California in Berkeley) left Germany in 1988, and went to Brunei Darussalam to teach the Malay language for one year, before returning to Sanata Dharma in 1989.
Soepomo has taught many important foreign Indonesianists, such as Prof. Benedict Andersen, Prof. Merle Rickleffs (author of Modern Indonesian History) and Prof. Ruth McVey from Cornell.
"I am still in touch with my students. As a teacher I feel proud of my students when they do anything good and achieve success."
Soepomo now lives peacefully in his Javanese-style home near Gadjah Mada University, along with five students lodgers.
After having lived all over the world, Soepomo compares his life to a feather. He once said that he felt lost in this world, "I like mathematics, but I live with languages". ( R. Kristiawan)