Use of Bahasa Indonesia

Fri, 30 Jun 1995, 00:00 WIB | Source: JP

A mistake frequently made by foreigners with rudimentary
Indonesian is to refer to the Indonesian language as Bahasa. It
is unfortunate to see a quality newspaper like The Jakarta Post
make the same mistake (Bahasa must coexist with other languages,
The Jakarta Post, June 24, 1995).

The word bahasa means language. Bahasa Indonesia means "the
Indonesian language," just as bahasa Inggris is "the English
language" and bahasa Arab is "Arabic." To refer to Indonesian as
bahasa makes absolutely no sense, and Indonesia's foremost
English-language newspaper, above all, should not make this
mistake. The correct translation of bahasa Indonesia in English
is "Indonesian" or "the Indonesian language." To say that people
speak bahasa merely means that they speak "language," and a
headline saying that Bahasa must coexist with other languages
means a nonsensical "Language must coexist with other languages."

Even if one were to use the correct phrase, qualifying the
word bahasa with "Indonesia," one does not, when writing or
speaking English (or any language for that matter) ever refer to
a foreign language using the foreign term. When speaking English
and referring to French, one does not call it Francais, or German
Deutsch. In English, bahasa Indonesia is "Indonesian."