"Kenalkan. Nama saya Jonathan. Saya berasal dari Singapura."
An awkard silence.
"Di Jogja, anda tinggal di mana?"
"Di Jogja, saya tinggal di homestay Heru."
These conversations may seem like child's play to the fluent Indonesian speaker, or a mere conversation starter for many Indonesians, it was ashamedly foreign to me. Ashamed, because having been in Singapore for the past twenty-five years of my life, I have not used a single word or phrase in Malay (Bahasa Melayu) to ask anyone anything. It was just not necessary. Everybody speaks in English and if you are one of the four main races in Singapore, you tend to utilize more of your own vernacular tongue. We live in our own self-contained world whereby our own effcient education has so influenced the culture and of how we read and write that Singapore stands out conspicuously on its own. However, this self-created utopia has its limitations but many advantages as well. The first-class education that we have has provided us with so much more opportunities than others. With an arsenal of fluent English and Mother Tongue, it is evident that we stand a better chance in climbing the social ladder and also having a much greater exposure to the international scene. Nevertheless, the education is also guilty of "incubating" each race/community to its own vernacular - which explains for my meagre grasp of conversational bahasa.
In spite of all the deficiencies in how much one can grasp linguistically, I am glad that I am now painstakingly learning a new language - and along with its sentence structure and the inherent culture all packed in the language. For example:
Bapak/Pak/Ibu/Bu
Pencil = Pensil Shoes = Sepatu Trousers = Celana
Pen = Bolpoin Key = Kunci Bag = Tas
Box = kotak Money = Uang Window = Jendala
House = Rumah Cup = Gelas Watch = Jam Tangan
Shirt = Baju Car = Mobil Clock = Jam din ding
Table = Meja Book = Buku Spectacles = Kaca mata
Suffice to say, I like the pronounciation of "clock" and "spectacles" the most. (They sound almost innocently comical.) In additional, a whole new set of articulation fo the alphabet is presented to me as well.
A (ah) B (bey) C (chey) D (dey) E (ey/eh) F (f) G (gey) H (ha) I (ee) J (j) K (ka) L (l)
M (m) N (n) O (o) P (pey) Q (key) R (lrr/ emphasize the 'l' then 'rrr') S (s) T (tey/teh) U (oo)
V (fey) W (wey) X (ax) Y (yay) Z (z)
Rather interesting. Now I know why Indonesians sound so unique.
