Cultural Speech -- Local Language
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Karola and I am a Javanese who teach English.
I have two nephews, aged about 8 years old, who were born and raised in the land of Java, yet they cannot speak Javanese. They can speak English fluently though. I have another nephew who is younger than my other nephews, he called his aunt as “aunty” instead of “tante”. He was also born and raised here. I love seeing these kids learn English in such a young age, but I hate seeing them not being able to speak their mother’s language. Don’t get me wrong, mastering English since a child is a good thing, but when we cannot speak our own local language, is it a good thing or we are slowly forgetting who we are?
There are plenty important things of the local language. Yousefi on her article called “The Importance of Children Learning their Native Languages” wrote, “Learning your native language also helps connect you to your ancestors and culture in a way that many other things don’t.” Cuevas on his article with similar topic also wrote that we can communicate with our own people without feeling rejected and the chance to get a deeper understanding in global issues is higher.
A Filipino writer, Jenie Gabriel, stated that our mother language can strengthen our cultural identity and family ties. A data from Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) showed that by remaining to learn the mother tongue after childhood can help us learn how to respect our roots. When we learn our mother language, it’s all about valuing the culture and the heritage we have, and it contributes to a positive self-concept. Without those two things, can we identify ourselves? Imagine if we cannot understand our mother tongue, we probably would not be able to speak to our ancestors and we can be lost knowing who we really are.
Learning international language, in this case it is English, also has its own importance. As I mentioned before, English is an international language that is used by many people around the world. I have been in a place where there was Indonesians, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Filipino, African, and Australians. The language we used to communicate was English. That was when I realized that English was that huge. English is use broadly, in science field, computers, tourism, and many more. Kim Renner, a writer who works for English New Zealand said that by mastering English, there is a higher chance for someone to be hired in a company, especially multinational company. When I opened the site of English New Zealand, I realized that it is one of many internet websites that is written in English. Meaning, if you can understand English, you can surf more, you can ask or take part in forums and discussion on the internet because English is also the language that is used the most there.
Since English is used by many people, it opens up the chance for someone to go abroad, to go big. Many scholarships offer great programs in English. Indonesia’s biggest scholarship giver, Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP), has sent many people overseas. One of the terms to get a scholarship from them is you have to get at least 75 in TOEFL iBT/IELTS if you have letter of acceptance unconditional. If you do not have any letter of acceptance unconditional, you have to get at least 80 in TOEFL iBT/IELTS. It would be easier for you if you can speak in English to get the scholarship and to take the classes it offers.
So, how to overcome those two things? Here’s my suggestion, let children learn the mother tongue first to get the understanding about his or her identity, then let them learn English when they get a little bit older. English is now commonly spoken in school, so I think it would be better if the mother language is used at home. Not only it is cool to be able to speak more than one language, but it is also helpful and useful for the children’s later life.