Author: Afutami

Me: “Hey William. To continue the discourse on Twitter.. It’s like, to the extreme part, languages reflects different ‘selves’. Misalnya imej lo ketika pake bahasa sama pake English jadinya beda.”

Will: “TRUE. A different persona indeed. But is this more to the written or oral side? Or both? In oral  the proficiency of the language also affects the persona you put on with that language. Actually the same goes with written, but oral shows the persona more clearly.”

Me: “In my theory, proficiency of the language is a prerequisite to actually have that ‘new self’. And yes it covers both written and oral form. So once you really master a language, you’ve created a new self.”

Will: “But another observation I made. Yes that’s true because the thinking process in every language is different as you stated. But in my case I am fluent in both bahasa and English. Jadi saya bisa menggunakan ‘self’ English saya dalam Bahasa. Dan sebaliknya. Seakan dua persona ini berasimilasi.”

Me: “No no no. The approach you’re using is a persona-centered. My approach is more language-centered.”

Will: “And the difference between them?”

Me: “…In which I’ve stated that ‘each and every language is linked to a certain history and paradigm’. Words that you have in English aren’t commensurable in Indonesian. Thus, the self you reveal in English can’t be fully ‘revealed’ in other languages. So…languages are like different windows in a house. You can only see certain parts/rooms from one window and other parts from other windows. I hope you get what I mean…”

Will: “I agree. But that is theory.”

Me: “That is.”

Will: “Sorry I meant that theory has more intricate factors behind it.”

Me: “That’s true. ‘Intricate factors’. Apa itu istilah di ekonomi…ceteris paribus ya. Teori berlaku ketika faktor lain dianggap sama.”

Will: “In a way I can’t really put up an argument since I agree with you. You can speak other languages such too right besides English and Indo. I have an okay proficiency in Japanese and Mandarin; and yes the language can’t be fully revealed in another language. So I fully agree and can’t really put up a fight but I’ll try.”

Me: “You don’t have to, you know. Better save the energy for whatever you’re doing in campus today -.-“

Will: “Lol I actuallly have work. So it’s a wrap then.”

Me: “Err okay.”

Will: “It’s just that from a personal experience I know that there is a different ‘self’. What that self is and the difference between the two I only have an outline of it, but I can’t fully comprehend what it is.”

Me: “I feel like Keohane being criticized by Cynthia Weber.”

Will: “Lol what is that?”

Me: “IR scholars who really like to rebut each other even when they aren’t really opposing the other’s argument.”

Will: “Anyway yes so there’s self A and B for example. It’s just the nature. Since I have mastered both languages I can consciously swap them both. I have a clear outline on what both of these selves are but it comes real close. And there is a default self that shows when you use either language.”

Me: “True.”

Will: “It wouldn’t be quite the same when using Indo with the English self. This requires an very fine understanding of your inner capabilities in both languages.”

Me: “See? You’re using a person-standpoint. Just like what you say, thinking process takes different ways in different languages. You can’t really distinguish the ‘self’ when you’re inside the ‘house’. But for language observers you’ve become a (probably not totally but) different person.”

Will: “That’s why I said from a personal experience. I fully agree with what you’re saying though.”

Me: “Now expressions, sentences, and metaphors are different in each language.”

Will: “Metaphors are true to each language and might not work in the other. Although not to the precise bulls-eye if translated, that lack of 100% is substituted to a 75-95% accuracy.”

Me: “Now that’s the thing. ‘Not to the precise bulls-eye if translated’. The way your environment perceives you will change as the language you use changes. I’m not rebutting at all. It’s just…you might see the same things from different windows; but with different angle, the…’understanding’ might be 95% similar yet your point of view will differ.”

(with more windows, more light can come in, and easier for you to show what’s inside–only if you aim to)

Will: “Yep true. Yes. To add on that the cultural differences also affect the understanding.”

Me: “True! Cultural differences contribute to a certain language’s frame of reference.”

Will: “And a more intricate detail? In oral the tone used also affects a lot. And probably more than what the words really mean.”

Me: “Haven’t really observed that. But come to think of it, true. Are we done with the Keohane-Cynthia rebuttals now? Have a good day!”

Will: “Haha it’s good to share thoughts and experiences. But anyway yeah have a good day. I’m late for work nooooooo.”

Me: “Hahaha good luck with that.”

Hosni Mubarak managed to change Egypt’s law of divorce in 2000. The German once used deutsche mark to buy goods until 2002 when the government set Euro as their official currency. People cursed smoking habit until handsome actors lighted up their cigarettes on Hollywood movies in the 80s. These facts have proven that law, currency, and mindset of a certain community are not impossible to change. What about language?

The most difficult shift that may happen to any society, I must say, is a language reform. Most nations prefer to not attempt for such a crazy idea; those who do, usually prefer a gradual approach. However, under this incredibly charismatic guy, Mustafa Kemal (later named after Ataturk, meaning the father of Turks) Turkey undertook the modern world’s swiftest and most extensive language reform in 1928. The exact same year when our youths vowed in Sumpah Pemuda to speak with a single national language, Bahasa Indonesia. Although we aimed for what Ataturk also did,
the final output was not any similar.

What happened in Turkey?

1) Ataturk replaced Arabic scripts with Latin ones.
The letters had been used by the Turks for a thousand years, yet within merely FIVE MONTHS, Ataturk accomplished this major breakthrough. Talking about, uhm, ambitious guys. As the 1920s came to an end, Turkey had fully and functionally adopted 29 (adjusted) Latin alphabets without the complexities of the Arabic script. Children and adults were then able to read and write within a few months, and studying English became more effective than ever.

2) He eliminated borrowed grammatical devices from the Arabic and Persian.
Which used to hold a tight grip over the Ottoman Turkish. He (and his team, I believe) incorporated a whole new 4-tenses grammar system: geçmiş zaman, şimdiki zaman, gelecek zaman, and geniş zaman.

3) Thousands of vocabularies.
He substituted the loan words from foreign languages with a large number of original words, introduced provincial expressions, as well as revived the almost-extinct old Turkish phrases.

The transformation met with unparalleled success:
In the 1920s, the written language consisted of more than 80 percent Arabic, Persian, and French words; by the early 1980s the ratio had declined to a mere 10 percent. WHAT THE, MAN, WHAT THE!

Ataturk’s language reform–and that includes all the three instruments–has been one of the most far-reaching in history. It has overhauled Turkish culture and education. So yeah, people, you may now start worshiping this cool guy.

What about Indonesia?

I was lucky to have stumbled upon “Bus Bis Bas: Berbagai Masalah Bahasa Indoensia” by Ajip Rosidi which gives me a lot of I-thought-I-was-the-only-person-on-earth-who-believed-so! moments. If I may excerpt the whole book into a single sentence, then it should be this: He criticizes Indonesian ruler’s lack of consistency in creating the system of Bahasa. What Mr Suwandi and his fellow Balai Pustaka friends tried to do was, more or less the same like what Ataturk’s squad attained, yet resulted an utterly different product for their blurred intentions.

First of all, we have to acknowledge that–unlike our Turk brothers whose aim was to ‘purify’ their language from borrowed terms and help new learners–Indonesian people comprises hundreds of different tribes and their regional languages (not to mention dialects). EYD (Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan) was then invented to unify voices and ideas of the whole country. Then what’s wrong in this perfect scheme? Consistency, my friends, consistency.

1) Okay, they turned all ‘tj’ into ‘c’ and ‘oe’ into ‘u’ (ejaan Suwandi, a replacement to ejaan Ophuysen). This is basically easy and acceptable, right? But then, they left a flaw by creating an article on the rules which says that ‘name-spellings are based upon the owner’s discretion’. This leaves Mochtar Lubis, Suwardi Tasrif, Asrul Sani, Usmar Ismail, and Maria Ulfah voluntarily changed their names, but Roeslan Abdulghani and Pramoedya Ananta Toer sticked to their old spellings. Now many people are confused in writing down ‘Soekarno’/’Sukarno’, ‘Nasution’/’Nasoetion’, etc.

2) There was a notion to adopt both e (weak-e in elang) and é (strong-e in ember) in the Bahasa in order to not mislead people since Indonesian letters are basically set to be read in the way it’s written. The idea was then tabled-off for a silly question of ‘tidak ada mesin ketik yang berhuruf demikian’. Err–okay, Sir, we’re talking about setting a language which is gonna be used by hundred millions of people, and you worry about what? Typing machine? Turkish and Vietnam people, for comparison, are proud to have their own keyboards with extra letters as long as it does not hamper the way they use their language. Today, people hardly know if telepon should be pronounced telepon or télépon and if ide should be pronounced ide or idé.

3) They insisted on adopting foreign words in Indonesian-yet-based-on-English spelling. The case of ‘sistem or sistim’ has been very intriguing to my eyes. ‘Sistim’ was derived from a Dutch word ‘systeem’, yet it’s now converted to ‘sistem’, reflecting on how the English spell it. Weird. It’s like you’ve adopted a child to your family and then gave him back to his family because you didn’t like the family? What, again?

There are still a lot of incredible thoughts which he kindly shares through the book, but I guess I’ll have to rest the case here. The point is, I wish our Balai Pustaka people could’ve been a little more serious and effortful in doing their duty to set rules and guidance for our baby language, and I’m pretty much disappointed to the fact that they didn’t.

I wish I was born way earlier, became a great linguist, hired as one of those EYD setters, and created history like Ataturk did. I wish.