A couple of months ago, the kind people at Tuttle Publishing sent me some books to review on learning bahasa indonesia and yes, I'm only getting around to posting about it now. But, you know, holidays happened, before that there was end of school year and well one thing after another meant that I didn't get around to giving the books my full attention until just recently. They sent me three books on learning the language that is spoken throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Of course, remembering that each island then has it's own dialect or dialects. For example, when I was in Flores I spent most of my holiday trying to tune into bahasa manggarai and pick up words as that is the language widely spoken in Manggarai province but then cross over into Bajawa or Maumere and you will find the dialect is completely different. This is what makes Indonesia such a fascinating country. You would be hard pushed to find another like it with it's vast range of dialects, traditions, dances and ethnicities. Thankfully, there is the main language of Bahasa Indonesia taught in schools so that across the archipelago there is a common language. It also means that coming to Indonesia you only have to learn this language in order to make your way from island to island. Phew!
Anyway back to the books...
The first book, Mini Indonesian Dictionary I found to be the most helpful. Small enough to fit into the palm of your hand and of course your handbag means it is easy to bring everywhere with you and use when you are stuck for a word you don't know. There are a whopping 12,000 words in it which pretty much means that when you are out and about you are certainly going to be able to locate words you need. In my opinion, when learning a language it is always handy to have a dictionary but carrying around a big thick one is never going to be fun. This mini dictionary really gives you a great resource at a quarter of the size.
The second book, Making Out in Indonesian, I found to be a tad more controversial. This book basically keys you in to street slang in Indonesia and at times, not necessarily slang that you might want to be using! There is some risqué language in here so if you are a tad on the conventional side this might not be the book for you. However, if you are curious to have a look at how people in this part of the world curse, flirt and basically strip down their language, then this will be the book for you.
Last but not least, there was Indonesian Slang. This was probably my favourite read out of all the books. The title is quite deceiving in that you think it might just be a book on Indonesian slang words. It is but it's also so much more because it takes these slang words or expressions and gives you the background to how these expressions came about into daily use. It places these expressions in historical context too so as well as learning some of the language you are also getting a history and geography lesson about Indonesia too. Perfect! I love covering lots of subjects at once. Language is such a beautiful thing and our ability to communicate and use words is our most powerful tool. I, personally, find it fascinating to see how languages have come about and changed and modernised to keep up with daily life. This book will give you some very pertinent insights into Indonesia and its' language.
No comments:
Post a Comment