Local Languages or Being Illiterate

Marselus Suarta Kasmiran

            Nowadays our local languages are going to die. I do not hate Bahasa and English. I do love them all; the fact is that I write this article in English. As an Indonesian I cannot also deny that English is the international language and Bahasa is Indonesian main language. But we have to consider that the fact is some of our local languages died. I am proud to be an Indonesian, because my country, Indonesia, has a lot of beautiful cultures. On the other hand, I must be sad to know that some of Indonesians do not really care about the local languages.

            Many parents and educators tend to let our children become illiterate in the local language. The children are speaking English and Bahasa, because there is no way to speak local languages. Homes and schools do not facilitate it. It is different from Bahasa and English who are being taught in schools. Our government has to pay attention to this problem. They have to put the local languages into classrooms as a subject. They should put the languages in the primary schools, because it will build the basic of language.

            Some people said that it was not useful to put the languages in the classroom, especially for those who were not from the place where the local languages were taught. But, let me show you that putting local languages in primary school is useful. They are very useful, because the local languages will connect humans with their identity, preserve culture, and create a new study style that increase the human intelligence.

            Firstly, putting local languages in the classroom will help to preserve the beautiful Indonesia culture.  Indonesia is dangerously beautiful with the 700 local languages. But the beauty is going to go away from Indonesia. Kemandgri in their website wrote that 15 local languages died, 169 local languages are going to lose. I have interviewed some of my friends. They said; “Putting local languages in the classroom is not useful for the people who do not come from the place where the local languages belong to. I think that it is a wrong opinion. Let us think about this. If we learn other languages we can interact well with the people. We also know their cultures. If you think that other languages do not give useful things to you, I suggest that you should stop to be selfish. If we always think about the advantages for ourselves, we will forget others. Their culture must also keep alive. How? Let us put the local languages in the classroom. If the local languages become a subject in the classroom, Indonesian children can know their local languages and also preserve the languages. So, Indonesia will stay beautiful with their many local languages.

            Secondly, our local languages connect us with our society and identity. The local languages are the same with English that connects us with the society. So the question is “Why should we put the local languages in the classroom? Why do not we just study English, because English gives us the wider relationship?” I answer. We have to put the local languages in primary schools, because the languages do not only connect us with the society, but it also connects us with our identity. Hurisa Guvercin said that one of the important things that connect a child with the parents is the verbal language. He added that a child will identify himself with the language and the culture he knows the best. With local languages we join in a relationship with our parents, family, tribe, and our nation. If a person does not know his culture, he will lose his confident in the culture. If he loses his confident, he will also lose his tie with the society slowly.What does make studying local languages is different with studying English? That is also because English is not our culture. Who we are can be found in our local languages. There are our cultures and ties with our family.

The last reason is that putting local languages as a subject and the spoken language in the classroom will create a new study style that increases students’ intelligence. Local languages in the classroom give a lot of fun things that will not experience outside the class, such as reading and writing in their local languages. Some research did a study that involved fifteen Italian interpreters who were working for the European Union and translating in English and Italian. They are all fluent in English. The study said that native language made their brains’ waves had much higher amplitude. It means that native languages make people absorb things easier.  A study in Diembering also gave us a reason to put local languages in the classroom. The study said; “11 out of 18 students who were using mother tongue in all lessons passed their exams. In the two classes using French for instruction, only two and four students respectively out of 20 passed. Some people say that it will be more expensive to translate the local languages into books. But I think we have to do this, if we want our students do not get frustrated in studying. There are more intelligent students, because they do not only study but they learn fun.

Finally, I am proud to say that there is no reason to avoid putting local languages in the classroom. The fact is that local languages are the best way to connect a human with the identity and society, preserve the beautiful Indonesian culture, and create a fun and smart study style. So, I suggest that government should put the languages in the classroom. There is no time to wait. We have to do it now, before there are more local languages die, more people lose their ties with their culture, and more bored students in Indonesia.

References

Kemendagri. Bahasa Daerah Terancam punah. www.otda.kemendagri.go.id/index.php. Accessed in 22 March 2014.

Klaas, Rudy.The Benefit of Mother Tongue Education in Senegal. www.enenet.org.uk/resources/eenet/newsletter/news12/page10.php. Accessed in 22 March 2014.

Taylor, Stephen, M. Coetzee. Mother Tongue: The Language of Heart and Mind.www.fountainmagazine.com/Issue/mother-toungue-the-language-of-heart-and-mind.Accessed in 22 March 2014.