Yesterday marks Day 5 of my 10 month adventure and I’ve already encountered what I anticipate will be my biggest challenge here in Indonesia: cultural misunderstandings and miscommucation. I’ve noticed, in my current teaching program and during my trip last year, that many things end up lost in translation…literally. Considering that my Bahasa Indonesia abilities are limited to a few key phrases, including berapa harganya (how much is it?) and saya pedangang (I’m a teacher), though, I find it difficult to be upset when words don’t translate as I intend. Just as I struggle to learn Bahasa (and juggle Arabic and Spanish as well), so Indonesians struggle with three (or more languages) themselves. Bahasa Indonesia, although the official state language of Indonesia, is not the only language spoken by Indonesians. Many people speak local languages, like Javanese and Sundanese on Java, Balinese on Bali, and so forth. In addition to that, some people attempt to learn English, which I’m finding is a more difficult language than I, a native speaker, realized. As I prepare to teach English to my students, I need to keep in mind the fact that English is a difficult language with sentence structure far different than that to which my students are accustomed.
Still, the miscommunications/misunderstandings complicate matters. For example, yesterday morning hotel housekeepers accidentally took some of my clothes away, assuming I wanted them washed (which I didn’t, especially at $1.50 or so an item). Even though I immediately requested that the items be returned unwashed, I ended up getting them late last night, soaking wet. I now have a laundry bill to pay. Last night, I spent 40 minutes attempting to explain to sales clerks at a Jakarta mall what I was looking for in one of Jakarta’s largest department stores. Even in Indonesia’s most-populated city in which many English-speaking ex-pats live, there are many here who do not speak English.
Lack of lingual understanding also frustrates me in that I am unable to respond to people’s friendly inquiries as they attempt to learn more about me and why I’m here in Indonesia. I’d love to be able to share more than a basic where I’m from and what I’m doing in Indonesia. I want to ask about Ramadan here, inquire as to where people have been and what their goals and dreams are. I want to learn more about the culture and the people, and find out what they think of America. However, I’m obstructed by my inability to communicate in Bahasa Indonesia.
At the same time, however, I’m discovering ways of communicating without words. A smile says a thousand words here in Indonesia, filling the linguistic gap I continually encounter as I explore Indonesia. People eye me curiously, wondering why a bule (foreigner) would wander around the cramped, narrow back streets of Jakarta’s most populated residential areas. I’ve noticed that people eagerly attempt to use the limited English vocabulary they know in order to engage me in conversation. As we, Indonesians and American bule, struggle to use the other’s language to communicate, we catch each other’s eyes and smile, and in that simple act, express what we’ve been trying to say for several minutes. “I don’t understand Indonesian,” I wince as I offer an apologetic smile, “but I want to learn about life here in spite of that.” “We don’t know the words to say, but we’re interested in learning more about you and why you’re wandering down our street,” they seem to reply. In that moment, there is a second of mutual understanding. We don’t understand each other, but we both acknowledge that the other is attempting to communicate. That in itself is sufficient for now…until I learn a bit more Bahasa.
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