Code Switching
I know this topic has been written at least once. I myself read an article on this topic in a newspaper some time ago, and I tempted to write an entry about this. Based on my observation, this phenomenon usually occurs when some Indonesian people who are well-educated and bilingual convey their ideas, either written or spoken. They prefer English terms although the equivalent terms in bahasa Indonesia are available. Are there any valid reasons why this phenomenon occurs? Is it because one's ability to speak in foreign language increases his/her social status (a show-off?)? Is it because they are used to read and write English passages rather than the Indonesian ones, therefore they are frequently exposed to English words? Or is it because they don't know the equivalent terms in bahasa Indonesia, hence they compensate this deficiency by switching to English? In some cases, I doubt it.
Anyway, I find this phenomenon very funny. When I was in Bandung, I stayed in a three-star hotel. When I checked-in, I asked when and where the breakfast would be served. The staff answered, "Untuk breakfast disediakan di kafe sampai pukul 10.00 (the sarapan will be served in the cafe until 10 o'clock)." Then he gave me a keycard to open the door to my room. We have the Indonesian term sarapan for breakfast, and I believe most Indonesian people are familiar with this term. Why use the term breakfast instead?
After entering the room, I saw two bottles of water and a note in front of them. The note said "Tamu yang terhormat ... kami menyediakan welcome drink... (Our dearest guests.. we provide welcome drink...)". Honestly, I haven't found the equivalent of welcome drink in bahasa Indonesia. The next morning, when I was having my breakfast, a waitress approached me. "Bapak minumnya coffee atau tea (do you prefer kopi or teh)?" she asked politely. I scratched my head in confusion, then I said — politely,of course — that I would prefer a glass of water.
A few days ago I received several e-mails on job vacancies. The first e-mail's title was "Translator Bahasa Mandarin Needed". The sentence uses bahasa Indonesia construction but uses both Indonesian and English terms. While in the second e-mail I found "...beberapa produk kami adalah koran dan majalah investor, investor daily, majalah view, campus magazine, dan beberapa newspaper dan magazines yang akan kami buka baru... (an error occured when trying to translate this part of sentence)". I almost forgot, in another e-mail there was this sentence: "must be able to speak and write in bahasa". Bahasa means language. So what is the target language then?
Update:
February 3, 2008, Kertosono Station: A food vendor offered me a plastic box consisted of cooked-rice, a piece of deep-fried chicken and a sachet of chili sauce. He said, "Nasi chicken, mas."
Note:
A little bit off-topic: A friend of mine said that I did a show-off by writing my blog entries in English. What's wrong with that? I need to practice my bloody horrible degrading English. Practice makes perfect, doesn't it? Then my friend said that I made many grammatical errors and incorrect choice of words in my writings. I said that when I was an English teacher I always said to my students to make as many mistakes as possible — but never made any attempt to switch to bahasa Indonesia especially when speaking in English — and be proud of them. Why would one need to worry of making mistakes when the person s/he's talking to could comprehend what s/he's conveying in the target language?
January 16, 2008 | [Human] Language | Add Comment
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