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I Gusti Made Sutjaja: The Balinese word collector
JP/Wasti Atmodjo Of the many aspects of Balinese life that need preserving, the one that most greatly concerns I Gusti Made Sutjaja is the continuation of the language
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JP/Wasti Atmodjo
Of the many aspects of Balinese life that need preserving, the one that most greatly concerns I Gusti Made Sutjaja is the continuation of the language.
Few people among the millions who visit Bali are interested in learning the local language, and even native Balinese need to preserve the language. Helping them do so – most recently with the publication of a new multi-language dictionary – is Sutjaja’s work.
The 55-year-old lecturer in English literature from Udayana University, who did his master’s and doctorate in linguistics in Australia, has been diligently compiling a range of Balinese language dictionaries. He also translates books, stories, the Bible, Koran and other texts into Balinese, some even written with Balinese characters.
“I do this because I’m from Bali and I love everything about it, including the local language. I want to maintain it and make it easier for people to learn the Balinese language,” says Sutjaja, who in 1985 began to develop his interest in languages, especially the vernacular and stories of ordinary Balinese people.
“This reference [dictionary] needs to be made to ensure that we and the next generation get to know more and more about our local language, which is very interesting, like a foreign language.”
But, he explains, Balinese people’s own interest in their local language has decreased.
“Few parents are teaching the language, while young people are more interested in learning foreign languages because of the impact of globalization,” he says. He adds that he is not opposed to people studying foreign languages, “but it’s important that we do not forget our own language.”
Nevertheless, Sutjaja, who once worked in an Asia-Africa language and culture research center in Tokyo, is optimistic that the Balinese language will survive as long as the Balinese people do.
The problem, as he sees it, is the shrinking vocabulary. As in Javanese, Balinese has different words according to the situation and social conditions such as inggil (high), madya (medium) and ashor (marketplace).
“This situation means we need to inform [people], not to enforce social classes but to broaden the vocabulary. At least it would be very useful when giving a speech or leading a meeting where the audience is made up of Balinese people.”
He also believes that it is important to introduce Balinese characters, and is even lobbying the government to start using Balinese characters on public signs alongside Roman characters. Nevertheless, his newest dictionary does not include the Balinese characters “because it would have been too thick and impractical for buyers,” he said.
That new work, published in March, is the pocket-sized Tuttle Concise Balinese Dictionary, published by Tuttle Publishing (a division of Periplus Editions in Hong Kong), with Balinese, Indonesian and English words. This follows Everyday Balinese, a quick guide to speaking Balinese.
He made the books for love, not money, helped by people, especially in publisher Periplus, “because they felt the dictionary was needed”.
Sutjaja, who has had a passion for books and reading since childhood, began his work by collecting words in the 1970s, writing each word — once each in Roman and Balinese characters – on separate small pieces of paper.
“At the beginning I didn’t know what to do with these hundreds of words,” he says, recalling how the bits of paper piled up in his room. “It was never in my mind to make a dictionary like now. Everything flowed, and I enjoyed doing it.”
Neither was it ever in his mind that his activities would help preserve the Balinese language. He did not realize the value of his collection until a discussion with a leader at a meeting at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. Further support came from delegates at a conference in the United States, many of whom were Indonesian-speaking Europeans and some spoke Balinese.
He recalls, too, a scholar from Klungkung who invited him to converse in Balinese. “I kept speaking English, while he spoke Balinese. He never ran out of words,” he says. “In the beginning I thought it was like a test of the rich Balinese grammar. Eventually I realized how interesting Balinese is.”
He also came to realize that visitors to Bali who did wish to learn the language were hampered by the lack of resources – a goal he is delighted to support: “We’re happy if there are more and more people who can speak Balinese.”
Computers helped Sutjaja with his word collection, allowing him to arrange them. However, with no program for Balinese characters available, he turned this thoughts to how he could type the characters. Eventually, a friend succeeding in creating characters that could be used in a computer program called Bali Simbar.
His work progressed smoothly from there, leading to a range of publications. “Finally, many of my books have been successfully published and all of these are related to the Balinese language,” he says.
His published works include several dictionaries, grammar and textbooks, as well as a book on the work ethos and Balinese vocabulary and a collection of Balinese folktales.
Despite his already extensive list of publications, Sutjaja is tirelessly working on more books to help sustain his beloved language, one of the few voices crying for it to be heard.
“I’m very proud of my other friends who also do work like this. On the other hand, I am very concerned because it’s very difficult to keep going,” he says. “Even in the academic world there is little interest in work like this.”
