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English in Indonesia: Is it still a matter of British or American?
An Indonesian friend of mine recently posted a popular meme featuring Lee Min-ho, a rising South Korean star who advertises an Indonesian coffee brand juxtaposing Korean, English and Indonesian
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n Indonesian friend of mine recently posted a popular meme featuring Lee Min-ho, a rising South Korean star who advertises an Indonesian coffee brand juxtaposing Korean, English and Indonesian. The post has received a few comments highlighting Lee's English pronunciation.
What struck me the most is the nitpicking over one word regarded as mispronounced. Apparently, Lee's inability to pronounce the words 'white' perfectly is enough to suggest he take an English course to improve his pronunciation.
It's a light joke, but similar to the stigma doled out by certain of my compatriots regarding other Indonesians' English.
Don't we all still remember how netizens laid into President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo for his perceived poor English?
As an Indonesian studying and using English as a second language, I am only too familiar with this criticism. My Indonesian-English pronunciation is often a topic of conversation, and I constantly strive to speak like a Hollywood star. But the more I try, the more I realize that I never will.
I was left without any explanation, until I encountered Kachru's 'World Englishes' concept from a 1991 book of the same name. I eventually came to understand why variable pronunciation was the target of such stigma, even from fellow second-language users.
Most Indonesians, like all others who learn English as a second language, are trained to speak like native speakers, be it American or British English.
Our English teachers seem to undervalue our social and cultural backgrounds as second-language speakers.
The emphasis to speak like those born in New York or in London sets regularity of pronunciation as a standard, relegating second-language speakers to an inferior or peripheral class.
Additionally, many underestimate the fact that English is now widely spoken by people outside the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, plus the other main English-speaking countries.
With more and more people across the world learning and speaking English, the language no longer belongs solely to the inhabitants of those countries.
English is now spoken in multifarious ways, depending on the geographical area of the individuals, with social and cultural aspects playing essential roles in shaping and influencing the form English takes.
People from all over the world are speaking their own distinctive English: Singaporean English, Indian English, Nigerian English and many others. They have appropriated English into their own tongues. Who dares to say their English is not 'correct'?
Those who still maintain their native-speaker bias must become more socially and culturally observant and aware.
English is not the sole possession of those born in the English-speaking countries; it is open to anyone willing to learn it.
Foreign language teachers in Indonesia should start applying a pluricentric approach to measure their students' English ability. It is time to fully view our students, as second-language learners and speakers, as individuals with their own social, cultural and historical characters.
It is unrealistic to keep forcing them to speak like either the British or the Americans. It is downgrading the students' social and cultural identity and entity as Indonesians and as second-language speakers.
Like Lee, who may have learned English later in life, we also need to remember that most of our students were not exposed to English at early ages.
It is not necessary to dwell on the pronunciation of certain words by Jokowi, or any other individuals who actually can speak fluent English, just with idiosyncratic pronunciation.
In fact, their English may reveal their identity as Korean, Javanese or Indonesian.
I have listened to both Jokowi's speech and Lee's ads multiple times and their variable pronunciation of certain words does not interfere with the message.
Language is not only a means of communication, but also a tool to construct and project our social, historical and cultural values. In their particular cases, both Jokowi and Lee managed to do just that.
Don't make fun of a second language speaker's way of speaking ' at least they speak their first language perfectly.
Don't you agree? To top it off, we habitually perceive native speakers' different pronunciations as acceptable variations, while we instantly identify the non-natives' as an inaccuracy, undervaluing their many years of effort to communicate in fluent English.
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The writer is finishing her study at the University of Wisconsin in the US.
