Indonesiana
“S
Finding
Indonesia
atu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, umm, umm.. wait, start over.. Satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, oh, enam, tujuh,, uhh,
uhh, what else? ... Susu! I know that one... and, nasi. They like nasi. Oh, and pisang! Yes, definitely pisangs, too.
Hmm..”. This was about the extent of my understanding of the Indonesian language and culture as a child.
My father had the mindset that teaching his children his language would give them an accent. It was my father, not my
mother, who was the Indonesian native speaker, and they say that it is harder for kids to learn from the dad than from
the mom... My Indonesian grandmother did live with us for a few years, and my mother does know Indonesian,,, so, I
feel like there’s no excuse, is there? I could have learned Indonesian as a child! Then, I wouldn’t have had to work so hard
for so many years, and sound so bad, doing it! But, I grew up in suburban New Jersey, and not speaking Indonesian
didn’t really bother me at the time.
I lived in a very white world, and never came in contact with the language or other Indonesians as a child, except, of
course, for with my grandmother, or when hearing my