My Habit of Speaking Formal Indonesian.

Again and again I seem to be doing the same exam over and over again at an earlier time than the one typical to the usual student. The first one was the Chinese IGCSE exams and then the mathematics exams, of which I was appointed to do the test one year earlier than the usual normal date. Another comes again, in the form of the language test, half a year before the rest of the students do their language tests. This was basically due to the fact that the exam was based in Australia rather than in the UK, where the Cambridge and Edexcel exam papers usually get sent to. 

Tomorrow would be the beginning of the Indonesian test, this time in the form of an Oral examination. I was lucky enough this time to not have a sore throat or any physical illness of any type unlike the days before my Chinese Examinations. Having stayed in Indonesia for three years, I can say that I can speak to the locals quite fluently, in most cases. I say this because the Indonesian language, unlike other languages, has two parallel versions. One of which is the slang variation and the other the formal variation. This variations derived from the fact that there is a large proportion of the Indonesian community that do not posses even  a Primary education and as a result cannot speak the language properly. This has a knock on effect towards his or her peers, who have not gone to school and have no idea what the normal language sounds like. On the other hand, you have a group of rich Indonesians who have a high level of education and can speak clearly in the formal language, the way the language is supposed to sound. It is because of these parallel sides that I have some difficulty conversing with the locals, or even my peers who have grown used to speaking in slang with their maids and drivers. 

Nevertheless I try my best to sound as formal as possible when conversing, as I believe that the language should be spoken the way it is supposed to sound. However, one could argue that the fact that I am speaking on a parallel language than most people in Indonesia would destroy the whole function of  verbal language itself, which is to spread ideas and intentions without any other aspects other than sound. However, for the moment, I will commit myself to speaking only formal Indonesian. 

I apologize if I have uploaded a dull post, I am basically very busy with my upcoming appointments and tests, and although I do try to keep with my promises to upload every Tuesday, the content of every post and the level of satisfaction may vary.

Kepada murid-murid yang sama saya menghadapi ujian-ujian IGCSE besok, saya berharap Anda bisa mendapat nilai yang tinggi.

Salam dengan baik,

Matthew Tan