首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
As English Spreads, Indonesians Fear for Their Language Paulina Sugiarto’s three children played together at a mall here the
As English Spreads, Indonesians Fear for Their Language Paulina Sugiarto’s three children played together at a mall here the
admin
2013-05-19
58
问题
As English Spreads, Indonesians Fear for Their Language
Paulina Sugiarto’s three children played together at a mall here the other day, chattering not in Indonesia’s national language, but English. Their fluency often draws admiring questions from other Indonesian parents Ms. Sugiarto encounters in this city’s upscale malls.
But the children’s ability in English obscured the fact that, though born and raised in Indonesia, they were struggling with the Indonesian language, known as Bahasa Indonesia. Their parents, who grew up speaking the Indonesian language but went to college in the United States and Australia, talk to their children in English. And the children attend a private school where English is the main language of instruction.
"They know they’re Indonesian," Ms. Sugiarto, 34, said. "They love Indonesia. They just can’t speak Bahasa Indonesia. It’s tragic."
Indonesia’s linguistic legacy is increasingly under threat as growing numbers of wealthy and upper-middle-class families shun (避开) public schools where Indonesian remains the main language but English is often taught poorly. They are turning, instead, to private schools that focus on English and devote little time, if any, to Indonesian.
For some Indonesians, as mastery of English has become increasingly tied to social standing, Indonesian has been relegated to second-class status. In extreme cases, people take pride in speaking Indonesian poorly.
The global spread of English, with its sometimes corrosive (逐渐破坏的) effects on local languages, has caused much hand-wringing (焦虑) in many non-English-speaking corners of the world. But the implications may be more far-reaching in Indonesia, where generations of political leaders promoted Indonesian to unite the nation and forge a national identity out of countless ethnic groups, ancient cultures and disparate dialects.
The government recently announced that it would require all private schools to teach the nation’s official language to its Indonesian students by 2013. Details remain sketchy, though.
"These schools operate here, but don’t offer Bahasa to our citizens," said Suyanto, who oversees primary and secondary education at the Education Ministry.
"If we don’t regulate them, in the long run this could be dangerous for the continuity of our language," said Mr. Suyanto, who like many Indonesians uses one name. "If this big country doesn’t have a strong language to unite it, it could be dangerous."
The seemingly reflexive preference for English has begun to attract criticism in the popular culture. Last year, a woman, whose father is Indonesian and her mother American, was crowned Miss Indonesia despite her poor command of Indonesian, The judges were later condemned in the news media and in the blogs for being impressed by her English fluency and for disregarding the fact that, despite growing up here, she needed interpreters to translate the judges’ questions.
In 1928, nationalists seeking independence from Dutch rule chose Indonesian, a form of Malay, as the language of civic unity. While a small percentage of educated Indonesians spoke Dutch, Indonesian became the preferred language of intellectuals.
Each language had a social rank, said Arief Rachman, an education expert. "If you spoke Javanese, you were below," he said, referring to the main language on the island of Java. "If you spoke Indonesian, you were a bit above. If you spoke Dutch, you were at the top."
Leaders, especially Suharto, the general who ruled Indonesia until 1998, enforced teaching of Indonesian and curbed use of English.
"During the Suharto era, Bahasa Indonesia was the only language that we could see or read. English was at the bottom of the rank," said Aimee Dawis, who teaches communications at Universitas Indonesia. "It was used to create a national identity, and it worked, because all of us spoke Bahasa Indonesia. Now the dilution (淡化) of Bahasa Indonesia is not the result of a deliberate government policy. It’s just occurring naturally."
With Indonesia’s democratization (民主化) in the past decade, experts say, English became the new Dutch. Regulations were loosened, allowing Indonesian children to attend private schools that did not follow the national curriculum, but offered English. The more expensive ones, with tuition costing several thousand dollars a year, usually employ native speakers of English, said Elena Racho, vice chairwoman of the Association of National Plus Schools, an umbrella organization for private schools.
But with the popularity of private schools booming, hundreds have opened in recent years, Ms. Racho said. The less expensive ones, unable to hire foreigners, are often staffed with Indonesians teaching all subjects in English, if often imperfect English, she added.
Many children attending those schools end up speaking Indonesian poorly, experts said. Uchu Riza — who owns a private school that teaches both languages — said some Indonesians were willing to sacrifice Indonesian for a language with perceived higher status.
"Sometimes they look down on people who don’t speak English," she said.
She added: "In some families, the grandchildren cannot speak with the grandmother because they don’t speak Bahasa Indonesia. That’s sad."
Anna Surti Ariani, a psychologist who provides counseling at private schools and in her own practice, said some parents even displayed "a negative pride" that their children spoke poor Indonesian. Schools typically advise the parents to speak to their children in English at home even though the parents may be far from fluent in the language.
"Sometimes the parents even ask the baby sitters not to speak in Indonesian but in English," Ms. Ariani said.
It is a sight often seen in this city’s malls on weekends: Indonesian parents addressing their children in sometimes halting English, followed by nannies using what English words they know.
But Delia Raymena Jovanka, 30, a mother of two preschoolers, has developed misgivings (担 忧). Her son Fathiy, 4, attended an English play group and was enrolled in a kindergarten focusing on English; Ms. Jovanka allowed him to watch only English TV programs.
The result was that her son responded to his parents only in English and had difficulties with Indonesian. Ms. Jovanka was considering sending her son to a regular public school next year. But friends and relatives were pressing her to choose a private school so that her son could become fluent in English.
Asked whether she would rather have her son become fluent in English or Indonesian, Ms. Jovanka said, "To be honest, English. But this can become a big problem in his socialization. He’s Indonesian. He lives in Indonesia. If he can’t communicate with people, it’ll be a big problem."
According to Uchu Riza, a private school owner, Indonesian was______due to some perception.
选项
答案
sacrificed
解析
题干中的According to Uchu Riza与该句提到的Uchu Riza…said对应,a private school owner与文中破折号中间对Uchu Riza进行解释说明的定语从句who owns a private school对应,some perception是对a language with perceived higher status的概括总结,Indonesian was…与some Indonesians were willing to sacrifice Indonesian对应,由此可知,题干把文中的主语和宾语位置颠倒,只需把表主动的谓语sacrifice变为表被动的过去分词sacrificed即可。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/cPg7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
Claysuggestsgoingthroughthein-boxessystematicallyandthoroughlyeverymorning,andlessoftenifnecessary.Somecompani
Anewgenerationofstorytellershasbeenbornwhosedeceptionshavebenefitedfromacollegeeducation.Apsychologicalres
Japanhasreachedanimportant【S1】______point.AfterWorldWarII,themiracleofJapan’seconomicgrowthwasachievedthrought
Adultswhohadbeenfedplentyoffruitwhentheywerechildrenarelesslikelytosufferfromcertaintypesofcancer,British
Somemarriagesseemtocollapsesosuddenlythatyou’dneedacrystalballtopredicttheirdemise(灭亡).Inother【1】,though
Thecommunicationsexplosionisonthescaleoftherail,automobileortelephonerevolution.Verysoonyou’llbeabletorecord
Forthispart,youarerequiredtowriteacompositiononthetopicIsJob-hoppingPreferable?accordingtothefollowingoutl
DeafnessLatestSituationAbout16-millionpeopleintheUnitedStateshavelostsomeoftheirhearing.About2-million
Forworkersinsmallfirmsemployment______areveryrare,workinghoursarelongerandsafetyrecordspoor.
Thepassagegivesadescriptionofseveralmethodsoftestingmentalability.Whenthefrontallobesofthebrainareaffected
随机试题
患者,男性,28岁。车祸致伤,伤后右髋关节疼痛剧烈不能活动。查体:患肢短缩。呈屈曲、内收、内旋畸形,应首先考虑的诊断是
A.肺气肿B.肺不张C.肺水肿D.肺脓肿E.肺褐色硬化慢性心力衰竭导致
下列关于休克代偿期微循环的变化,说法错误的是
在致甲亢的各种病因中,哪种最多见
城市的建设和发展之所以需要干预,关键在于各项建设活动和土地使用活动具有极强的()
(操作员:李主管;账套:102账套;操作日期:2015年1月1日)新增客户往来单位。单位编码:009单位名称:ABC集团单位类型:无信用额度:人民币50000元所属地区:区外单位地址:山
遗传物质的最小功能单位叫做()。
在市场经济条件下,只要机会均等,合法竞争,不坑蒙拐骗、不搞特权和腐败,社会中贫富差别的出现,就只能归结为个人的先天差异、后天努力及机会运气等原因。据此,可以推出()。
据报道,我国在基础研究到企业产品开发的过程中,有90%的科研成果死掉了。这是多么惊人、多么可怕的“死亡之谷”。长期以来,我们所缺的主要不是成果(当然,重大的高质量成果另当别论),但有一个致命伤:转化率低。据不完全统计,目前我国上百万件专利技术、科研成果处于
下列横线处应填入的短语是______。①(她)抬头看时,______的风雪,像一团烟雾似的。②她爬起身来,一眼就看见身子半垂在沟沿上的女儿。______的雪地上,汪着一滩鲜红的血水。
最新回复
(
0
)