Better Understand Indonesia

Learning Indonesian and Lampungese Culture

Their activities at Unila include studying and doing fun activities. Studying Indonesian Language at BIPA Program conducted from Monday to Wednesday for 4-6 hours a day. The program that offer four courses takes place in Unila Language Institute with the instructors from the faculty members of the Department of Language and Art of FKIP Unila.

Currently all of them are able to communicate well in Indonesian, while initially they are not. In addition to the support of their friends and friendship during their stay at Lampung, interactive lectures held in the class, as well as the patience and guidance of lecturers to be the key for their success. As could be watched during the presentation of Dr. Muhammad Fuad as a lecturer that motivate students to give a speech in front of the class. “Let’s be brave. To learn a language, a key to success is the courage to speak the language” she said.

The ability of foreign students to speak Indonesian fluently in just a few months has not been followed by their writing skills, because of the difficulty is in grammar. “Writing in Indonesian is difficult because of the grammar” said Misato who is currently a student at Tokyo University of Foreign Study. To solve the problem, Misato also follow some regular classes with students majoring in Indonesian at FKIP Unila. Although difficult, that indicates they are serious to learn Indonesian, the language that has been increasingly talk about in the world, and during the ASEAN summit in Cambodia last year proposed to be the official language of ASEAN as it is used in a lot of relationships in the Southeast Asian region.

Learning the Indonesian culture, especially Lampung culture, seems to be interesting for them. Currently they have just finished learning the Sulam Usus craft in a well known Sulam Usus center, Ibrahim Aan. Then in June they learn Lampung Sulam Tapis in a well kown axpert about it whom are also well-known designers, Raswan. In campus, every Friday they learn traditional music Talo Balak (Gamelan Lampung), dance, and traditional literature in a students organization with interest in arts at Unila.

Lampung is a nice place to live, and they also learn about the social life and nature in Lampung. “I love Lampung because there is multicultural in here, a lot of cultures that can be studied in addition to Lampung, Lampung siger I love, it’s unique” Misato said that with Nagisa was also active as a native Japanese speaker in a club at Unila. Food and tourist attractions are also a favorite choice for them, respectively. If Eli likes rendang (meat cooked with cocounut milk) and fried rice, Nagisa likes coffèe and yellow rice. It is different about Michal, master student majoring in International Relationship at Matej Bel University, Slovakia, that his favorite meal is tempeh(fermented soyabean), that he don’t have in his country. Meanwhile, for tourism, Mia liked beach the most, and her favorite is Kiluan Beach. Soun Savon is also happy because in Lampung there are many monasteries.

The foreign students studying at Unila claimed that they learn a lot of interesting life lessons that influence very much on their thinking and attitudes. One of them is as told Mia. “I became more responsible for studying abroad. I also learned about sitting cross-legged when we are together, because in my country rarely woman sitting cross-legged. Initially I get tingling, but later I used to it.” She said.

Learning Indonesian is their true goal from the Darmasiswa Program in Indonesia, no matter at which campus they are placed. One reason is to find a job in Indonesia. “I was very pleased to learn Indonesian because I wanted to work at the Indonesian embassy in Slovakia or working in Jakarta. In Slovakia now many students are interested in learning Indonesian,” said Michal which was echoed by all.